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Case Study :: Team Plowman Craven
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Client Introduction
Plowman Craven are one of the largest and fastest growing measurement companies in Europe. Established over 40 years ago they offer a vast range of measurement, surveying and geomatic services.
Evans Cycles are the largest independent cycle dealer in the UK, and also have one of largest mail order departments too, ensuring high quality bikes and accessories are never too far away. Our stores are in London and the rest of the UK.
Together Plowman Craven and Evans Cycles came together to re-launch the Plowman Craven racing team as the Plowman Craven Evans Cycles Racing Team for the 2007 season. With a new look team and branded in the Pink and Blue, they looked to and already have made a huge impact on the cycling world.
2008 Team Relaunch
Plowman Craven cycling team decided to drop the co-ownership with Evans Cycles for the 2008 season and as part of this saw various changes throughout the team. The 2008 season saw the introduction of 5 new riders to join some of the previous seasons riders. The kit also underwent a rebranding with the change of various sponsors and the shift to Team Plowman Craven.
This meant various updates where required for the website. The changes that where initially represented within the website where the updates to the branding, new 2008 images of the team within the design and the members photo galleries, replication of the new sponsors within the design. A new eShot was created around the branding of the Team Plowman Craven website and integrated with the Campaign Monitor system.
The relaunch of the website for the 2008 team was highly anticipated and was extremely successful. As well as a rebranding of the main website the changes saw the implementation a host of new features and backend developments for Plowman Craven.
Some of the new features included the content managed breaking news scroller allowing for news to be instantly added to the website to keep the supporters even more upto date. The integration of the registration process to the Campaign Monitor system which is now used to send out the eShot newsletters to the registered users. This gives added reporting to Plowman Craven allowing them to monitor their marketing and eShots to a higher degree. The archive of news articles through a side navigation giving better functionality and navigation to the website users. There were other developments that where actioned during the transition and the site is still managed several times a week.
Project Overview
Amasci Creative Limited created the website for the 2006 Plowman Craven cycling team which was an micro-site off their existing website. This gave the team an online presence and source of information for the 2006 season.
The 2007 new look team meant that a new website was required and after the recruitment of a press officer dedicated to the racing team it was quickly established that the new website had to offer much more than the micro-site of 2006. The website had to offer more than just an online presence, it had to give supporters up to date news, reports, press releases and cutting edge articles within the cycling world – something that supporters of both Plowman Craven Evans Racing Team and the cycling world would be interested in.
The website was created from the initial concept of ‘what was important’ and ‘what was of interest’ to the user – from this came the concept for the homepage which offers access to the latest articles, race reports, next event details and key areas of the website such as the supporters area – which is only accessible after registration to the website.
Registered Supporters Area
The registration process integrates with the database so when a new member signs up to the website they are immediately able to access the member’s area via their registered email address and password. The system was build using a security code which enables the instant access registration process and cuts out any potential spamming activity as the code is random generated each time the page is loaded.
The supporter’s area was built allowing the user to login to their own personalised secure supporter’s area. The supporter’s area is only accessible via login mechanism and offers users advanced website features such as competitions, media centre including photo gallery and videos and also allows users to update their details and opt in and out of the Plowman Craven Evans Racing Team email newsletters.
The backend control panel tracks the number of times a specific user has logged into the website allowing the ease to analyse user interaction and value.
The website also offers a request password feature if a user has forgotten their login details then they can simply enter their email address and they are sent their password instantly – allowing them to login again and update their password if they need to.
HTML Email Facility
To keep the website cutting edge and attractive to new users we used HTML/TEXT email – this allows the email to be sent in an attractive wrapper with images and styled text. However, we build our system clever so that if the email cannot be viewed with html then it default to text and just displays the written text rather than the raw html code (which a lot of poor systems do).
The HTML email system was put into place for all the emails that are sent to the users – for registration, updating of user details, request password feature and email updates.
To keep the registered user base up to date with the latest news, reports and information, Plowman Craven and Evans Cycles have the ability to email through the online control panel. They can choose which user set they wish to email, allowing them to send to just one user set (e.g. Supporters) or multiple user sets (e.g. Supporters, Media and Sponsors etc).
The emails are sent using the above HTML/TEXT system and allow Plowman Craven and Evans Cycles to send emails out at will.
XML Driven Flash Race Reports
The homepage features an XML driven flash race reports section. This allows ease of updates and addition of race reports on a weekly basis. The flash movie was created to give some live and movement to the homepage, something that was visually appealing but also presented useful functionality as space was an issue.
Email a Friend and Printer Friendly Page Facilities
Two new features that where created specifically for the Plowman Craven Evans Racing Team website where the email page to a friend and printer friendly page facilities.
The email a friend facility allows a user to send a link to a specific page/article on the website. This helps generate traffic and gives users an easy quick method to inform other cycling enthusiasts of the Plowman Craven Evans Racing Team website.
The facility works via an icon at the top of the page content, that once clicked brings up a simple form allowing the user to input their name and email address and their friends name and email address and any message they wish to include. This then sends an email to the user and the friend with a link to the website page and the details as entered by the user.
The printer friendly page facility again works from an icon at the top of the page content and this strips out the unimportant elements to the site content such as the header bar and header graphics and provides a page that prints correctly formatted on a single sheet of A4.
Additional features and updates
The website is an ongoing project that is continually being developed and added to – which gives users the benefit of fresh content and updates on a weekly basis if not more frequently. The ongoing maintenance agreement between Plowman Craven and Amasci means that website is updated with a fast time around and gives all parties the satisfaction that the website is well maintained.
Website Design and Structure
The front end of the website was designed around the new team branding for 2007 with the use of the pink and blues a vital aspect to the website design. It had to be easy to use and most of all appealing and from the homepage.
The site had to be cutting edge, presenting features such as the website search, printer friendly page and send to friend facilities. The registered supporter’s area was created to help capture user information and also offering advanced content and depth to the website.
The creation of the Plowman Craven Events Portal is achieved using 100% W3C valid HTML and CSS and is a complete table less design with only a few tables used through some of the form capturing content. This makes the website much more accessible for search engines and spiders and will offer a much improved ranking through the internet, search engines especially Google. The website also meets the Double A Standards of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. This makes the website accessible for the blind, users with screen readers, non compliant browsers and other media viewing the website such as mobile phones and PDAs - click here for more information.
What the client said
"The world of professional cycling team web sites is highly competitive and in Europe especially the bar is set very high in terms of design and function. As a professional sports team we have to be aware that in 2007 sponsors as well as supporters expect the very highest quality web offering from us, and I believe that in the work Amasci Creative Limited have done for us, that is exactly what they get."
"Amasci took the time to research the internet environment we operate in and go on to make design and function recommendations about how we should develop our site. They also worked incredibly hard to help us get the site up and running from nothing in a very short space of time. And if those weren't achievements enough their day to day hands on management of our site means we can update results as they happen (usually on a Sunday!) The functionality they have introduced means that not only can we provides invaluable contact data for our sponsors, we can actively take our news to our supporters rather than hope they visit us. "
"If only Amasci Creative Limited designed bikes..."
Jonathan O'Neil
Team Plowman Craven
http://www.teamplowmancraven.com
| Technologies |
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| Client Side | Valid HTML 4.01 and CSS. Accessible to Level AA of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 |
| Server Side | HTML, PHP, Perl, JavaScript, XML and Flash |
| Database | MySQL |
| Platform/OS | Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape |
| Hosting Account | Business Pro Hosting Account - click here for account details |
