Senior digital strategy, design, and editorial
CBGO is Christine Gibson and Ben Oderwald. We solve problems in healthcare, e-commerce, content strategy, and systematic design. If you’ve got a complex problem, a strategic question, or a persistent frustration with your current digital experience, we can help.
Where we work
Healthcare
Digital help for hospitals, health systems, and specialty groups
Healthcare providers face thorny problems: helping patients find care, choose a provider, and get to a booked appointment, getting people signed up for portals, and then getting them to actually use them, getting analytics set up to deliver results, accessibility that works for every patient, and making sense of the AI hype/doom cycle. Ben solves problems for large healthcare systems and and Christine does content strategy, editing, and writing for some of the biggest names in health tech. Our experience means where not getting up to speed on your dime.
E-commerce
Digital experience for retail, luxury, B2B, and direct to consumer
Product discovery and search, browsing experiences that keep customers engaged, content that informs and entices, conversion and checkout that don't lose the sale at the last step. None of this works without a foundation, so we know how to do platform migrations that do something better, not just newer, B2B self-service at scale, and marketing that connects all the dots. Like with healthcare, our deep experience with some of the biggest retailers in the world gives us a head start on solving your problems.
Content Strategy and Editorial
For organizations that need to reach sophisticated audiences with effective content
We plan and create content that moves the needle on organizational goals; product content, thought leadership, white papers, reports, and executive ghostwriting. We can help with brand voice development, editorial governance, and navigating the impact of AI on content development. Christine is a senior Editor at our partner Fitch Ink, where she leads editorial consulting for major corporate, healthcare, cybersecurity, fintech, and technology clients.
Systematic
Design
Design systems, headless and modular CMS, content migration, and governance
This is the discipline that lets design and content scale without scaling the team that produces them. Component libraries, information architecture, design, migration strategy that protects SEO and editorial continuity, and the governance that keeps systems working after launch. Getting this right is essential for preparing organizations and their digital properties for the future, whatever that brings.
Results
418% increase in online scheduling volume
at a multi-state health system after a digital self-scheduling redesign. Click-to-call fell 40% in the same period as patients moved to full self service.
$380 million in the first year
in saving and earnings from the digital transformation of B2B sales processes and tools for a sports retail giant.
2.5x increase in virtual specialty care appointments
in the first six months after a digital front door redesign at a major academic medical center to prioritize easy of scheduling.
10x traffic
increase
to a corporate newsroom after a transformation from press-release repository to a content destination for banking-industry decision-makers.
1000s of monthly impressions
through a specialized editorial program built for a leading global medical-technology company.
Who we are
Christine Gibson
Editor, writer, content and editorial strategist.
Christine leads content strategy and editorial at CBGO. She was an editor and head of the fact checking department at American Heritage Magazine and Invention and Technology Magazine. During a long freelance career, she worked with the Smithsonian, HarperCollins, and Forbes.com, and appeared as a commentator on the History Channel. Her published writing covers topics from the American Revolution to the Grateful Dead, from prehistoric volcanoes to semiconductors.
She is an editorial consultant working with large corporate, cybersecurity, technology, healthcare, and fintech clients on thought leadership, editorial governance, content strategy, and brand voice.
Ben Oderwald
Digital strategist, UX researcher and designer.
Ben leads digital strategy, UX research and design, and systematic-design at CBGO. Twenty-plus years in digital across healthcare, e-commerce, luxury, financial services, and direct-to-consumer. He was a founding member of -the e-commerce and design strategy practices at storied digital agency R/GA, spent five years directing UX /UI design and strategy at Modea, one of the country's leading healthcare digital agencies. Hundreds of hours in direct patient and customer research across health systems and high-consideration purchase categories.
His work has ranged from web, to mobile apps, to physical installations for clients as varied at the New York Stock Exchange, Nike, the Ellis Island Foundation, and Keck Medicine of USC.
How we work
We're the leads on every engagement. The work that ends up in a deliverable is work we either do ourselves or supervise closely. We're not running a shop (although we do sometimes bring some friends along.)
Most engagements start with strategy: defining the problem, assessing current state, identifying the highest-value gains, and mapping a path forward. From there, the engagement can expand into research, design, content, and production as the work calls for it. Or maybe we just point you in the right direction. We’re here to help, not meet our own growth targets.
We shape our working style to your needs. We’re not shy about embedding with, supporting internal teams, or filling organizational gaps while assisting with the search for a permanent hire.
When the work calls for a full team, we bring in partners we've worked with for years.
Senior multidisciplinary teams, assembled around the engagement.
&Kind doesn't carry a fixed team. It matches senior practitioners to each engagement, drawing from a vetted network across strategy, design, research, development, analytics, marketing, and content. The depth of an established agency, the focus of a small team, and no bill for the people who aren't on your project. When we need to scale a team up quickly with people we trust, this is where we go first. The practitioners in the network are people we've worked with directly, not names from a roster.
Get in touch
You don't need a fully scoped brief, or even a budget, to start a conversation. Bring us a problem: a specific initiative, a strategic question, a persistent frustration with your current digital experience or content program, or just the need for fresh eyes. We'll help you figure out the right next step. If we can help, we'll say so. If not, you'll leave with a clearer picture of what you actually need.
No pitch decks. No agency theater. Just a direct conversation about your situation.