Utility: Award-Winning Agency behind New Age Digital Experiences

Founded in 2013, Utility partners with clients to design and develop custom mobile apps, platforms and experiences. The company works with an array of clients, from global brands and media properties to innovative startups and funded ventures.

Utility is led by industry veterans who have come together from various areas of discipline to serve client partners with a well-rounded, expert-level approach to modern technology solutions.

The company's focus is building digital products that gain traction and succeed. If their clients have the vision for a high-value product, the company brings the ideas to life. Blue-chip brands and new startup ventures trust Utility to design and engineer award-winning iOS, Android and Web applications that get attention and make noise. The company has served industry big names including Airbnb, Coca Cola, NBA, BuzzFeed, Samsung, and Verizon.

Utility is an end-to-end mobile product agency, focusing on designing and engineering today’s mobile-first businesses and new ventures. Founded by digital leaders from companies like Major League Baseball and McCann Erickson, Utility is built by folks that have been on the other side of the table and in big spotlights. The company treats every project as if it was its own, and its process ensures that they build products that create measurable value on time and on budget.

The company's veteran team of strategists, designers and developers has deep experience across various fields, from Entertainment and Media, to Medical and Wellness, to Fintech and Fashion.

Amongst its expertise are the company's smart solutions, which it brings to life with research-backed strategies and high-quality, professional-grade custom product designs. Utility is fanatical about the UX/UI design process, and it goes deep to cover all user scenarios and edge cases. The company gets noticed for its brand design too.

The company also works hard on building scalable applications. Utility architects and codes hard-core iOS and Android mobile apps, built for scale and security. It doesn’t shy away from building custom web platforms either. The company's product engineering folks are industry veterans from leading technology organizations and they have seen it all.

Utility knows how to get companies to the starting line on time and within budget, but they don’t stop there. The company strongly believes in executing ongoing, fluid Agile product releases using informed decisions based on measured learnings from real users. So, launching is just the beginning.

The company's in-house creative and design team is passionate about aesthetics and user experience, following the latest trends but also crafting new styles to disrupt the market.

Working with Airbnb

Airbnb’s third-annual global conference, the Airbnb Open, welcomed 20,000+ hosts from 100+ countries to LA for a week of social collaboration, learning, speaker panels and specialty classes, capped off by a star-studded awards show and music. For a modern brand like Airbnb, the mobile and digital experience was a prime focus to engage users before, during and after the event, with smartly crafted applications that facilitate the best experience possible.

Utility was chosen as the lead digital partner of the Airbnb Open, designing and developing all mobile app and web platforms surrounding the event, from online registration, itinerary planning, and dynamic micro-event ticketing to various on-site engagement tools and immersive social experiences.

The company designed and engineered tools to help constituents discover each other, connecting in meaningful ways through modern technology and applications. Using geolocation wristband trackers, Utility also created a stress-free environment that enabled attendees to roam freely, creating a richer overall experience.

The mobile applications were crucial to the success of the events, helping thousands of free-roaming users find their way around, manage their itineraries, get instant update alerts, track their notes, and dozens of other features right in their pocket, all while keeping performance high in unstable outdoor/indoor environments.

Users were able to have real-time event scheduling updates, and Airbnb was able to program and steer the entire event's information from one master central command center built custom for them, powering more than 500+ sessions with 1,000+ speakers.

When the gates opened, the entire global community of Airbnb die-hards were able to easily access ticketing info and purchasing flows, including discounts, group deals and early bird specials. With tens of thousands of people rushing at once, Airbnb was able to support the influx with scale and speed.

"The biggest difference between Utility and other shops we've worked with is their agility and dedication. We've thrown them a lot of curveballs, and they've always managed to figure out a solution," said Shannon Jones, VP of Civic Entertainment Group (Airbnb).

Today, the award-winning Airbnb Open is a smashing success year over year, with glowing reviews from the press, constituents, and Airbnb management. The digital experiences across mobile and web have been a shining spot on the event as a whole, recognized by all who attended as seamless, smooth, and truly useful.

David Cohen, CEO and Co-Founder

"Utility is led by industry veterans who have come together from various areas of discipline to serve client partners with a well-rounded, expert-level approach to modern technology solutions."

"Blue-chip brands and new startup ventures trust Utility to design and engineer award-winning iOS, Android and Web applications that get attention and make noise."