Ubercool

About

Ubercool® – founded in 2005 by public speaker and trend analyst Michael Tchong — is a next-generation, Internet marketing service that develops and produces branded entertainment events that immerse premium audiences in innovative online and offline infotainment. The company embraces Michael’s transformational imprimatur, living up to its mission of “bringing innovation to life.”

Michael Tchong

Dennis Rodman

Michael is the founder of MacWEEK and ICONOCAST, which produced multi-million-dollar conferences, including one starring basketball legend Dennis Rodman and another featuring a Broadway musical. Michael began his career at illustrious ad agencies Chiat/Day and DDB, after which he pioneered such emerging categories as desktop publishing, personal communications and online marketing. Michael strongly believes that the successful organizations of tomorrow will address the changing consumer lifestyles of today.

His insight was developed during a distinguished career that spanned such advertising agency icons as Chiat/Day and Doyle Dane & Bernbach, further enhanced by a remarkable career in software marketing, publishing and the Internet. Born on the Caribbean island of Aruba, Michael speaks Dutch natively ― factors that have contributed to his global vision.

Prior to Ubercool, Michael founded five successful companies including:

• Trendscape [2003-2004] ― In January 2003, Michael launched Trendscape, which published a weekly newsletter, Trendsetters.com, aimed at trendwatchers and trendsetters. In November of that year, Trendscape published its first trend report, Trendscape 2004, which documented the most important trends shaping this decade. In October 2004, Michael sold Trendsetters.com to Iconoculture, a Minneapolis-based trend consulting firm.



At Future Trends 2003 in Miami’s South Beach, the company released Trendscape 2004, a 104-page trend report featuring more than 140 photographs that graphically portrayed the world’s most significant trends.

• ICONOCAST [1997-2002] ― In 1997, Michael founded ICONOCAST, a popular 50,000-circulation weekly newsletter, which quickly became the preferred choice of Internet marketers worldwide, a fact recognized by a Tenagra Internet Marketing Excellence award. ICONOCAST was acquired in 1998 by Imagine Media, publisher of Business 2.0.

  

  ICONOCAST hosted one of the most successful online marketing conferences, as measured by audience response and sponsorship revenue, Web Attack!, featuring such celebrities as Dennis Rodman, RuPaul and Cindy Margolis, the “most downloaded woman on the Internet.”

• CyberAtlas [1994-1996] ― Realizing the potential of the Web in 1994, Michael founded Interstellar, a consulting and media company, which published CyberAtlas, the preeminent online market research site. Four months after its online debut, CyberAtlas was acquired by I/PRO (Internet Profiles Corp.), which later sold the brand to Mecklermedia (aka JupiterMedia).



CyberAtlas, the Internet’s first broadly recognized research brand, was created by Michael in .

• Atelier Systems [1992-1993] ― In 1992, Michael founded Atelier Systems Inc., which targeted the nascent category of “personal communication systems.” After raising $1.2 million in venture capital, Atelier developed Hello, an innovative personal communication manager for the Macintosh, which featured an easy-to-use graphics user interface centered around an extensible toolbar, both still trendsetting features to this day.



Atelier Systems’ Hello used a slick interface to simplify maintaining contacts and correspondence, while offering an optional ability to seamlessly fax and e-mail address-book entries via a modular architecture. Apple’s Newton, Palm’s Pilot PDA and Microsoft Outlook all use concepts pioneered in Hello.

• MacWEEK [1987-1991] ― His intuitive sense that the Macintosh would become the tool of choice for the graphic arts industry lifted this weekly’s annual revenues from less than US$500,000 to US$18 million in just four years. Ziff-Davis acquired the 85,000-circulation MacWEEK in 1988, a little over a year after its launch. In 1990, Advertising Age named MacWEEK one of the 10 fastest-growing publications in America. As founder and publisher, Michael gained operational experience managing a 68-person staff.



Michael solidified MacWEEK’s market position by inviting leading artists, such as Peter Max and Keith Haring, to create their first-ever artworks on the Macintosh. Applying early peer pressure helped the Mac become the overwhelming choice of designers it is today.

Whether personal computing, home computing, desktop publishing, personal communication, Internet publishing or online marketing, Michael has always been part of the leading edge. Now you too can take advantage of Michael’s ability to ride waves early as he helps you and your audiences unlock the hidden potential of emerging trends.