2016 WMA WebAward – Best Leisure Website
We knew this project was going to be special from the beginning.
Early last year, we got a call from Phil Jones. Phil is the General Manager of a brand new, IMG managed, DYE Design 18 hole championship golf course in Azerbaijan – Dreamland Golf Club.
We’d worked with Phil previously when he was the Director of Golf at the Royal Golf Club in Bahrain. During the course of our 4 year partnership, we designed and developed 3 websites for the club and successfully transitioned the majority of their marketing from a traditional ‘brochures and billboards’ approach to being ‘digital first’ – leveraging social and email marketing, online advertising and analytics.
When Phil called us, the club house was still under construction. Only 9 of the final 18 holes had been completed but based on the results we’d achieved at the Royal Golf Club, he knew that digital presented the best solution to reach the right people and to raise awareness of the facility as quickly and effectively as possible.
We designed, developed and rolled out a number of email marketing campaigns but started with the website. We wanted to create an anchor to support all other marketing and there are four stand out features that we’re really proud of.
One.
The main ‘hero’ image on the homepage changes depending on when you visit. Navigate to the site during the day and you’ll get one of three different shots of the course, showing the lush green grass under a bright blue sky. Visit over night and you’ll see one of a selection of evening shots, showing the course or club house lit up beautifully under the stars.
Two.
Also on the homepage, we developed a module that combines marketing messages with a live weather report. For example, visit the site on a hot day and it may show the following message:
“30C. Wind South Southeast 9 – 10 knots. Scattered Cloud.
It’s warm on course today, cool off with our famous on-course cold towels!”
Or on a cold, windy day you could get:
“6C. Wind North Westerly 17-20 knots. Clear.
Booking a tee time? You’re brave but we salute you!”
Visit the site when it’s raining, snowing, windy, clear, hot, or cold. Whatever the weather is, a corresponding and personalised message is displayed to the user.
Three.
The site was designed and project managed in Costa Rica and Bahrain, it was developed in the Ukraine and launched for our client in Azerbaijan. It was completed on time and on budget. All of which is real proof that a distributed team can provide access to some of the very best talent by removing the limitations of geographic borders.
Four.
We’ve just won the 2016 Web Marketing Association WebAward, Best Leisure Website for our work. Scoring 63.5 out of a potential 70 points, the Dreamland site came in at 7.5 points higher than the average for the industry and 8.2 points higher than the WebAwards average for 2016.
“Creating Dreamland Golf Club’s digital presence has been an immensely rewarding project for our team here in Baku. Working with East Innovations gave us the opportunity to use their extensive knowledge and support to create a very special website. The site is featured in Azerbaijani, Russian and English languages, which was a substantial task for our team in creating accurate content as some of the golf terminology is not easily translated. I am delighted to see the efforts of all have been recognised with this award.” – Phil Jones, General Manager Dreamland Golf Club
The WebAward program is the longest running annual website award competition dedicated to naming the best web sites in 96 industries while setting the standard of excellence for all website development.
Run by the Web Marketing Association, it was founded in 1997 to help set a high standard for Internet marketing and development of the best websites on the World Wide Web. Staffed by volunteers, the organisation is made up of Internet marketing, online advertising, PR, and top web site design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of online advertising, internet marketing, and website promotion.
Entries were judged on the following seven criteria on a scale of 0-10 points:
“We’re delighted to have won a WebAward. Our priority is to deliver for our clients and their users first but to be recognised by an international body like the WMA is fantastic. It’s always been an aim of mine that East should support our clients to stand shoulder to shoulder with their peers and international competitors. It’s an incredible boost to receive the WebAward for Best Leisure Website and I’ve already cleared a space at the studio for the trophy.” Said Mark Warman, Managing Director of East Innovations.