Tribute08

Special event website

Tribute08 was a commemoration and reunion event held in Wellington on Queens Birthday weekend 2008.

The event ran a spread of communications conceived and run by FRESCO, but particularly focused on the internet as a crucial new and unique factor in achieving objectives – see description of Tribute08 as a Public Affairs campaign.

Most event related websites are viewed as a short-term capability where it is hardly worth the expense of providing any more than is needed for an 'online brochure' - any amount of information can be accessed from anywhere in the world and at the user's leisure with the advantage of flexibility so that information can be kept current and relevant to the particular time.

The Tribute08 website took the concept much further, to the point where it could act as the place for the business of the event and a complete help-centre for any stakeholder. Not only did the website display information areas which would be useful to anyone seeking event or background details, it broke new ground in New Zealand with a combination of three special functions:

1. Fully integrated registration function - the complex optional task of registering made the task easy for registrants and provided fully automated functionality for administrators.

2. Enhanced display of all event venues and associated locations, such as streets and public spaces. Text, photographs and 360 panoramas were made available from Wotzon.com (with RSVP, owned by FRESCO), along with Google Maps.

3. Interactive components for registrants, for example, users were able to post information and tributes, and automatically and manually receive a response.

The website provided Tribute08 with a crucial advantage. It meant that it was possible to perform all the functions needed to inform and manage Tribute08 as a complete and complex package. Highly developed existing content was available from Wotzon.com in the form of text and visual material which, when combined with new and specific content about Tribute08, allowed it all to be presented within the website and without any need to disorientate users by linking them out to other websites.

The navigation of the website was presented in an obvious and intuitive fashion, but an easy content management system enabled administrators to constantly adjust material and tools. In addition, the use of hyperlinks was extensively used between any related pages.

With the website given enhanced capabilities, and placed at the centre of the Tribute08 business and communications strategy, the remaining focus was on other primary channels to extend audience reach and drive traffic to the website. Included in this was an intensive web traffic optimisation programme.

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