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Stuart Wells, Managing Director at agency Wickedweb talks to Figaro Digital about best practice within design and build - Article by Jon Fortgang - Figaro Digital

"If you build it," runs the line in baseball drama Field of Dreams, "they will come."

That was back in 1989, but until comparatively recently the same theory underpinned plenty of design and build projects. Now that Google decides on ranking, campaigns are seeded on social and the mobile frontier opens up, brand managers and marketers need to approach the planning and construction of their sites – and in particular SEO - with scientific precision.

Wickedweb are a full service digital agency who specialise in this field. Established in 2002, the company's work with a range of clients over the last decade has provided them with a clear perspective on some of the most persistent challenges – as well as the greatest opportunities – open to digital marketers seeking to optimise their presence across all channels.

Flexible working

"We speak to some new clients now," says Stuart Wells, Managing Director at Wickwedweb, "who've been through maybe two or three versions of a design and build project, and they're a bit nervous at the start. They're saying to us, 'we've made these mistakes in the past, we've seen these errors crop up. How can we mitigate the risk and improve our top level approach to a design and build project?'"

For Wells and the team at Wickedweb, the answer to that has involved establishing a clear best practice procedure which, they believe, helps brands refine their objectives and focus on achievable goals with measurable value. So what, for Wells, does best practice within design and build actually entail?

"Most projects start with a client saying, 'I want to deliver this'," he explains. "'I want to do it in three months and this is how much I've got to spend.' But the reality is, at that point, nine out of 10 clients don't know what it is they're looking to achieve, they don't know how long it's going to take and they don't know how much it's going to cost. And the agencies tendering for the job don't know either, because until you get into those detailed workshops and discussions, you simply don't."

Wells uses a three-part model to describe the approach best suited to streamlining and unifying that process.  "There's the budget," he says, "There's the deadline, and there's the delivery. The methodology by which a large scale design and build project is delivered is all-important. In years gone by you'd see the 'waterfall' methodology, where you do one stage of the project, agree it with the client, sign off and then move to the next stage."

The problem with that approach, explains Wells, is an inherent lack of flexibility. Budgets change, deadlines shift and objectives are reconceived. "A lot of times that ends in disappointment. We inherit a lot of clients who've been through that relationship. What we're looking at now is a more agile way of working, where we'll ask the client not necessarily to commit to a definite budget but a budget range, not to commit to an absolute deliverable, but to a deliverable range. And not to set their heart on an absolute deadline but to a range of dates. That way you can enter the project and be far more open and pragmatic and say, 'What is actually achievable here? What are you looking to do as a business and what can we do to give you as much value as possible?'

Brief encounters

Given his experience, what, for Wells are some of the most persistent challenges facing brands and agencies as they embark on a project together? Though brand managers may imagine the tighter a brief the better, that isn't always the case.

"Eighty per cent of briefs are actually too specific," he explains. That might sound counter-intuitive in a field where clarity of purpose is key, but more information, it transpires, doesn't always mean better information.

"Most brand and marketing managers will have a good idea of what they want to achieve. Let's say it's an integrated campaign – they'll be aware of some of the things they can do in social media, some of the things you can do with a CMS. But they may not know the best things that can be achieved at that point in time. Often agencies will respond to those client requirements because the clients have been very prescriptive. But that may not be the best way to achieve a client's underlying objectives, because there are new methods or more technically advanced ways of doing things." As an example, Wells cites advances in browser-technology versus Flash. But the point, he says, is that agencies should be able to analyse a client's top-level objectives and then present that client with the best routes to achieving those aims, rather than having to stick to a rigid, pre-ordained road map.

Starting with SEO

Key to any design and build project is SEO. For Wells and the Wickedweb team, it's the foundation on which everything else rests. So how does best practice apply here?

"To get the best results in SEO," says Wells, "you have to be there right at the beginning. Your organic search strategy has to be considered right at the start of the project. And that search strategy needs to filter through to the content audit – understanding where content is going to be placed. It needs to filter through to the information architecture stage, ensuring that the structure is correct around the content and search strategy.  And on the back of that it should fall into design and build in a way that's fairly straightforward. You're then at the point where you've got the right foundations for search."

Dealing with data

Though the focus is inevitably on the launch of any campaign, when it comes to looking at data, this is the beginning rather than the end of the story. 

"The brands that we see doing best in digital are the ones who understand their data best," says Wells. In the past this meant relying on disparate methods of analysis. "Now, with newer platforms and technology – Sitecore for example  - we're able to work with customers, look at the data, look at the audience and actually prescribe the user-journey we want people to go down as we engage with them. That strategy can be put in place right at the beginning of the project and be constantly checked and progressed throughout."

While agility and flexibility are key, Wells acknowledges that the speed with which digital technology moves means specific strategies must themselves remain fluid. What works this year may need revising next. But remaining nimble, adaptable and open to change is a surefire way for brands to protect – and see measurable returns on – the investments they make in digital.

Best Practice in Practice – 10 Tips For Design & Build

• Choose you partner agency on who they are – as people!
• Get the background on senior figureheads leading all key roles within the agency
• Ask about their internal project management processes and methodology, status updates and meetings
• Ensure you know your SLA, response times, maintenance and support retainers
• Ensure you know how they and you will measure the ongoing success of the project
• Ensure you have portability
• Ensure you have performance
• Ensure you have scalability
• Ensure you have targeted content
• Ensure you have data and information

Wickedweb has created a technical solution for a total re-brand of The Official Charts Company website, combining powerful infrastructure with complete simplicity. The Official Charts Company is a national institution; a joint venture between the British Phonographic Industry and the Entertainment Retailers Association. The UK’s number one supplier of official charts and data for the music and video industries, it tracks, collates and reports UK media sales - both physical and digital - on a daily basis, compiling a precise indication of the week’s trends and cultural leanings. On a weekly basis the company consults more than 6,200 high street and online retailers in an effort to provide an accurate barometer of the British music scene.

With the 60th anniversary of the UK singles charts approaching, Wickedweb applied a new brand identity to reflect a shift in the focus of the existing website. The re-brand, including new logos, colours and page designs, was to be based around the company’s ‘Where Legends Are Made’ ethos, bringing 60 years of the official charts to a diverse and modern audience. Previously non-prioritised archive content needed to be more accessible and the site would be fully integrated with Amazon and iTunes to drive sales, enabling users to instantly search for, purchase and download chart entries.

The site remains on a powerful content management system that updates automatically - future-proofing the site and also allowing the flexibility to edit features across all pages. It would develop the site into a comprehensive and constantly evolving, income-generating resource, finely balanced between illustrating the company’s extensive history and the need to provide up-to-the-second data to heavy traffic.

To find out more about Wickedweb's digital solution for The Official Charts Company, read the full case study here.

Wickedweb builds an engaging suite of websites for Riley Consulting, consolidating eight individual brands under one powerful umbrella site.  Riley Consulting is a leading UK consultancy firm, providing multi-disciplinary construction and property services. The group has a proud history, with over 100 years’ experience in sectors ranging from aviation to retail.

With no fewer than seven sub-brands under the group umbrella, Riley Consulting approached Wickedweb seeking to revamp its full suite of eight websites. 

While pursuing creative consistency across the sites, Riley Consulting wished to continue marketing its services independently as well as collectively. The challenge was therefore set to deliver an engaging and cohesive site structure that enabled sub-brands to stand alone as separate entities - while simultaneously maintaining the group’s core identity.

With a focus on long term success, search engine optimisation (SEO) was a key consideration from the very beginning. The site was also to be integrated with a content management system (CMS), facilitating simple in-house updates to all websites through a single interface.

The full case study will be released in January 2012.

Wickedweb MD Stuart Wells spoke last week at The Hospital Club, with a seminar focused on how brands can safeguard digital investment.  Stuart presented best practice design and build tips to the audience, with the objective of sharing our agency insights and experience.  Wickedweb have managed a myriad of design, build and user experience projects since 2002 across many sectors and industries and so are well placed to understand the elements that constitute a successful project. 

We would like to share these insights with you.  

To view Stuart’s presentation on video and see the slides please follow this link to our Figaro Digital profile.

Wickedweb has launched the new website for Priestfield – the largest Conference and Banqueting venue in Kent.  Priestfield has previously been synonymous with the Gillingham Football Club stadium, however the challenge has been to give this premium venue an identity in its own right.  The website showcases the suites available, with high-end photography.  Whether it is a 10 person seminar or a 550 guest celebration, this impressive facility has the answer.  

Priestfield approached Wickedweb for a solution to drive up conversion for event bookings.  Our approach was to implement a premium creative execution which mirrors the quality of the venue itself. Functionality modules included the events listing and the news sections which seek to keep visitors up to date.  To drive activity, the site architecture includes key ‘call to action’ tabs that remain present on the right hand side of each website page - these relate to a booking enquiry, brochure download, contact us etc.  These are key goal conversion junctures, and Wickedweb will measure effectiveness going forward as part of the overall objectives. 

With the Priestfield website live, Wickedweb will now be exploring further projects with GFC including websites for the football club itself and their charity, in addition to a direct marketing project.

Wickedweb has had a successful year managing the digital strategy for Ella’s Kitchen, the leading global organic baby food company.  Wickedweb has been working with Ella’s Kitchen for over 2 years, and during this period have delivered a suite of global websites with locales, and digital marketing activity to support the overall annual brand plan.  Ella’s Kitchen has an exciting and ambitious brand vision, and Wickedweb’s digital activity supports key marketing objectives.   

Wickedweb has released a case study for the ‘Ella’s Friends conversion strategy’ which involves harnessing digital techniques to grow the database of Friends to the target level.  This database is then used to build engaging relationships on a sensorial level, which ultimately feeds into Ella’s Kitchen’s core objectives.

Wickedweb were responsible for conceiving and implementing a strategy that encompasses:

• Website evolution to support the mechanics of the campaigns
• Consumer engagement via campaigns
• Data capture and acquisition
• Online marketing tactics such as PPC and SEO

The overall Friends acquisition results superseded expectations as we hit 150.5% of the target.   Organic search traffic has increased by a marked 56% with a strong conversion rate, with Ella’s Kitchen’s key search term achieving and maintaining 1st place in Google rankings.

For the detail on how Wickedweb achieved this for Ella’s Kitchen, please view our case study.

Client testimonial:

“Wickedweb have a very strategic approach.  They understand our business, and more specifically how to activate our overall strategy to our consumers through digital channels.  I am delighted that the results of our Friends conversion strategy has surpassed our targets, and we owe much of this success to Wickedweb and the effective digital strategies they have executed for Ella’s Kitchen”. 

Samantha Crossley – ‘Makes Friends’ – Ella’s Kitchen

Mosbuild is Russia's largest trade event, uniting the construction industry and Wickedweb has been working with ITE Exhibitions to deliver the new show website for 2012.

The challenge for next year's event is the new two-week format, but with a focus on usability, communication and strong creative, Wickedweb has achieved a solution that delivers this with clarity.  Positioning Mosbuild as the premier event for construction and interiors specialists, the new website provides an engaging and useful business tool, rather than just the information portal of past websites.

Stuart Wells, Managing Director, comments "the digital visitor experience is just as important as a physical visit, and this year the Mosbuild website includes integration with multiple systems to facilitate tasks such as seminar booking - all housed within the new My MosBuild area. The result will be an intuitive solution which showcases why ITE Exhibitions is deserving of its coveted position in the industry”. 

For more about this exciting website launch, visit the Mosbuild Website.

As wagamama’s global digital agency, Wickedweb collaborated on the launch of the ‘art and eat’ campaign - an innovative platform to engage wagamama customers with the UK’s up and coming art and design talent.   

wagamama were looking to roll out a national marketing and PR campaign that would achieve a number of key objectives.  At the core, wagamama’s underlying objective was to engage, excite and provide an experience for customers – whilst re-inforcing wagamama as a 'cool’ lifestyle brand among its target markets.

In addition to creating regional brand awareness and building product awareness, robust marketing objectives are in place.  The campaign needed to drive awareness, excite its audience and encourage participation.  

Wickedweb focused on achieving these KPI’s by putting brand engagement at the heart of our digital strategy.  Our strategy around the campaign’s digital execution worked to extend the in-store experiential element by driving diners online to join the ‘art and eat’ debate.  This interactive platform supported brand engagement by providing a focus for dining conversation, and looked to prompt subsequent action from them by way of competition entries and re-tweets.

Our strategy was honed by an appreciation of wagamama’s key target audiences, as this ensured we could recommend solutions for engagement across a range of diners.

Ten national wagamama locations were chosen and one regional ’up and coming’ artist was selected per restaurant to feature their work. Wagamama worked closely with the prolific Moniker projects to source the artists. 

Wickedweb worked hard to unite the campaign messaging with digital technology, in order to evolve traditional marketing methods into an integrated 360 communications mix – positioning digital at the heart. Early results indicate our carefully considered strategy engaged the target audience and demonstrated real cut through.  Wickedweb feel the work showcased is innovative and engaging, supporting the key KPI’s. The wagamama brand has been elevated as a result, and the digital strategy seeks to rejuvenate an offline campaign into the digital sphere to maximise the longevity and awareness of the campaign / brand.

Find out what we did and read the case study here.

Wickedweb are delighted to announce a new relationship with the e-Commerce giant and leading home shopping brand Shop Direct. Shop Direct are behind some of the UK’s best known home shopping brands, including Littlewoods, Very and Woolworths. 

Managing Director of Wickedweb Stuart Wells comments: “We are thrilled to be working with Shop Direct and their creative team on this global website initiative, and we hope it will be the start of a long and exciting partnership.”

More information coming soon.

Wickedweb are delighted to have been appointed to design and build The Lending Well website and also to create The Lending Well’s new brand identity, including the logo, colour palette, typeface and styling. 

The Lending Well will be a unique website offering borrowers the chance to request Payday loans, and lenders to earn a greater interest on their investment than if they were using banks.  It is unique because it will finance the Payday loan mechanic through Peer –To – Peer lending, combining the two models and offering a better interest rate for borrowers than other competitive websites on the market. Work for phase 1 of this project is already well underway.

Felicity Stone, Wickedweb’s Digital Producer comments:

“We’re really excited to work with The Lending Well and deliver a website which will ensure they stand out in what is a really competitive market. The designs we have produced are bold and full of personality. The strong creative and simple user journey will enable users to get the most out of The Lending Well offering, and a phased approach will ensure that key features are delivered early.”

Tim Slesinger, Director of The Lending Well says “We have been thrilled working with Wickedweb as they not only 'got' the concept of The Lending Well from the start but they have also been as excited about bringing it to market as we have.  We love the energy that they have put in to the project and the energy they have created in the site itself”.

Wickedweb are delighted to extend their experience in the financial sector having already worked with StatPro, Neteller, Hawk Finance and Prime CFD's.

We are excited to announce that Rob will be joining the specialist creative panel for The Great Idea Escape: Best Awards 2012.  This will be chaired by Alistair Ross, Head of Ideas, Draftfcb London. Rob will be asked to judge a number of important creative awards across a range of media, along with special awards for innovation, writing, art direction, and discretionary awards for best typography, illustration, photography.

The Best Awards 2012 are seeking a mix of twelve creative experts to demonstrate that the Best Awards really do honour only the Best.  Rob’s inclusion in the panel will ensure the high standards met by previous winners continue to reflect in the quality of work chosen for the Best Awards 2012.  

Rob comments: “I am thrilled to be asked to be on the judging panel, it’s a real honour. We worked with the MAA to produce the Best Awards website and so to continue our involvement with them and the awards to help select the winners is fantastic. I am really looking forward to seeing the nominations, and judging by the quality of last year’s work I think this year is going to be a real challenge singling out the winners“.

All of us at Wickedweb congratulate Rob in accepting this prestigious position – well done!

The Best Awards champion the very finest in cutting edge integrated and inspiring marketing agency work produced by the UK's top creative agency talent. Organised by the Marketing Agencies Association (MAA), there are various entry categories which reflect break-through innovation, results and creative diversity. 

For the first time in the history of the awards the entry and judging processes will be handled entirely online. To accomplish this, Wickedweb were tasked with creating a dedicated awards entry site. Designed to tie in with the overall creative concept of the campaign realised by DraftFCB, the site allows users to create and manage their own account giving them the ability to submit their best work for consideration in one of the 33 categories on offer. During the judging stages of the competition, judges will be able to view and score entries online whilst the site plays host to shortlisted entries.

Stuart Wells, Managing Director of Wickedweb said: ‘We’re thrilled that we could be involved with the MAA and the Best Awards. The creative concept is really strong with real core values behind it that both agency and clients can relate to. The website itself has been created to allow almost the entire awards entry and judging process to take place digitally, in a smooth, intuitive user journey. A great collaborative piece of work between the partners involved.’

We at Wickedweb have thoroughly enjoyed working on the project, pulling out all the stops to deliver what we truly believe to be a great product. An awards entry website has massive potential to be mundane and boring but we think our solution proves that form filling can actually be quite fun!

Scott Knox, Managing Director of MAA says: ‘Wickedweb have done an outstanding job in creating an intuitive simple experience as an online application for the Best Awards, which is a very complex project.  As our first foray into online entry applications it has been both challenging and exciting and we hope everyone will find it so much more straightforward to enter.’

The deadline for submissions is fast approaching so get busy all you agency types out there!

Visit www.bestawards.co.uk

Wickedweb is delighted to announce wagamama’s recent appointment as their full service digital marketing agency. Appointed after an 8-month competitive procurement process which saw 10 agencies shortlisted to 3 for the pitch presentation, Wickedweb is excited to say that work is already underway on the strategy to better engage the target audience online. 

wagamama is an award winning Japanese inspired global restaurant chain, targeting a wide range of audiences. The brand is in a strong position in the pan-Asian cuisine market, which is expected to demonstrate recovery and growth in 2012 / 2013, meaning our plans for the future will engage users just as restaurant dining expenditure returns.  Our ideas are innovative and ambitious, whilst looking to capture the brand’s Japanese influence and minimalist style, so that wagamama is positioned as the industry benchmark.

Stuart Wells, Managing Director at Wickedweb comments:

“We are absolutely thrilled to be working with the wagamama brand and team on their digital marketing.  It’s an account we really wanted to win, as the business and relationship values strongly mirrored our own, which we know leads to the best results.  We have some really ground breaking ideas that will help bring all the wagamama digital channels together, and in turn  position the brand as one at the forefront of digital within their industry sector”.

Brand engagement is everything to wagamama which resonates perfectly with us – as an agency it is at the heart of everything we do and we look forward to enhancing the digital landscape for this fantastic brand.

Ingrid Williamson – Director of Marketing at wagamama comments:

“Finding the right agency can be a challenge. You want to work with people who understand your Brand and simply ‘get it’. Wickedweb got it right from the start. We are thrilled to have appointed Wickedweb and look forward to some very exciting times ahead”. 

Wickedweb are well placed to deliver an effective digital solution.  We are drawing on robust experience in the food and drink industry with clients such as Ella’s Kitchen, and in addition can utilise our online brand engagement strategies as showcased by clients such as Gear4, Cosmetics a la Carte and The Lifehouse.  This is an exciting relationship and we look forward to engaging the wagamama audience and delivering a real brand experie

Back in May, Wickedweb announced that our client Bluefin Solutions won the Interactive Media Award 'Best in Class' award for the B2B category. We are delighted that due to the strength of our rating for this website, the Interactive Media Awards have subsequently awarded the Best in Class award for the Consulting category this quarter as well.

The Best in Class Award is the highest honour bestowed by the Interactive Media Awards and we are thrilled that the Bluefin Solutions website has now won this across two categories.

Congratulations once again to our client and the talented team here at Wickedweb. Special thanks to Neil Narain, Niki Duggan, Lawrence Wagerfield, James Saunders, Rob Hollander, Steve Coventry and Ian Jepp.

See previous award announcement.

Wickedweb are the lead digital marketing agency for The Lifehouse spa, and we have had an exciting time working on their website launch and full technical systems integration.   

The Lifehouse case study focuses on an interesting challenge: the marriage of brand positioning, technical consultancy and creative execution.  There were a range of objectives that needed to be considered as part of the brief spanning functional, business and creative requirements.  The solution executed by Wickedweb weaves these together.  In addition, The Lifehouse spa was not visible online. At the start of our work there were no keyword listings and little brand awareness beyond their name. Therefore, an SEO strategy was implemented to turn this around. 

This has been a successful case study and the results showcase the impact of the website and the SEO strategy.  Want to find out more? Read on to discover how we did it…

Stacey Hedges, Marketing Manager at Lifehouse comments:

"Wickedweb have provided us with invaluable support, guidance and creatively in launching the website. The team have been a true extension to the marketing department and play an integral role in the development and evolvement of the site. It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with them and we look forward to continue to drive traffic to the site and future developments"

Wickedweb were thrilled to be approached by Law Debenture recently to deliver an initial suite of 6 websites across their UK and overseas offerings. Law Debenture is UK based, but has global offices in the US and Hong Kong and our brief is to redesign the current Law Debenture international website presence and two additional companies in the group.

Law Debenture is over 100 years old and have a growing range of services. These include Service of Process, Corporate Services, Investment Trusts and Asset Backed Solutions. From a branding perspective, Law Debenture is keen to retain their heritage and traditional values. However they wish to refresh and update their website for today’s market and achieve objectives around data capture and lead generation.

The website will be aimed at lawyers, intermediaries and individuals and so the design treatment will look to engage these audiences. Wickedweb will also be looking at an e-commerce facility as part of the brief.

Account Director Neil Narain who is leading this project for Wickedweb comments:

“Our challenge is to consolidate the requirements from the different territories and service lines to provide a cohesive digital strategy for the Law Debenture’s suite of companies. We are currently at the scoping stage and look forward finalising the technical requirements in the near future in order to take the project forward”.

The project will be launched Autumn 2011.

Schülke are the international specialists in infection control products, hygiene, disinfection and preservation, and are a long standing client of Wickedweb.  The UK website was over - hauled by us a year ago and Wickedweb manage ongoing developments to the site and the digital strategy.  One of schülke’s key objectives is to maintain their leading position in the market by ensuring the brand engages with its audience in an innovative way.

Following the website re-brand, schülke were keen to enforce this re-positioning, increase traffic to the site and encourage repeat visits.  It was also paramount that we worked on raising awareness for the brand.  Wickedweb advised creating a members area for the main schülke website as part of the content strategy, in order to bring engagement with the audience to the fore.  In addition, a dedicated microsite for the dental portfolio was created to support a key campaign.

Our recommendation also included launching social media activity for the first time, which underpinned their data acquisition objectives.  Furthermore, Wickedweb rolled out an SEO strategy.

Find out more about the overall strategy Wickedweb implemented for schülke and how this met the client’s objectives.

Nicola Furniss, Senior Product Manager for schülke comments: 

“Wickedweb were integral to the launch of our re designed site which was intended to make us and our products and services more accessible to our customers. Wickedweb continue to support us both creatively and technically in our online activity as pioneers of infection prevention.”

Wickedweb are pleased to announce we are the agency of choice for Gillingham Football Club, and look forward to delivering a suite of digital services across the Club’s portfolio.

We have recently won the opportunity to deliver a range of websites for the Club, and will begin with the brand identity for Priestfield – the club's conference & banqueting facility. The brand strategy work will roll out into the design and build of the new website for the largest purpose-built venue of its kind in the south-east. 

In addition, Wickedweb will also execute development work on two further websites for charities supported by the Club in order to raise awareness and funds.  More details will follow.

We will also be developing a new approach and image for the Club’s online merchandising site.

Following the website builds, Wickedweb will conceive the digital media strategy to take the websites to the next level, and will begin with traffic driving initiatives via SEO and Social Media.

Murray Evans, Marketing Manager for Gillingham Football Club, said: “We searched for a partner who could deliver a range of innovative ideas and solutions for several very different needs. We have started with our conference and banqueting business, because it is crucial to the company's success off the pitch, and we look forward to working with Wickedweb on this and our other digital projects in the foreseeable future.“ 

Wickedweb adds Gillingham Football Club to our existing sporting credentials which include a global strategy, design and build project for Mitre International, a microsite for the Rugby World Cup in conjunction with The Telegraph and a website for Ben Garner, a top ranked squash player.

Wickedweb are delighted with our latest award win for client Cosmetics à la Carte – the IMA Outstanding Achievement Award for the ‘Beauty / Cosmetics’ category.  There were 56 entries submitted for this category this quarter, and so we are proud to receive an award that is extremely challenging to win.

The website for Cosmetics à la Carte excelled in all areas of the judging criteria and represents a very high standard of planning, execution and overall professionalism.  The criteria Wickedweb are judged on includes design, content, feature functionality, usability and standards compliance and these scored very highly.

Congratulations not only to our client, but the talented team here at Wickedweb - in particular Kalli Daffin, Rob Hollander, Steve Coventry, Ian Jepp, David Pook, Lazlo Sike, Rob King, Mark Townsend and Billy Harvey.

If you would like more information on this project then click here to view the case study.  Alternatively, give us a call to find out more.

Wickedweb have published a new B2B case study today for our client Chaucer.  Chaucer is an independent global management consultancy, providing tailored, hands-on and flexible support to clients in the delivery of strategic business projects and programmes.  

Chaucer approached Wickedweb as they were aware of the limitations of their existing website.  It was clear the site had not been an active marketing tool, and could work much harder at lead generation. With an impressive set of credentials and clients, Chaucer is very well positioned within the market – and Wickedweb were keen to harness this potential and build a solution that would maximize Chaucer’s growth for the future.

At the outset of this project, Chaucer put challenging KPI’s in place with regards to enquiry generation via the website.  Wickedweb were tasked with a complete design and build overhaul of the website.  The need for this was two-fold: to showcase Chaucer’s brand values and personality, and to manage a strategy around content which needed to be engaging and credible to prospects.

Furthermore, there was also a requirement for Wickedweb to implement a Content Management System for Chaucer that met the current brief and was scalable for future needs.  Wickedweb’s proprietary PHP CMS was used, with a suite of modules executed to ensure the functionality was in place.

Overall, underpinning this project was a salient challenge that had to be met: How can Wickedweb convey and implement Chaucer’s approachable and friendly business approach across their website?

See how we did it.

We are delighted to welcome Riley Consulting to Wickedweb as a new client -  a leading UK construction and property consultancy with over 100 years experience in the market.

Wickedweb have won the opportunity to focus on the design and build of the Group’s nine websites.  Following delivery, our approach will be to launch Riley Consulting’s digital marketing strategy which we are confident will take the websites to the next level.

Our focus will be to build awareness of Riley Consulting and its affiliated brands within the construction industry.  The key objective will be to build on their excellent position in the market by showcasing the Group’s specialised services to a diverse portfolio of clients.

Account Director Neil Narain comments “We are looking forward to optimising the brand and are driven to deliver a customer centric solution.  It is essential that we engage the individual audiences, and the feature rich content we have planned will look to deliver this”.

Wickedweb have built up a solid reputation for delivering digital projects in the B2B sector, including clients such as EC Harris and our award winning work for Bluefin Solutions.  We are perfectly placed to deliver a large scale web design and build project for Riley Consulting, with a design led approach.  Furthermore, our solid experience across numerous CMS platforms has enabled us to identify moving forward with Umbraco as the CMS of choice.

This project launches in the Autumn 2011.

We are delighted to welcome ITE Exhibitions to Wickedweb.   We were shortlisted and subsequently won the fantastic opportunity to deliver design and website build services for ITE Exhibitions; the organiser of over 180 leading international events a year. 

Stuart Wells, Wickedweb’s MD says “I have no doubt the Wickedweb team will take one of ITE Exhibitions leading brands to an exciting new level.  We will confidently deliver a website that showcases why ITE Exhibitions is deserving of its coveted position in the industry”.

Wickedweb have built up a solid reputation for delivering digital projects in the exhibitions sector, including clients such as Internet World, The Destinations Show, The Vitality Show, London and Southampton Boat Shows and our work with Closer Still Media.  Furthermore, our award winning work in the B2B industry means we are perfectly placed to deliver a hard hitting digital solution for ITE Exhibitions.  

As the project unravels, Wickedweb will be focusing on the key objectives of the new website; to increase visitor registrations, sales leads and overall traffic.  This will be achieved in a number of ways including championing the brand vision, implementing usability studies to determine optimum user journeys and delivering strong message hierarchies.  This site will launch in the Autumn and so watch this space...

Wickedweb are excited to share the details of a website we have recently launched for Cosmetics à la Carte, a complex eCommerce solution delivered on the award-winning WickedwebCMS.

Cosmetics à la Carte are a premium, multinational brand and have enjoyed customers such as the late Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana to Blondie, Kylie, Kate Moss and Lady Gaga. Conceived in 1973, Cosmetics à la Carte pioneered the concept of 'made to measure' make up, and have been pushing the boundaries ever since for innovation. With the desire to overhaul their image and launch the brand online, Cosmetics à la Carte approached Wickedweb for an exceptionally stylised  e-commerce solution.

Our brief was quite simple - to create the most interactive and personalised experience possible for a cosmetic brand online, and to replicate the 'human' element usually experienced in the stores. Wickedweb were tasked with elevating the existing Cosmetics à la Carte brand, and rolling this out across the website.

In terms of reporting, it is early days.  However, Google Analytics already shows conversion to be anything between 2.9% and 5.9% which is well above average.

Goal conversions are strong at 6%, indicating that key junctures of the user journey are robust and intuitive.

The email campaign that followed the launch of the site is extremely encouraging, with click through rates at 30%. We look forward to building on this as we work further with Cosmetics à la Carte’s e-marketing strategy going forward.

View the full case study here

I’m sure you have all heard about the big shake up of the NHS in the news these last few weeks. Soon local GP’s will have the ability to source their drugs and equipment privately, rather than the NHS dictating where supplies should come from.

Closer Still Media have jumped on these changes and have launched The Commissioning Show. The show is pioneering, not only giving private medical companies a platform to sell to GPs but also offers support through seminars and workshops etc. to GP’s, PBCs, practice and PCT managers as well as stakeholders and allow visitors to expand their knowledge and engage in new partnerships, sourcing the best suppliers they can get hold of consequently creating a much higher quality healthcare system.