Ensuring Clarity in Digital Communications

As a company, you are a complicated and sometimes confusing entity to get to grips with, especially for someone looking in from the outside. You have clients, distributors and many products, or maybe just one product and many distributors, many products and one distributor...you get the idea.

So you want a new digital strategy, an inspiring online campaign and maybe a shiny new website too; you come to us (hopefully) and we do our thing – more about that in a moment. One of the first and most important questions we need to ask is; “Who do you want to visit your website?”

A good agency will take the time to understand your brand, its positioning, your target market, your competitors and much more, before even beginning to advise you on a recommended strategy and approach. At risk of sounding like I am stating the obvious, these are all areas of your business that you ought to already have a good understanding of, and if not, it’s definitely worth spending some time on this before you engage a digital agency.

It can be a delicate balancing act condensing such disparate information into a coherent online presence. You can be too business focused; too client based or caught up in including the latest ‘must-haves’, with little idea of how they will deliver a return. It is all too easy to lose sight of the real purpose of your digital presence, the client relationship and what you need to do to service the needs of all your stakeholders online. Without a comprehensive understanding of the bigger picture, it is almost impossible to ensure you get your digital strategy and online presence right – unless you just happen to get lucky. Personally, we prefer not to leave things to chance!

Our work for NFL UK is a great example of putting this into practice. The NFL UK website objective was to strengthen the brand’s UK presence, without alienating new or current brand ‘fans’. We chose to present the information in a very user-friendly way, with a strong focus on the Information Architecture and User Experience of the website. We didn’t want an NFL-newbie to be bombarded with information, but we still wanted to be able to provide the dedicated fan with everything they could possibly desire and more.

Another example is our work for Hi-Tec. We were tasked with creating a digital channel to support the global launch of Hi-Tec’s new ion-mask footwear range. We created the microsite WetisDry.com and focused heavily on the communication of information at a variety of levels, giving the basic footwear consumer simple enough information to get an understanding of the product and its benefits, whilst also providing the more technically-minded visitors with enough depth of information to demonstrate the science behind the product.

So to sum up the message I’m trying to get across here (this is the clarity of message part!) – whether a website, like the two projects above, a campaign or a global digital strategy; any digital project requires a significant investment in planning and research before pen is even put to paper in the creative department. It is this step change that will see the delivery of increasingly impressive ROI from digital. Digital IS marketing and much like above the line communications, it’s the messaging that is key. Fail to carry out sufficient research and planning and you will end up with the same results as a poorly prepared offline campaign!

Paul Windust
Digital Project Manager

Sports Focus - NFL

In what is proving to be a common trend in the NFL, this past season, like many before it, has had its share of controversy and intrigue. Brett Favre doing his very best to keep things interesting, popping out of retirement to sign for the New York Jets in a shocking move, going on to help their run at the post season...at least...right up until it really mattered when an unfortunate series of bad throws leading to the inevitable interceptions in the last few games of the season, meant that the 1 win Dolphins from the previous season, took the playoff berth in a dramatic turnaround, engineered by the firey Tony Sparano, utilising the versatile "Wildcat" offense to absolute perfection to record an 11-5 regular season record.

As it turned out though, the surprise package of the year had to be the Arizona Cardinals with inspired play from star wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and veteran QB Kurt Warner, the Cards proved that a trip to the Super Bowl is not out of reach for any of the teams in NFL, even without much of a running game! Sadly for them the dream was ended by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who proved once again that defense wins championships and theirs, quite frankly, was scary at times. This was epitomised by stellar Linebacker James Harrison, known all season for blitzing the opposing QB into the turf, he appeared as if from nowhere inside his own endzone to pick off Warner and then run the ball the length of the field to score a touchdown, which some may argue was the significant turning point in the contest. Not to take anything away from Santonio Holmes magnificent diving catch which sealed the victory, but I think Steelers fans would be the first to admit that their defense came to the fore again, just when it was needed.

The international series game at Wembley Stadium was played out between the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers, with the Saints coming out victorious in a highly entertaining affair. In a game that featured two of the best offenses in the league, it was a Jonathan Vilma interception as the Chargers had been driving down the field which essentially sealed the win for the black and gold. Hopefully English NFL fans will be treated to an equally entertaining game in October this year, when the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccanneers come to town.....roll on next season...with a little less Brett Favre please!

Simon Evans
Account Director

NFLUK.com awarded NMA site of the week!

NMA landed on my desk this morning and this week contained a rather pleasant surprise... our work on NFLUK.com has been awarded NMA site of the week.

We really love the NFL UK site and the entire team at Bluhalo is delighted to see our work recognised in this way.

NMA site of the week pitches three sites against each other and rates their content, usability, branding and monetisation to give a score out of 100. NFLUK.com scored as follows:

- Content - 25/25

- Usability - 22/25

- Branding - 20/25

- Monetisation - 10/25

- Total - 77/100

To read the full article, click on the image below.

NFL UK launches new website

We are pleased to announce the launch of NFL’s official UK website, NFLUK.com.

The new launch sees NFL UK’s five year old website receive a complete redesign, with focus on fan engagement through the creation of a strong community offering and social media focus which includes a forum, ‘locker room’, blogs and fan profiles.

Bluhalo was chosen to develop the site following a competitive pitch between a final short list of three agencies. The new website sits alongside our other high profile sporting clients which include Liverpool F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League, Andy Murray, Hi-Tec, SWRT and Prodrive.

Bluhalo’s Managing Director Spencer Gallagher commented: “I am delighted that NFL UK selected us to work with them on this exciting project and am incredibly pleased with the end result – a website that exudes the true spirit of NFL. When it comes to engaging fans digitally, Bluhalo has an impressive track record and I’m looking forward to seeing the site evolve with additional features over the coming months.”

Alistair Kirkwood, Managing Director of NFL UK, said: "Deepening the connection with our fans is an important part of our activity in the UK and a vibrant, community-driven website plays a major role in that. We are delighted to be working with Bluhalo and look forward to a long and fruitful partnership."