PRESS RELEASE: Programa Launches During Lockdown to Solve Problems for Architects, Interior Designers and Brands.
Programa Launches During Lockdown to Solve Problems for Architects, Interior Designers and Brands.
Programa is an all-in-one platform for architects and interior designers, brands, and renovators, that makes it easier to find products, manage projects, and in doing so provides cheaper and more meaningful advertising solutions for brands.
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9th September 2020, Melbourne, Australia
Programa recently celebrated their first full month since launching a new tech platform during the middle of Melbourne’s Coronavirus lockdown. Programa’s core team of Traviss Orr, Thibaud Cau-Cecille and Claudio Oyarce bring a wealth of experience to their new venture, that seeks to solve the significant challenges faced by architects, interior designers and brands in the day-to-day running of their businesses.
Programa’s new platform integrates project management software designed and built specifically for interior designers and architects, with Australia’s largest directory of products and in doing so aims to solve the frustration for designers who currently manage complicated projects using antiquated methods such as Microsoft Excel, email and even fax to manage hundreds or products.
“Designers are desperate for a better solution, and often explain that they didn’t study architecture or interior design so they could spend their lives using Microsoft Excel, searching Google and chasing quotes”, explains Traviss Orr.
The platform allows designers to easily find the products they need, and instantly add these to their workflow, including the products’ data and sales contact information, simplifying their current process involving time consuming manual data entry into spreadsheets, only to be constantly updated, changed and customised during the lifespan of a project.
For brands, Programa provides an affordable way to promote their products to a high-value audience and a much-needed way to see their future sales opportunities – and given the long lead time for some products, connecting with designers early is extremely important.
Co-founders Thibaud Cau-Cecille and Claudio Oyarce are veterans of the industry having run Denfair, Australia’s largest interior design trade show and in doing so dealt with hundreds of brands, and hosted tens of thousands of designers.
“At Denfair we worked with many up-and-coming brands who often complained how hard it was to compete – small brands simply can’t afford to buy full page ads in interiors magazines and build fancy websites. Programa solves that problem.”
Programa provides brands with a comprehensive portal to manage their products, including detailed analytics for impressions, engagements and quote requests, as well as self-service advertising upgrades.
The brand portal also gives the brands the ability to immediately see when products have been added to moodboards and schedules, and to contact those designers and begin their sales process.
“Pre-Covid, brands primarily relied on showrooms, traditional door-to-door business development, and trade shows for contract sales. That all changed during lockdown and sadly the Melbourne-based brands feel it more than others”
“Programa gives brands an affordable and effective marketing channel, with designers able to find what they’re looking for in minutes, rather than having to search Google, browse Pinterest, and flick through magazines hoping to find what they need.
In just over 6 weeks, Programa has registered more than 150 brands, who sell more than 100,000 products, and registered almost 700 interior design and architecture studios.
The founders came together in late 2019 and despite having only worked together in the same office for less than 6 weeks since then due to lockdown, managed to launch in late July to coincide with Virtual Denfair 2.0.
It was Traviss’s partner Zoe Lowres, a professional interior designer, who first alerted the founders to the issue being faced by designers, “Zoe was explaining how scheduling works and how time consuming it is. I had no idea what a schedule was, but it seemed crazy to me that Microsoft Excel was the best available option”.
“We’ve got a long way to go, but the initial feedback has been really positive”
Programa’s ultimate goal is to provide designers and brands with the technology infrastructure they need to run their business more efficiently.
For more information, or to arrange a product demonstration, please contact:
Traviss Orr, Co-founder & CEO.
0472 999 559
[email protected]
Link to all images, videos, logos etc:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/glxljmg4ki8x4pz/AADQeFJXCnV7DDxyo-xDC-Dua?dl=0
