Lex Thomas's Blog, page 3

Squarespace’s 2023 Super Bowl Campaign ‘The Singularity’ Stars Adam Driver

Squarespace today revealed its ninth Super Bowl campaign, ‘The Singularity’ starring Adam Driver. The in-game spot, directed by award-winning filmmaker Aoife McArdle, recognizes Squarespace’s founding history as a pioneer in website building. In the campaign, Adam Driver, playing multiple versions of himself, is struck by the idea that Squarespace is a website that makes websites. As he follows that line of thinking down the rabbit hole, reality itself begins to unravel, triggering a singularity event. 

The spot provides a moment of levity during the big game, and is true to form for Squarespace in its willingness to stand out with quirky humor and high quality cinematic execution.

"I couldn’t be happier to do this commercial with Squarespace and for the Super Bowl,” said Adam Driver. “The cast ALONE was reason to do this.”

2023 marks the 20th anniversary of Squarespace, and this campaign reflects on the brand’s  roots by comedically exploring its earliest goal of creating a seamless platform where anyone can easily create a premium website. Today, Squarespace’s all-in-one platform has evolved to provide entrepreneurs with everything they need to succeed online, including tools to start and grow a presence and business, connect with and monetize their audience, and manage and scale their business online. 

“We are thrilled to be back at the big game for our ninth year,” said Anthony Casalena, Founder & CEO of Squarespace. “Partnering with Adam Driver to satirize our origin is a fun way to honor where we've been as a company. While we started off as a website that builds websites, Squarespace has evolved into a powerful platform that provides all of the tools entrepreneurs need to turn an idea into reality and start a thriving business online.”

Squarespace’s latest platform innovation, Fluid Engine, a next generation website design system for truly customizable, fast and easy web design experience, ensures that anyone can create an online presence that stands out and is truly reflective of their brand or vision. As part of the campaign, Squarespace has launched a limited-edition Singularity template on Fluid Engine that is now available and can be accessed here. 

The 30-second spot will air between the first and second quarters of Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, February 12th. The campaign includes a supporting behind-the-scenes teaser also starring Driver, directed by Squarespace's in-house creative team. To learn more about the campaign or get started with The Singularity template, visit thesingularity.squarespace.com. 

Squarespace expands Domains offering and professional email capabilities with Google Workspace

The right domain can strengthen your brand and add credibility to your business. With over 350 million domains registered worldwide and roughly 10 million new domain registrations every quarter, it has never been more important for entrepreneurs to secure a domain and professional email address for their new idea. As a trusted ICANN-accredited Registrar, Squarespace makes it easy for anyone to claim a domain and professional email address, get started building an online presence, and transacting with your customers in one seamless experience.

“Securing a domain is often the first step of the entrepreneurial journey that makes your idea feel real,” said Paul Gubbay, Chief Product Officer at Squarespace “At Squarespace, we aim to make it as easy as possible for anyone to choose their ideal domain that reflects their brand and leverage the many tools available to engage with their customers, including sending emails to customers from the domain address."

Squarespace is evolving our domain and email offerings to provide our customers with even more powerful tools, including:

Expanded Email Offerings Through Google Workspace: The ability to send emails from your domain is crucial for businesses. Squarespace partners with Google Workspace to offer our customers the best tools for sending emails with your domain address, including Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Meet and more. Along with the Business Starter  email plan, Squarespace is offering a new higher tier Business Standard email plan that provides more robust capabilities for growing businesses. With the Business Standard email plan, customers now have an additional 2 TB of storage, video recording capabilities, and Paid Enhanced Support by Google. 

Tailored Domain Recommendations: When you’re ready to publish your website, Squarespace recommends appropriate available domains based on components of your web design.

Domain Connect with NameServers: New tools that make it easier than ever to connect an existing third-party domain to any Squarespace site in just a few steps. 

Beyond these updates, Squarespace’s core Domains product offers the most comprehensive domain registration tools, all within our powerful all-in-one platform. Squarespace Domains offers:

Easy access to a large selection of domains, including top-level domains (TLD), like .com, .net, .co for the search string. Squarespace offers over 330 TLDs, including international country code TLDs like .uk, .ca, and .au.

Domain management tools that allow you to do everything from editing DNS records to forwarding URLs. 

Competitive pricing without annual increases. Domain subscriptions also come with free Whois Privacy protection for your domain contact information. 

Simple transfers of domains so you can manage all of your websites and domains in one unified Squarespace platform.

Squarespace’s best-in-class 24/7 customer support.

All annual Squarespace website plans offer a free domain name and professional email for the first year. To get started with your domain search and secure your URL, visit . 

Squarespace Expands Leadership Team, Names New Head of Tock

Squarespace, the all-in-one website building and ecommerce platform, today announced the appointment of Matthew Tucker as Senior Vice President, Head of Tock, reporting to CEO & Founder Anthony Casalena. 

“We have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us as we continue to deepen and expand our portfolio of products for entrepreneurs,” said Anthony Casalena. “We are excited today to welcome Matt Tucker, who has a proven track record in leading product development and go-to-market strategies for tech companies. We believe his deep industry expertise and leadership will undoubtedly help fuel the future growth of Tock.” 

Mr. Tucker will oversee the commercial success and growth of Tock, a leading hospitality platform that powers reservations, table management, carryout operations, events, and more for thousands of operators across 33 countries. Mr. Tucker brings more than two decades of experience leading hospitality technology and other SaaS companies, most recently serving as President and Chief Operating Officer of Olo for almost nine years. Matt helped build Olo from a team of 10 to over 700 and through its eventual public listing in 2021. With Matt joining Tock, the Company also announced that Nick Kokonas, Tock’s Founder and CEO, plans to step down effective January 2, 2023. Mr. Kokonas will support the transition in his current leadership role through January 2, 2023. 

Squarespace is committed to creating and innovating on products that support entrepreneurs of all types, and we are looking forward to investing further in Tock during its next phase of growth.

About Tock

Tock, a Squarespace company, powers reservations, table management, carryout operations, and events for more than 7,000 hospitality operators ranging from neighborhood pizzerias to Michelin-starred destinations, wineries, and pop-ups in 30 countries. Tock's cloud-based platform provides businesses with sophisticated CRM and dynamic pricing tools to increase sales and deliver world-class hospitality. Tock has processed over $2.5 billion prepaid experiences in addition to millions of standard reservations across 200 cities around the world. Recently named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2021, Tock launched Tock to Go in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow restaurants to schedule takeout orders themselves instead of linking out to delivery services.

Introducing Squarespace Refresh 2022 and Squarespace Icons

Squarespace (NYSE: SQSP), the all-in-one website building and ecommerce platform, today announced Squarespace Refresh, an annual release of new product features and updates that empower customers to build their empires and transact online with a beautifully designed digital presence. Squarespace has long supported entrepreneurs, and is rapidly expanding its product portfolio to address their evolving needs by helping them streamline their presence, monetize their audiences and content, and scale their businesses. Squarespace is also introducing Squarespace Icons, a new campaign that pairs the brand with visionary creatives and entrepreneurs to design limited edition templates. The first collaboration available features an exclusive Fluid Engine template with multidisciplinary artist, Björk.    

“Creating Squarespace Refresh represents a great way for us to showcase the incredible progress we have made over the past year,” said Anthony Casalena, Founder & CEO of Squarespace. “From delivering Unbreakable Creativity in web design with the launch of Fluid Engine and our limited edition template with Björk, to introducing new dynamic monetization capabilities, we are excited to launch these incredibly powerful and creative tools to help anyone express their ideas and succeed online.”

Custom Merch with Squarespace.

Highlights of what is available today and coming soon include:

Monetize an Audience: Tools to convert followers into paying customers by earning consistent revenue from videos, expertise, or merchandise.

Video monetization: Natively host video content on Squarespace’s beautifully designed video pages, giving anyone the ability to turn their expertise into income by selling membership access to gated video content. New updates include asset protection tools, in-player video paywalls, and the ability to manage subscriptions with a new digital product composer and inventory panel.

Custom Merch: Easily create and sell high-quality, custom products on your Squarespace store with no overhead. Through a partnership with Printful, Squarespace has created a seamless experience to easily start selling products. Custom Merch powers production, shipping and fulfillment so you can focus on running your business.

Sell anywhere: New ways to connect product inventory directly to other platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Google, and YouTube, so individuals can easily transact with customers where they already are.

Commerce releases:  New features including product reviews, display related items in customer carts, and pay-as-you-go checkout options help customers increase their sales. Merchants can streamline shipping with a new order status page for customers, USPS shipping label purchasing and printing through Squarespace, and local pickup options.

Squarespace Scheduling: Seamlessly book and manage appointments and classes, and collect payments with custom invoicing that can be shared with clients to track and collect payments.

Build a Brand: Tools to build a beautiful and impactful online presence for every platform.

Fluid Engine: A next generation drag-and-drop editor that gives entrepreneurs complete control over their content, including artist Björk who leveraged Fluid Engine’s technology for her personal site and new album, Fossora, which inspired our limited edition template collaboration.

Unfold: Video-first, all-in-one platform to create trend-setting content for social media in minutes. Updates include exclusive templates for TikTok and Instagram Reels, and the ability to create, sell, and promote your own digital collectibles.

Bio Sites from Squarespace: Through the Unfold app or our new web editor, anyone can create a beautiful one-page link-in-bio website to feature content, merch, digital collectables, and more—in one place. Users can also accept tips from supporters and collect funds for projects with the Tips, Support Me and Crowdfunding options. 

Updated Website Design Tools: Breakthrough updates like new scrolling blocks, text highlights, text scaling, and button styles, enabling anyone to express their aesthetic and personality easily on the web. 

Manage a Business: Tools to stay on top of your business from anywhere, all in one place.

Run your business from your phone: Take your business with you wherever you go with the updated Squarespace App. 

Instant Marketing Content: Instant marketing assets, including still images, gifs, and videos, which are created from your products and brand colors for social media, email marketing, and video ads.

Sell in person with new Point of Sale functionalities.

Manage bookings and invoices with the Squarespace Scheduling app.

Asset library: A central hub for creators to share assets. Upload images and videos to your library from your phone or desktop and use them across Squarespace. Access and organize your content in one place with the new Asset Library. 

The scale of these updates and features combined with our leading design expertise has provided Squarespace an opportunity to work with iconoclastic creative Björk to fuse technology and creativity in memorable ways with the launch of Squarespace Icons. Björk’s limited edition Fluid Engine website template will be available from now until January 13, 2023.

Squarespace customer Björk.

Inspired by the organic, interconnected lines of fungal networks, Björk’s template features full bleed visuals, layered content, and a bespoke mobile design that come together to create an immersive and flowing context experience. Also being revealed today is a film by Squarespace’s award-winning in-house Creative team that explores Björk’s inspirations, the visual world of the album and how it was all translated to her Squarespace site. Filmed in her native Iceland and driven by her narration, it’s a portrait of an artist that has always been willing to engage with technology.

Beginning today, Squarespace customers will be able to access many of the new product features and updates, including Björk’s exclusive template. More information on the 100+ new products and updates can be found at squarespace.com/refresh/2022. More information on Squarespace Icons and access to the limited edition template can be found at icons.squarespace.com.

Acuity Scheduling Launches Invoicing Tools

When Acuity Scheduling joined Squarespace in 2019, our goal was simple - to make it seamless for our customers to offer appointment scheduling and manage bookings through our platform.  

Invoices is the latest addition to Acuity Scheduling, making it easy for customers to manage the invoicing process, and get paid for their time. Acuity Scheduling Invoices allow customers to create and send custom invoices, manage and track invoices, and accept payments securely, all in one place.

The new feature includes easy-to-use tools to quickly create invoices with autofilled appointment types, custom line items, and personalized messages. Invoices can be easily viewed, saved and duplicated for future uses, streamlining the often tedious process of juggling multiple services. To simplify the payment process, customers can send invoices directly to clients using a unique shared link, and payments are processed safely and securely. Customers can track the status of their invoices through a single dashboard that displays all sent, outstanding and paid invoices, in real-time. 

Squarespace is dedicated to providing creators and entrepreneurs with all the tools they need to thrive in one seamless, integrated platform. Acuity Scheduling Invoices joins a range of recent Commerce product updates dedicated to helping customers diversify revenue streams and get the most out of how they sell online. New products include Automated product videos, Shipping Labels, Product Reviews, Shipping Profiles Import and Discount emails. Find out more about all of the recent Commerce product updates here. 

Invoicing is now available to all Acuity customers. More details can be found here. 

Squarespace Launches Invoicing Tools for Squarespace Scheduling

When Acuity Scheduling joined Squarespace in 2019, our goal was simple - to make it seamless for our customers to offer appointment scheduling and manage bookings through our platform.  

In 2020, we launched Squarespace Scheduling to support customers looking for additional tools to run their booking businesses. Invoices is the latest addition to Squarespace Scheduling, making it easy for customers to manage the invoicing process, and get paid for their time. Squarespace Scheduling Invoices allow customers to create and send custom invoices, manage and track invoices, and accept payments securely, all in one place.

The new feature includes easy-to-use tools to quickly create invoices with autofilled appointment types, custom line items, and personalized messages. Invoices can be easily viewed, saved and duplicated for future uses, streamlining the often tedious process of juggling multiple services. To simplify the payment process, customers can send invoices directly to clients using a unique shared link, and payments are processed safely and securely. Customers can track the status of their invoices through a single dashboard that displays all sent, outstanding and paid invoices, in real-time. 

Squarespace is dedicated to providing creators and entrepreneurs with all the tools they need to thrive in one seamless, integrated platform. Squarespace Scheduling Invoices joins a range of recent Commerce product updates dedicated to helping customers diversify revenue streams and get the most out of how they sell online. New products include Automated product videos, Shipping Labels, Product Reviews, Shipping Profiles Import and Discount emails. Find out more about all of the recent Commerce product updates here. 

Invoicing is now available to all Scheduling customers. More details can be found here. 

Squarespace Launches Fluid Engine, Our New Website Design System

Today, we’re excited to unveil Fluid Engine, an incredibly powerful and versatile evolution of our page editing system that reimagines drag-and-drop technology and unlocks creative possibilities not previously possible on our platform. The goal of our editing system is always to balance ease of use with expressibility. Fluid Engine pushes on both of those areas, resulting in a platform that is accessible to more customers while at the same time unlocking many new creative possibilities. 

Fluid Engine provides our customers with maximum freedom to easily play with, experiment, and stretch creative limits through an unrestricted canvas, which is guided by an advanced smart grid. Regardless of how you experiment with Fluid Engine, our guidelines and design system will ensure that your website looks good no matter what. 

“We see our Squarespace site as the front door to our business,” said Edwina Bartholomew, Squarespace customer and owner of the Australian farm retreat Warramba. “We wanted the entire experience from first click, to making a booking, to our guests’ eventual stay at Warramba to be a wonderfully rich experience. Fluid Engine allowed us to achieve this.”

Fluid Engine offers groundbreaking web design through a new editing system, which includes an array of new functionalities and customization options:

Easier Customization and Creative Expression. A modern design system that gives users creative freedom and flexibility, with design guidance through the advanced drag-and-drop smart grid. 

Placement Precision. A new level of control when arranging content within layouts. You can control all aspects of layering, alignment, full bleed positioning, and more. 

More Control Over Your Mobile Website. A smart grid specifically designed for mobile view that helps users create bespoke designs independent from their desktop version to optimize their mobile experience.

Design Efficiency. Intelligent, responsive functionality to help users get their envisioned design results faster and more easily.

Paired with other newly released design tools—including a motion-based scrolling block, curated font packs and color palettes, custom button styles, and more—Squarespace continues to lead the way as the web’s most powerful website builder.

Fluid Engine is now available on Squarespace 7.1 in English, with plans to roll out in other supported languages beginning this fall. Fluid Engine is included in your Squarespace subscription, and accessible when editing your website. 

Introducing New Commerce Products and Features

We are excited to introduce a series of new Commerce products and features that we rolled out throughout the last quarter. These tools are designed to help customers get the most out of the ways they sell online, whether it be through physical products, digital content, classes, appointments or reservations. At Squarespace, we provide creators and entrepreneurs with all of the tools and services they need to sell anything. We’re continuing to build on our all-in-one platform with the below releases: 

Automated product videos: Customers can now use the Squarespace iOS app to access automated videos showcasing top selling or new products and services that can be easily shared on social media. Video content can still be edited or created using the Squarespace Video Studio app, which enables creators to make professional quality videos that match the design and branding of their Squarespace site. Find out more here. 

Shipping Labels: Merchants can buy, print, and send the tracking info for USPS shipping labels directly through Squarespace to streamline their fulfillment workflow. Labels are accessible with active pending orders for physical products. Find out more here. 

Product Reviews: Squarespace merchants can solicit and display product reviews directly on their online stores, on specific products, or across all products they sell. In addition to reviews collected on Squarespace, reviews can also be imported from Etsy and displayed directly on a Squarespace website. All reviews are visible in a central dashboard, which includes information such as review date, customer name, review stars value, review description, product image and name, and review visibility. Find out more here.

Shipping Profiles Import: Squarespace makes it easy for Etsy marketplace sellers to import products directly into their Squarespace store while continuing to manage their Etsy shop efficiently. With this new update, customers can import shipping rates directly from Etsy without having to manually set them up again on Squarespace. Find out more here. 

Discount email: It’s important for sellers to be able to convert leads into first time customers by connecting with them directly. Squarespace makes it easy to reach these customers through pre-built discount emails that are customized with site styles, relevant email subscribers, and a discount code, helping shops save time with an email format that’s consistent with their existing brand. Find out more here. 

These new features support Squarespace’s vision to give today's creators and entrepreneurs everything they need to thrive in one seamless, integrated platform. For information on the new products, please visit https://www.squarespace.com. Have questions? Our Customer Care team is here to help, 24/7. Don’t have a Squarespace website? Get started today.

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The term 'Etsy' is a trademark of Etsy, Inc. This application uses the Etsy API but is not endorsed or certified by Etsy.

Announcing the Winners of the Fifth Annual “Make It Awards”

Today, Squarespace announced the winners of the fifth annual “Make It Awards,” a program launched in partnership with The New York Knicks in 2017 to provide four tri-state area entrepreneurs and creators with the funds and exposure to elevate their businesses.

The winners each receive a $30,000 grant inspired by the investment Squarespace Founder and CEO Anthony Casalena received from his parents to launch the company in 2003. In addition to the grant, “Make It Awards” winners receive a one-year subscription to Squarespace, use of select Squarespace marketing inventory, including a one-year Unfold Pro subscription, a feature segment on MSG Networks, and more. 

Learn more about the 2022 winners, Adapt Ability (Brooklyn, NY), Harlem Pilates (Harlem, NY), Legally BLK Fund (New York, NY) and COVERR (Queens, NY) below:

Adapt Ability is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides custom adaptive bicycles for children with special needs. Each bicycle is tailored to the child to provide mobility, a source of exercise, a therapeutic tool, and so that they can enjoy the simple pleasure of riding a bicycle. Adapt Ability bicycles are donated to families free of charge.

Harlem Pilates is the only Pilates studio in Harlem, and their focus is to make health and wellness accessible to diverse communities. To counter the lack of representation and diversity in the fitness industry, Harlem Pilates aims to create a safe space where everyone feels included, appreciated, respected, and celebrated on their wellness journey.

Legally BLK Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was launched in 2020. With Black women making up only 2% of attorneys in the United States, the Legally BLK Fund is dedicated to supporting aspiring Black women attorneys by providing them with resources and financial assistance.

COVERR provides financial services that are customized for the gig economy and empowers the workers to reach their highest earning potential by offering a better alternative to a credit card or loan by eliminating traditional barriers. 

The judging panel for the awards this year included MSG Networks sportscasters Rebecca Haarlow and Monica McNutt, last year’s recipient and First Tech Fund CEO & Co-Founder Josue De Paz, Jack Settleman of SnapBack Sports, and Photographer Andre Wagner. Additionally, Squarespace Founder and CEO Anthony Casalena returned as a judge for a fifth year.

Squarespace’s mission to help entrepreneurs and creators stand out and succeed is strengthened each year by the “Make It Awards.” The company’s long standing partnership with Madison Square Garden and The New York Knicks represents the commitment of both organizations to give back and make a difference in their community. To learn more about the initiative, please visit www.makeitawards.com. 

Unfold Releases New Features and High-Impact Design Updates

Unfold, Squarespace's award-winning app that helps anyone stand out, capture audiences, and monetize content on social media, has launched a series of exciting new features and updates. The new enhancements make it easier for creators to develop and diversify revenue streams, engage their audiences, and plan content—furthering Squarespace’s vision to be the all-in-one platform providing creators and entrepreneurs with the social tools they need to succeed.

With Unfold, users can utilize one of hundreds of templates to make professional-looking and easy-to-share social content. Unfold’s Bio Sites—beautiful landing pages optimized for social—enable users to link to everything they offer in one place within their social bio, from their contact information, portfolio and information on causes they care about. Unfold makes it easy for creators to turn their lifestyle into their livelihoods with tools to transform their creative ideas into beautiful content. 

The new updates include:

Tools to stand out

Slideshows: Users can easily create videos with images they already have by putting any story or post template into slideshow mode and exporting it as a video to share on TikTok and Reels.

Music Integration: Powered by Epidemic Sound, users can now add unique, royalty-free music tracks to their stories and posts.

Tools to connect with audiences

Tipping on Bio Sites: Unfold has partnered with Stripe to allow creators to accept tips directly through their Bio Site in support of their goods and services.  

Multiple Bio Sites:. Everyone using Unfold has access to two free Bio Sites -- with more available to Unfold Pro users -- to provide flexibility for those managing multiple audiences, whether it be personal or brand.

Tools to save time 

Post Scheduling to Instagram: Now users can schedule Instagram posts across multiple accounts in addition to organizing their feeds, writing captions, and posting directly from Unfold to Instagram and other social platforms.

All Unfold users can now utilize these new updates, and those with Unfold+ and Unfold Pro will have expanded usage and access. Unfold is free to download in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store for anyone, including Squarespace customers. Login with your Squarespace account and get started building beautiful social content today.