Struck’s Google TV App for Zions Direct

Agency Struck is bringing informed investing into living rooms across America with their new app for Zions Direct, the broker-dealer subsidiary of Zions First National Bank. With the app’s recent release, Zions Direct clients with Google TV-enabled televisions will be able to access videos, auction info, and educational content.

 

Zions Direct already provides clients with investment intelligence on the web – market summaries, stock quotes, asset allocation tools, industry news and research – to help guide them as they trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options and CDs through Zions’ online services. The new Google TV app brings these resources out of the office and into the living room for the first time.

 

Clients with Google TV-enabled screens will be able to access the app through their televisions in two modes: ‘lean back mode’ and ‘lean forward mode’. In ‘lean back mode’ the app acts as a customizable TV and news channel, but users can switch to ‘lean forward mode’ at any point to delve deeper. “We’ve built a two-state interface into the application itself, which perfectly fits the purpose of a Smart TV,” says Dustin Davis, Interactive Creative Director at Struck. “It straddles the line between web browser and passive television.”

 

Struck designers aimed to create a layout and user experience that meshes well with existing Zions applications, including the Struck-created iOS app ‘Auctions by Zions Direct.’ Struck has also kept an eye on the future by laying the groundwork for porting the app to Windows 8, a move which may come under consideration in the coming months.

 

“We approached this as a Smart TV project first,” says Davis. “As with all our projects, we wanted to showcase Struck's ability to remain attentive to the client's strategy while employing our own innovative methods.”

 

Zions Direct customers will be treated to a first-class user experience with the new app, largely because – unlike most Google TV apps – it was designed for Google TV from the ground up. Most current Google TV apps on the market are ported from tablet or Android operating systems.