The Escape Committee

Your Advertising as a Jumbo Jet

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In his excellent guide to surviving recession, marketing expert Chuck McKay cites "Accelerating Advertising and PR" as one of the 7 essential tips.

Think of your Advertising and PR campaign as a Jumbo Jet. A Jumbo requires 290,000 pounds of thrust to get off the ground, but just 100,000 pounds of thrust to stay there. If you reduce thrust and land, you need to spend and do much more to get back to altitude.

Do not interrupt your advertising during tough economic times.

As Chuck says in his blog; "Study after study has delivered the same results: companies who pull in their resources to ride out the economic uncertainties fall way behind when things get better.

Those same studies show that companies who aggressively pursue revenue in good times and bad leapfrog over their competitors in the following years.

This may take a certain amount of faith, because the evidence that your plan is working won't be available for months. If you're getting a bigger share of a shrunken pie, it may appear that you're standing still. At least, for now. When the pie grows, your share will grow, too."

So how does this apply to website marketing and communication?

It's very simple. On-line advertising is now widely accepted as the most cost effective, best targeted and easily monitored way to attract new customers and clients. But that's only half the story. Conversion is key. There is little point attracting qualified visitors to your website unless the site is 'optimised' in every sense of the word, so that your visitors act in a way that produces a tangible benefit.

I can hear you saying "Yes Mark, I know that, but we can't afford to redesign our website. We've got salaries to pay."

The good news is that you don't need to redesign your website to realise significant benefits. A minor housekeeping project can achieve that.

Here are just three of the many things you can do to your existing website to improve results without breaking the bank:

*** Check your links, spelling and freshness.

Broken links create doubt in the mind of a new user about your organisation's credibility. If the broken links are at key stages in the user journey then you are likely to be losing even more business.

Xenu is a free link checking application and you can download it free here:
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

Poor spelling is another credibility shocker. I recently visited a website for a UK independent school to find this: "New Website Comming Soon". (Yes ... I told them, and they booked our website housekeeping service.)Spend some time proofing the copy at the important points in your website and take the chance to make it clearer, more concise, consistent and compelling. We offer a website copy writing service if you don't have time.If you bought a newspaper Monday to Thursday and found that the front page was exactly the same every day, would you buy it on Friday? Of course not. Starting with your copyright date, check that your site is as fresh as it can be. Automate the random display of news and featured content if possible and avoid having a 'recent' news item that is months old.
We offer a website housekeeping service for a fraction of the cost of the redesign of a website. (Don't worry, we'll get you on that one later.) All we need is 30 minutes with you either face-to-face, on Skype, on-line chat or email. Then we need FTP access to your site or access to your Content Management System. We'll do the rest. The housekeeping tasks include, findability, credibility, usability and readability and make more prominent the calls to action that deliver the required results.

The great thing about doing this is that you won't need senior approval for the changes we propose; you can improve website results significantly without the time/cost of a major redesign and you can claim all the credit yourself!

Drop me a line with your URL and the URLs of your 3 main competitors and I'll have a costed housekeeping proposal back to you within 48 hours. Within days you could have solved the main failings of your current website, overtaken the competition and bought some precious time before you next redesign.

For more information, email me at mark@escapecommittee.com, Skype call me on markbwalmsley or call +44 (0)1273 915 416.

Chuck's blog is here:
http://www.fishingforcustomers.blogspot.com/

The Escape Committee at The Werks

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Actually, we've opened a new office in Hove at The Werks.

Increasingly, we are working with and for organisations and people at the hub of web design and development and The Werks is a perfect environment for us, a place where we can add impressive freelance talent to our resource base and learn and develop our own skills.

Bespoke PR

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:15:50 +0100

The Bespoke Agency is an international business-to-business PR and marketing agency, specialized in delivering successful, targeted communications campaigns for a wide variety of companies.

When we were appointed to design and develop a new website for Bespoke, the agency had two websites , one corporate and one used for the delivery of PR material to journalists.

As part of this project we:

Designed a new layout and site structure including a dynamic site header
Added an RSS feed for new press releases and client news for journalists to use
Enabled fast progressive video download and embedding
Created press releases as HTML pages
Advanced press release and image categorisation and search
Easy to use Joomla Content Management System

www.bespoke.co.uk

Incorporated Society of British Advertisers

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:00:00 +0100

ISBA (Incorporated Society of British Advertisers) is the representative body for organisations and professionals in Marketing and Marketing Procurement.

In late 2007, Mark Walmsley was approached to help research write and present a document designed to help members negotiate agency overhead with their creative services providers. Agency Overhead is a percentage charge made by creative agencies based on, and in addition to, hourly and daily rates, to cover the cost of overheads related to client work. It has become a point of contention and confusion in a growing number of client-agency relationships so ISBA stepped in to provide a guide to how it should best be negotiated fairly for both sides.

We studied the sector and interviewed Marketing, Marketing Procurement and Agency staff to understand better the priorities and concerns in each group. Working with others we then wrote the final document and Mark facilitated a question and answer session at the launch of the document which was attended by over 150 senior Marketing and Marketing Procurement personnel from some of the World's biggest businesses and best known brands.

Dear Mark,

Here is the final version of the Overhead document.

It has gone down very well within the Client world and hopefully we will be able to move this forward now in a grown up fashion.

Thanks for all you did. It would not have been so well accepted by the Marketing folks had you not re-written it considerably. The Procurement language we used would not have been understood by my marketing colleagues so your assistance was invaluable.

Also thanks for facilitating the question and answer session it was appreciated and good to have an Agency member present. Must have been a little daunting to be the only outsider in a 150+ Client forum.

So once again thank you and I look forward to working with you again when we look at publishing our Digital Guidelines.

Richard Woodford
Marketing Procurement Category Manager
Global Procurement - EMEA
Merck Sharp & Dohme

PicturePack

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:00:00 +0100

PicturePack allows the owners of paintings to receive an estimate for shipping from London to almost anywhere in the World, simply by providing destination details, the length of the longest side of the painting and the value.

We developed a front and back end version of this service for the web, including form verification and the calculations that need to be processed in order for an estimate to be generated automatically, viewed online and received by email.

Cadogan Tate is a leading business, fine art, residential and worldwide moving, shipping and storage business.

www.picturepack.net

Music Medals

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Music Medals are fun and innovative instrumental music assessments offered by The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, the World's largest music examination body, active in over 90 countries.

We were selected to redesign the website; develop a bespoke CMS for its management and design and develop a new database to store information about the various syllabus pieces and the publications in which they are available. We also enabled fast-starting flash video streaming and an improved search facility.

The new site and back-end offers significantly easier access to, and manipulation of the information needed in order to learn about and enter an assessment. Dynamic links are in place to the eCommerce solution used to buy publications to increase online sales.

"I’d also like to add my congratulations and thanks to all of you for our new shiny Music Medals site. We’ll be sure to feed on comments from the users – but I agree that it’s a huge improvement on the previous site and very much more user-friendly.

Ed – a special thanks has to go to you for overseeing not just the fantastic work of the Escape Committee but for the huge effort and endless hours spent in inputting information, overseeing repertoire list entry and for checking the detail of the site so thoroughly."

Christine Morris (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music)

www.musicmedals.org

Work with Us!

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:00:00 +0100

At The Escape Committee we often find that we have more work to do than can be covered by our full time team. On those occasions we pull in additional support from freelancers.

If you are a freelance web designer or programmer, copy writer or SEO or PPC expert or do anything else you think we might be able to use, please drop me a line at mark@escapecommittee.com

Mark Walmsley
Creative Director

Copy Writing

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0100

ISBA, the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers is the industry body supporting those who buy advertising and related creative services in the UK.

A hot topic is the concept of Agency Overhead, the surcharge made by Creative Agencies to their clients to cover the cost of their indirect costs or overheads. One of ISBA's roles is to help Members negotiate with Agencies so a draft guide was prepared.

At ISBA's request, we learned about the concept, it's background and the context, interviewed key members of the ISBA team as well as marketing procurements experts in the membership.

The result - we hope - is clear, concise and consistent structure and copy which will help members negotiate Agency Overhead firmly but fairly with their Creative Agency.

Agency Overhead "Before" (PDF 56kb)

Agency Overhead "After" (PDF 52kb)

Concepts and Copy for Edenbrook's Brochure

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Among other things Edenbrook offer a managed service to maintain complex information systems for blue chip clients.

For understandable and well publicised reasons, the IT outsourcing sector is plagued by suspicion and mutual mistrust. However, Edenbrook boast many particularly successful and long standing relationships.

Our task was to communicate this more effectively and differentiate Edenbrook from competitors, most of whom were communicating using utterly interchangeable and forgettable copy and imagery.

Our first solution was to create a new concept called "Sustainable Business Energy" to use as an alternative to the phrases IT Outsourcing or Managed Services. This concept was supported by wave imagery and a commitment to "get it right and keep it right".

In the copy, rather than skirt around the well documented issues, we used the fact that 50% of IT outsourcing contracts fail to meet client expectations to focus on the reasons why Edenbrook's clients were happy. We focused on the realism, honesty and sustained communication between client and supplier.

The result was a brochure that has been particularly well received and which has already played an important part in successful pitches. A copy of it is available as a PDF below:

Edenbrook - Sustainable Business Energy (PDF 1.9MB)

West Quay 3

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0100

As part of this project we installed and connected a webcam on the side of a nearby multi-storey car park so that visitors to the website could see live images of the development of West Quay 3, the new headquarters building for Carnival UK in Southampton.

In addition to saving daily images for a later time-lapse movie, we have arranged for an image to be sent automatically to Carnival so that staff all over the world can follow the development of their new HQ. This includes staff at sea on all of Carnival's P&O Cruise liners.

www.devsecswq3.co.uk

Case Study - Community Development

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In 2001, The Escape Committee were asked to recommend a long-term online strategy for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM).

We recommended launching a network of message boards, which have gone on to become a cornerstone of the organisation’s communications output.

Research & Preparation

Preliminary research project was commissioned to evaluate the likely success of such an online community, and found that many of ABRSM’s core audience would welcome the opportunity to exchange views with each other. It was noted that in the Board’s 120-year history, it had never been possible for large sections of the target audience to interact with each other.

The research also found evidence that an online community would be well received from talking to a sample of the audience groups:

an eagerness to contribute to debate
comfortable using web interfaces – some had used message boards before (e.g. BBC)
global audience, but most comfortable reading & writing in English

Priori to launching the online community, two significant issues were addressed:

1. Resourcing moderation of the message boards

Members of staff were invited to become moderators, and given training & documentation in not just the technology, but also the culture and mentality of message board users. A policy document was created to help moderators decide on acceptable use.

2. Child protection issues & general privacy policies

Protecting users online, and ensuring the community was kept safe was a key concern of the project leaders. The NSPCC were asked to provide advice, and a privacy policy and set of forum rules were implemented. Additionally, the board technology was configured to require registration and confirmation.

'One of the most important sources of debate on music education on the web’

Since launch, the ABRSM Forums have become a key part of the organisation’s overall web output. The community has grown to over 10,000 registered users, with an average of 35 new topics started every day, across 14 message boards.

In addition to the popularity and weight of the contribution of the community, the launch of the boards have had notable achievements:

a topic started by a child who was nervous about her forthcoming exam received a public reply from the chief examiner, encouraging and reassuring herthe
community were asked to vote for their favourite design for the new syllabus, and the winning design was subsequently used and distributed to over 120,000 candidates globallyforum
users have increasingly become capable of policing the boards, notifying moderators of infringements of forum rules and ignoring users who break these rulesthe
online community has begun to develop offline activities: in November 2005, candidates who had met in online discussions held concerts in 3 locations across the WorldTips

Tips for launching & maintaining a successful online community

l . Start small. At launch , keep the number of separate message boards as low as possible to avoid fragmenting the fledgling community

2. Provide adequate numbers of moderators: appoint more moderators than you think you’ll need, and train them thoroughly. Once launched, moderators should report regularly on their activities and user behaviour

3. Exercise restraint: sometimes users will say things you – or other users – would rather they hadn’t. Where these are in breach of the stated forum rules, they can of course be moderated. However more often they will simply be expressing a genuinely held alternative opinion. Moderating in this instance may discourage them from contributing to the discussion any further, or even publicly protesting.

4. Restrict the user options: message board technology can give users some powerful features, but not all of them are helpful and some can make the moderators’ job all the harder. Avatars and private messaging tools in particular should be implemented with care.

forums.abrsm.org

The 7 Cost Centres of Website Design and Development

Thu, 24 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In my experience, there tends to be 7 major cost centres in any website design and development project:

THINK

Some of our new clients produce detailed website design and development briefs before making contact with us. By their own admission, others have little or no idea about the opportunities and threats relating to online marketing, and they choose to harness our expertise in the planning stage of the project.

This ensures that the resulting site meets and satisfies target users' needs or desires AND contributes to the marketing and communications objectives of the organisation.

Time spent planning is never wasted. So, either produce a well thought-out plan or let us help you develop one.

USERS

Some clients know exactly who they wish to attract and what those people want or need. Others don't, so we sometimes conduct research into the target user base to confirm that what the client wants to do will result in success. Sometimes this results in a complete review of plans.

DESIGN

Having established a plan and confirmed that it meets the target users' needs, we then produce initial designs based on the plan. If required, we also produce a new visual identity and style guide. Initial designs for both this and the website are then amended twice. If approval cannot be obtained on two revisions then we reserve the right to bill for the additional time, assuming of course that we have adequately addressed amend requests.

BUILD

Once the designs have been signed off we start developing the site and the functionality described in the plan. Some sites have particularly complex functionality or interactivity requirements or audio video sections. As a result this cost centre can be significant.

CONTENT

Once the site designs and platform have been established on our test server, content can be added. Some sites are content managed so our clients can add this content without our help. Others are not. Or, our clients prefer to send us content and have us add it. This affects the cost.

SUPPORT

To varying degrees, our clients require our content management, creative, technical and/or strategic support on an ongoing basis after the launch of the site. Some retain us on a monthly basis on a "Use it or Lose It" time allocation. This means that we prioritise their work over clients who do not retain us. We often perform background maintenance and promotion in the event that no update requests are received in any given month.

PROMOTE

Again, to a greater or lesser extent, our clients need to develop new business or contacts using their website. They need to attract people to the site who were not already aware of them or their products or services. Others, use their website as a passive support tool for communication with existing contacts; people who have already been marketed to. The latter group do not need website promotion. For those who do, we devise, implement and manage a search marketing campaign. This can include search engine optimisation, pay per click advertising and mutual links generation.

Website Design and Development Questions

Thu, 24 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

If you're planning to develop or redevelop your website, you may not be aware of the questions you need to answer in order to receive comparable quotes from agencies.

Here are the questions we ask clients in order to provide an accurate quotation.

Feel free to copy these into an email, add your answers and send them to mark@escapecommittee.com for a quotation.

The two most important questions are:

Who do you wish to attract?

What do you want them to do?

You may wish to consider those questions first before you move on to the detailed questions below.

You may also find this brief article about these questions of help (http://www.escapecommittee.com/latest/40)

General Questions:

1. What company, organisation or individual is the site for?
(This isn't your targets but you and/or your organisation)
2. Please provide a brief description.
3. In what sector or industry do you operate?
4 .Please describe your business model?
5. Do you have a formal written business and/or marketing plan?(If so, and if you are happy to do so, please attach copies to your reply)
6. Who are your customers/clients?
7. Who are your main competitors? (please include website addresses if available)
8. What do they do better or worse than you?
9. Why do clients/customers choose you rather than the competition?
10. What off line marketing and PR do you do?
11. What print sales and marketing material do you currently use?
12. How do you currently develop new business?
13. What % of your business is with new clients or customers each year?
14. Do you have any existing visual identity? (logo etc.)
15. If so, or if not, do you want us to create or update a visual identity as part of this project?
16. Do you have a 3rd Party graphic designer or agency who designs and produces your marketing material?

About Your Current Website (if you have one)

17. What is the URL of your current website?
18. Who designed it?
19. Where is it hosted?
20. How much do you pay for hosting and updates to the current site?
21. Is the website a static site or is some or part of it database generated?
22. Do you currently take payments online? If so, how?
23. If so, which products and/or services are most popular?
24. What are the objectives of the current site?
25. Do you have access to statistics for activity on your site? If so, what do you use?
26. What existing features, content and/or functionality do you want or need to retain in your new site?
27. Do you have visitor feedback about your current site?
28. What do you feel are the main shortcomings of your current site?
29. How does you site compare with those of your competitors?

About Your New Website

30. Is it your intention to host the site yourself; host with your own existing or a new supplier or do you want us to host the site for you?
31. Do you need particular levels of guaranteed uptime or any specific back up routines?
32. Have you documented your requirements in terms of design and functionality for the new site? If so, please include that document in your reply.
33. Do you need to sell products or services from the new site? If so, how many and what type?
34. Will you require a shopping cart feature in order to allow visitors to buy a range of products and/or services?
35. Will you be selling anything that can be delivered digitally?
36. Do you want to stream audio or video content? If so, please give details.
37. If yes, will you need help editing and /or encoding the audio and video for streaming?
38. If yes, do you want a bespoke audio and/or video jukebox developed? Or are you happy for visitors to access this content in their local associated applications (Eg, Media Player or Real Player)
39. Do you wish to include podcasting in your new site?
40. Do you require a keyword search facility that searches the content of your site and provides results?
41. Would you prefer the less costly alternative of incorporating Google search into your site? (Note that Google advertising will appear in the results.)
42. Do you want visitors to complete and submit forms on your website? If so, please give details.
43. Do you intend to offer games on the site?
44. Do you wish to offer eLearning functionality? If so, please give details.
45. Do you intend to offer competitions on your site?
46. Do you want to create an online community using message/bulletin boards etc.
47. Do you want to publish a blog?
48. Have you some idea of the structure of the the information in your new site?
49. Have you given any thought to the main navigation options?
50. Do you want us to write or edit the copy for your new site?
51. Do you want us to source/crop/edit any imagery for the new site or will you do so?
52. Is it your intention to provide all of the content for the site in one go in a digital format ready to go?
53. Will you require a web based content management system so that you can update the site yourself?
54. Or, will you need our help updating the site from time to time?
55. If so, how frequently do you anticipate needing to update the site?
56. What statistics will you require about activity on the site?
57.D o you require a search marketing campaign to promote your site after the launch? (This can include one or more of the following: Serach engine optimisation, pay per click advertising, mutual links generation, online PR)
58. Do you require an ongoing technical support contract or do you prefer to seek our technical support as and when required?
59. What web design/development and database adminstration skills do you have inhouse?
60. Do you wish to send out plain text or HTML newsletters to promote the site? (If, so, do you want us to design and provide templates for HTML newsletters?)
61. Do you want to use our email newsletter tool?
62. Have you set aside a budget for this project? If so, what is it?

KnowledgeShare May 07

Fri, 18 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In this edition:

* The "Desired Visitor Outcome"
* The best work we've done to date
* RackSpace's formula for the perfect website
* New team members

* The Desired Visitor Outcome

However complex an online communications project might seem, there really are only two questions that planners need to ask and answer:

1) Who do we wish to attract?
2) What do we want them to do?

I've seen senior marketing people visibly relax when I've told them this.

The answer to Q1 will be somewhere in the marketing plan (You do have one don't you?). What type of people do we want to attract to the site and buy/learn/interact? In that group, who is most likely to be using the web? Are there other easier less costly ways to reach those people?

The answer to Q2 provides the 'desired visitor outcome'. This outcome must do two things: It must satisfy a user need or desire AND achieve a marketing or communications objective for the publisher.

Document your 'desired visitor outcome' and then take a look at the content and user journeys in your site. Can you spot friction and momentum on those paths to the desired visitor outcome? Remove the friction and increase the momentum and you'll improve the return on investment in your website.

* The best work we've done to date

On that very subject, we've recently launched our most successful client website in terms of its return on investment. Cadogan Tate offer removal, shipping and storage services to London home-owners, UK businesses, fine art owners around the world and those who are emigrating.

Web-based, closed business is up 50% since we launched the new site and the site has paid for itself in 8 weeks.

This is largely because we were able to apply the above approach to the planning stage.

Needless to say, our clients are delighted:

"My heart leaps when I realise that finally, we are in the hands of professionals." (Rohan Masson-Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive, Cadogan Tate Group)

Use this link to take a look at the site:

http://m1e.net/c?10911705-DxYqqfHkxK/QI%402477370-HwXNI/Z3kVWdc

* Rackspace's formula for the perfect website

Some of our client sites are hosted by Rackspace who have come up with what they believe to be the formula for the perfect website. It's a bit of fun really but you can test your own site against their calculator here:

http://m1e.net/c?10911705-4lJpgDnzNDtkI%402477371-DgMft.bn895Jo

* New team members

It's my pleasure to welcome three new team members to The Escape Committee:

Simon Earthrowl - Senior Developer
simon@escapecommittee.com

Adnan Mangral - Designer/Developer
adnan@escapecommittee.com

Selina Wragg - Account and Project Manager
selina@escapecommittee.com

Until next time ...

Mark

Mark Walmsley
Managing Director
The Escape Committee
Our Portfolio:
http://m1e.net/c?10911705-Fvah8AAN7Obl2%402477372-OSgQElkLxhdnE

The Thurloe Estate

Fri, 11 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

This project for South Kensington Estates and Savills had a fierce deadline and we met it!

Based on designs provided by the design agency Adventis we produced and launched an elegant smooth Flash site with less than 2 days' notice.

Cadogan Tate

Tue, 08 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

"My heart leaps when I realise that finally, we are in the hands of professionals."
(Rohan Masson-Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive, Cadogan Tate Group)

"Since The Escape Committee launched our new site in March 2007, the amount of business we have won as a direct result of the site has increased by 50%."
(Graham Enser, Managing Director, Cadogan Tate Fine Art)

The Client:

Cadogan Tate offer moving, shipping and storage services to businesses, residential customers, those moving overseas and those needing expertise in Fine Art logistics. Offices are in London, Paris and New York.

The Problem:

The business was not communicating value and personality through its website. It offered scant support to sales and marketing and was utterly at odds with the new and exciting marketing strategy.

The Solution:

A web strategy at the heart of the marketing plan that segmented visitors, forming the basis for the design of a beautiful and effective new website, one which would provide a significant and measurable return on investment.

Our Approach:

We studied the new marketing plan, interviewed department heads and prospects and identified the most likely wins in those target groups. We then identified 'desired visitor outcomes' and minimised the friction on the paths to those outcomes and maximised momentum. We created "Rapid Human Response" so that web generated inquiries would be handled by a real person, quickly and efficiently.

We devised and implemented a search marketing campaign to increase the percentage of visitors to the site who had not heard of Cadogan Tate.

The Results so far:

In the 8 weeks following the launch of the site, website generated closed business increased by 50%. The search marketing campaign increased visits from those unaware of the company by 150%. A retainer agreement has been put in place so that we can continue to support and promote the site. Phase 2 plans are being discussed, as is the redesign of the company intranet.

Huge thanks are due to Graham Green, the marketing guru hired by Cadogan Tate to devise and implement the new strategy. He made it possible for us to do our best work to date, and for Cadogan Tate to realise the return on investment they wanted.

Cadogan Tate

The Desired Visitor Outcome

Tue, 08 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

However complex an online communications project might seem, there really are only two questions that planners need to ask and answer:

1) Who do we wish to attract?
2) What do we want them to do?

I've seen senior marketing people visibly relax when I've told them this.

The answer to Q1 will be somewhere in the marketing plan (You do have one don't you?). What type of people do we want to come to the site and buy/learn/interact? In that group, who is most likely to be using the web? Are there other easier less costly ways to reach those people?

The answer to Q2 provides the 'desired visitor outcome'. This outcome must do 2 things: It must satisfy a user need and achieve a marcomms objective for the publisher.

Document your 'desired visitor outcome' and then take a look at the content and user journeys in your site. Can you spot friction and momentum on those paths to the desired visitor outcome? Remove the friction and increase the momentum and you'll improve the return on investment in your website.

Mark Walmsley
Managing and Creative Director
The Escape Committee

Born Free Foundation

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 01:00:00 +0100

The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity working throughout the world to stop individual wild animal suffering and protect threatened species in the wild. Our new site for the Foundation stretches to over 1,000 pages of information, including a shop and a blog by the Foundation's Chief Executive Will Travers.

(www.bornfree.org.uk )

"It's gorgeous, what can I say?" (Angeline Swan, Born Free Foundation)

Furlong Research Charitable Foundation

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:00:00 +0100

The Furlong Research Charitable Foundation is an independent research foundation established to encourage co-operation between scientists and surgeons working in the orthopaedic field.

www.frcf.org.uk

"Mark, we are delighted with the results and the feedback has been excellent" (Dr Minoo Esat, FCRF)

CBSO Podcast

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The CBSO Podcast is a monthly audio magazine hosted by broadcaster Tommy Pearson and includes interviews with key people at the CBSO as well as regular features about the orchestra. It is available at iTunes and the September 2006 edition was downloaded by over 2,500 visitors in the first week.

"We all do agree, that in the time we had from conception to going live, miracles have been accomplished! Many thanks. Jorj"
(Jorj Jarvie, Director of External Relations, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra)

Listen to the Podcast

Goldman Sachs

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

In 2000, we were invited to present to Goldman Sachs for a project to increase the use of one of their key economics information websites for analysts and traders.

Following a 4-way global video-conferenced pitch to a panel including Chief Executive Gavyn Davies, we were appointed.

Working with target users and the communications team, we assessed both user-ability and the usability of the existing web site. We then made recommendations for improvements to design, navigation and information architecture.

Canon Europe

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

In association with a design agency, we developed a marketing intranet for Canon Europe designed to harmonise the use of marketing collateral around Europe.

Key to the project was accessibility. Users would be viewing the site on a wide range of platforms, including PDAs.

Brompton Quarter Website Launch

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Brompton Quarter is an up-and-coming area of Knighstbridge in Central London owned and managed by South Kensington Estates.

We were selected to design and develop a web site to help promote the area as a London destination.

"Before moving onto the SKE site, we all want to say a big thank you to all your team for helping us create a BQ website that is of a very high standard and has all the functionality that we require. So far all the comments have been very positive!"
(Michelle Bradley, South Kensington Estates)

www.bromptonquarter.com

Kimberly-Clark

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

In 2003 we were shortlisted for the design and development of a global marketing intranet for Kimberly-Clark and after a 3-way pitch we were selected over two roster agencies.

The project was designed to harmonise the use of marketing collateral across all the global regions in which Kimberly-Clark promited the Andrex brand. Sadly, significant changes in client-side priorities resulted in the cancellation of the project before completion.

Warwick Arts Centre

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Warwick Arts Centre is the busiest entertainment venue in the UK outside London.

Since 1998 we have been providing strategic consulting, website and database development services and facilitating the distribution of thousands of personalised and targeted email alerts per week.

www.warwickartscentre.co.uk

Go Native

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Case Study

Go Native offer accommodation services to a blue chip client base all over the UK from offices in London, Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester. At any given time they have over 1,500 guests staying in over 1,000 managed apartments.

What was the problem?

When we were appointed, Go Native's website was failing to communicate either the personality of the team or the wide range of services offered. Further, there was little consistency in the use of the visual identity and copy in both digital and print.

What did we do?

We refreshed the visual identity and redesigned the website
We rewrote all digital and print copy
We created Word, Excel and PowerPoint templates

What was the result?

Go Native now have a refreshed visual identity and a beautiful, usable and accessible new website. They now communicate more clearly, concisely and consistently both internally and externally.

What did the client say?

“Hi Guys,

I just wanted to say a huge thank you. It is really exciting having our website now `live' and viewable! You have all worked really hard to make this happen and I know that we can (sometimes) be a demanding client (although you may have another word for it!!!)

Thanks!

Lara"

www.gonative.co.uk

Brompton Quarter

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Brompton Quarter is an up-and-coming area of Knightsbridge in Central London owned and managed by South Kensington Estates.

We were selected to design and develop a web site to help promote the area as a London destination.

Before moving onto the SKE site, we all want to say a big thank you to all your team for helping us create a BQ website that is of a very high standard and has all the functionality that we require. So far all the comments have been very positive! (Michelle Bradley, South Kensignton Estates)

www.bromptonquarter.com

Development Securities

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

399Edgware is an exciting community and multi-use property development project in North London.

We provided strategic consulting and designed and developed a site to promote the project to residential and retail property investors.

The site also provides access to hundreds of documents relating to the development for project team members only.

www.399edgware.com

Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

We have been retained by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music since 1997.

Since then we have become the outsourced web team for the Board, which is the largest examination body in the world.

A notable recent achievement has been the development of an online community of over 2,000 registered users, the result of which has been a 400% increase in visitors to the site.

www.abrsm.org

Youth Music

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Bongo Club is the new online resource for early years music making. Hosted by Youth Music, Bongo Club is full of ideas and inspiration for both parents and early years practitioners.

We delivered the site ahead of schedule and for a fee 200% less than the incumbent agency.

www.bongoclub.org.uk

Unicef

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 01:00:00 +0100

To mark the first anniversary of the Asian tsunami, Unicef sent out a 'thank you' message to supporters to tell them how the funds had been spent.

We were commissioned to design the HTML email.

www.unicef.org

London Borough of Lambeth

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 01:00:00 +0100

London Borough of Lambeth needed a new website within 3 weeks to support their Lambeth Stop Smoking Services campign.

In assocation with the Centre for Public Innovation we delivered on a tight budget and on time.

www.letsgiveitup.com

Thatcher The Musical

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 01:00:00 +0100

Warwick Arts Centre needed a Flash advert for their run of Thatcher The Musical, to use in an email marketing campaign.

We designed the advert and our Email Marketing tool was used to distribute the advert.

Birmingham Hippodrome

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 01:00:00 +0100

Jerry Springer the Opera hit Birmingham in February 2006 and Birmingham Hippodrome launched a marketing campaign to promote the sale of tickets to the show.

We were asked to provide strategic consulting on the use of SMS marketing as a response channel.

Radio advertising played a major part in the campaign and we devised an SMS campaign to maximise response from these adverts and leaflet marketing.

www.jerryspringertheopera.com

www.birminghamhippodrome.co.uk

Viral SMS Marketing

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 01:00:00 +0100

In an exciting new venture we are offering affordable and effective viral SMS marketing campaigns and it's free to end users*.

2.5 billion text messages were sent in October 2005 in the UK alone. Few would dispute that the combination of reach, immediacy, convenience and viral potential is unmatched by any other communications channel.

Here is how it works:

Rent a keyword (from �500 plus VAT per month)

Promote the campaign:

Text �Whatever� to 80247 for 3 special offers Users receive a promotional code by return and are invited to opt-in using their email address for additional benefits. The advertiser pays 20p each time this happens.

Users are also encouraged to forward the text and email message to friends so that they too can take advantage of the promotion. Those who successfully refer friends can qualify for a further reward.

Case Study

Gossard invited users to text in for a �1 voucher. 25,000 did so, and they achieved half year sales targets in 6 weeks.

If you'd like to know more, call Mark Walmsley on +44 (0)1737 768 127

Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

In 2005 we were shortlisted to 5 and then selected to design the new website for the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

In a slight departure from our usual design process, we asked 3 of our designers to respond to the brief so that we could offer the best ideas that our team could produce. Needless to say, we got fascinating and very different results. The three designs were then used in a roadshow by the client to allow stakeholders to vote on which design they preferred.

The designs prepared by Jon Hicks received the highest vote and the site has now been launched. We're all delighted with the results.

www.gsmd.ac.uk

MacUser Magazine

Wed, 07 Sep 2005 00:00:00 +0100

We've worked closely with designer Jon Hicks on a number of important projects recently, not least the development of our own new identity and website.

Jon is considered something of a guru in design circles having designed the Firefox browser logo and the Thunderbird email application logos. It's no surprise then to find a two page spread about him in the September 05 issue of MacUser magazine.

You'd think that seeing your work on a double page spread in the New York Times would be enough to make that your 'favourite' project, but Jon cites the design of our logo and website as the work he is 'most proud of'.

If the feedback we have received about it is anything to go by, Jon's not alone in liking it. We're certainly delighted.

Mark
mark@escapecommittee.com

ABRSM Publishing

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 00:00:00 +0100

We were asked to redevelop the eCommerce web site of ABRSM Publishing – one of the most successful music publishers in the World.

The brief was simple: to improve online sales and present their existing brand in a fresh, dynamic way. We recognised that the key to the project was to create a truly usable interface, and tap into customer's positive experiences of online purchasing. Our first step was to talk to users of the existing site to find out what they felt worked, and what could be improved.

This persistent emphasis on talking to real-life users, and on user testing, had very clear commercial goals, and the result? A 50% increase in web sales in the first quarter since launch.

www.abrsmpublishing.com

Outsourcing Your Web Team

Fri, 08 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0100

If your organisation is reaching the point where a team of one or more inhouse web developers or marketers looks like the only answer, think again.

Outsourcing your web team can save you money and you can benefit from the support of expert technical, creative, strategy and online marketing and communications specialists without having to hire extra staff or risk idle time.

Making the Case for Outsourcing Your Web Team (PDF)

IMG Artists

IMG Artists is the world's largest classical music agency and management company with offices in London, New York, Paris and Malaysia.

We provided strategic consulting and designed and built the new site which offers comprehensive information about 440+ artists, attractions and arts projects managed by the agency.

Our solution included the development of intelligent search, audio and video streaming and a simple yet effective content management system.