Big Eye Deers

Placebo Music Portal

Introduction

Placebo, a band with six studio albums and 27 singles under their belt, were looking to update their online presence. The band requested a fresh new look for the site, but wanted to go beyond aesthetics to develop a comprehensive digital strategy, taking full advantage of such technology as social networking services and micro-blogging.

“Big Eye Deers are an integral part of the Placebo online strategy. The ‘Battle for the Sun’ release campaign would have been an incredibly different prospect without the consistent and constant support from Big Eye Deers,” said Anthony Crook, Online & Digital Manager at the band’s management company, Riverman Management.

“The world of music changes rapidly, and we needed a digital partner who understands these timescales, not only do Big Eye Deers understand, they have surpassed any expectations we could have had of them.” 

Delivering this strategy on time and on budget was especially important, as the launch of the site would coincide with "Battle For The Sun", their first album to be released on their own label Dreambrother.

The Big Eye Deers Approach

We conducted a series of workshops with the band’s management in order to construct the most effective and coordinated digital strategy that would mesh seamlessly with their offline PR efforts. Regular updates and fresh content were critical, as was harnessing the power of social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

To deliver this solution, Big Eye Deers built a completely custom Content Management System (CMS) using PHP and MySQL, which enabled the band and their management to update live dates, blogs, photo galleries and press releases in real time, satisfying the need for up-to-the-minute breaking news or urgent announcements for their fans.

The migration from the previous site was completed smoothly and seamlessly - at no point was there a disruption to the existing site while the band's new interactive home was created. This included the translating and subsequent de-duplicating of the current Placebo mailing list.

Placebo were adamant that the new online presence was to be a heavily fan-orientated creation, which offered an unprecedented level of band and fan interaction. This meant that all of the content-rich areas of the site allowed fans to submit their own content and actively be part of the site.

The first step into Placebo's new era was to offer a free mp3 download off the band’s forthcoming album “Battle for the Sun”, a campaign that attracted more than 100,000 hits.

Next came the opportunity for fans to listen to the complete album weeks before its May release. We devised a playback campaign that enabled visitors to listen to all 13 tracks, but in order to prevent file sharing, we developed a secure page that remained live for 50 minutes and then automatically shut down. 

The project ran on a strict and challenging time scale, as the site needed to go live in advance of the release of the new album. Effective project management was critical to ensure the project delivered on time and on budget.

The Finished Product

The site was delivered on schedule and was extremely well-received by fans, management and the band alike.

In February 2009 (pre-launch), the Placebo web site stats included:

44,000 visits
A bounce rate of 37%*
Average time spent on website: 1.4 minutes
Average page views per visitor: 2

Once the site went live in May, the site boasted:

More than 355,000 visits (within the 31-day period)
A bounce rate of 29%
Average time spent on website: 3.5 minutes
Average page views per visitor: 3.5

*The bounce rate represents the percentage of initial visitors to a site who "bounce" away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site. According to Google analytics, a bounce rate of 35% or less is considered excellent.

Following the website redesign:

Easy updates are now possible with instant access to the CMS system
Full rebuild of the mail database has left the band with an extremely effective channel to reach their fan base

For Placebo and Big Eye Deers, the partnership doesn’t end with the site going live. The project continues to evolve with new features and services incorporated regularly, like:

• video blogging
• streamlined email system
• monthly targeted email campaigns and subsequent analytic statistics
• site maintenance and technical support

 

Shoot Music

Introduction

Shoot Music is an innovative, market-leading company providing comprehensive music promotion to sports fans via stadium PA systems, on the concourse and at pitch side, as well as through traditional channels like sport press, radio, web and TV.  

Our work with Shoot spanned the whole creative design spectrum. They came to us wanting a compelling brand that reflected their strong association with the sports market, whilst also providing a distinctive online presence supported by a full range of printed and digital material.

The Big Eye Deers Approach

Following a series of consultations, we worked closely with Shoot to create a memorable brand that accurately represented the business’ unique method of music promotion.

A key requirement was to provide a site that was constantly updated with the latest news and projects in the fast-moving industry. We created a bespoke content management system (CMS) that enabled Shoot to manage site updates themselves with no hassle - whenever and wherever they needed.

It was a solution that worked exceptionally well for Shoot.

“Big Eye Deers have been integral to the development of our business since our inauguration in 2008. Their expertise in branding, design and technological genius has been an inspiration to us all at Shoot, and they are an essential component to our business model,” said Tom Roberts, Director, Shoot Music Promotions.

The site also featured an automated feedback process where key stakeholders in the stadium could dynamically send in their customers’ reactions, giving Shoot a ground-level understanding of how their music is perceived by the live sports audience.

The Finished Product

One year later, Shoot’s services now reach an audience of more than 20 million sports fans, with a roster of artists including Chemical Brothers, Eminem, Green Day, Kaiser Chiefs, The Killers, Lily Allen, Morrissey, Oasis, Placebo, Prodigy, Rod Stewart, The Verve, and U2.

The partnership between Shoot and Big Eye Deers didn’t end with the launch of its website. As part of their first birthday celebration, Shoot introduced a Fantasy Football competition. We then completed a home page redesign to ensure Shoot stay at the top of its game. 

“Being able to achieve so many fundamental services with one company is a rarity and a true virtue. Big Eye Deers continue to help us with our image, development and growth, and we are excited about the future working together.”

 

The Sick Kids

Introduction

Lele Jackson, Kelly Jackson, and Sarah Louise Akwisombe are the Sick Kids – the Croydon-based trio are currently a fixture on the London music scene, but their talents extend beyond performing as an all-female rap group.

The Sick Kids have ventured into their first foray into the commercial fashion realm with their debut collection, featuring ‘The Horror Kids’, ‘Ghost Kids’ and the now infamous ‘Stabby Kids’ T-shirt line.

The Goal

After assessing their requirements, we recommended a Magento-based solution – a market-leading, open-source shopping cart system that delivers Amazon-like functionality at an unbeatable price. We delivered an easy-to-manage store with a professional look and feel that was a design constant throughout the site.

The store featured best in class SEO, easy-to-use functionality with best-practice e-commerce user experiences. An important aspect of the store’s functionality centred on easy-to-use (and easy to maintain!) upload and management capabilities – which Magento tackles with ease.

Another attractive element of the Magento solution is that it’s a platform for growth. Phase one of the Sick Kids store revolved around accepting PayPal payments, but can move to integrated credit card processing at the push of a button.

Branding and Design

Our bespoke designs brought a professional sheen to the distinctive Sick Kids brand. The design process involved the production of wireframes, with client input to ensure they were delighted with the end product.

Instantly recognisable branding combined with best practice e-commerce item display, checkout process and searchable catalogue is a proven and effective strategy that will ensure an engaging and interactive user experience.

Development

We developed a custom store skin and homepage design, which features a Flash-driven product showcase, spotlighting the latest clothing and accessories, while marrying the distinctive style of The Sick Kids with a best of breed e-commerce powerhouse.

Mixing hip-hop street wear with pop and punk, new and old, the Sick Kids store line up ranges from hoodies and sweatpants to pin badges and ‘Sick Bags’. Not only did they have a massive input on the store design and layout, each of the clothing items were modelled and photographed by the Sick Kids themselves.

The Result

The end result was an online store that accurately reflected the creativity at the heart of the trio – it’s a music and fashion mash up that the girls and their management are thrilled with!

“We’re absolutely over the moon with the work Big Eye Deers carried out. Impressive doesn’t even begin to cover it – the site perfectly narrates what The Sick Kids are all about – music, fashion, and a little bit of mischief! It raises their game immensely and further establishes them as one of the new creative forces in the industry,” said Tony Arthy, Director, Worn-Out.

Find out more...

Visit the Sick Kids store at www.thesickkids.co.uk

Testimonials

Don’t just take our word for it – we let our happy customers do the boasting for us...

“Big Eye Deers are an integral part of the Placebo online strategy. The ‘Battle for the Sun’ release campaign would have been an incredibly different prospect without the consistent and constant support from Big Eye Deers.”

“The world of music changes rapidly, and we needed a digital partner who understands these timescales, not only do Big Eye Deers understand, they have surpassed any expectations we could have had of them.” 

Anthony Crook, Online & Digital Manager, Riverman Management

“Big Eye Deers have been integral to the development of our business since our inauguration in 2008. Their expertise in branding, design and technological genius has been an inspiration to us all at Shoot, and they are an essential component to our business model.”

Tom Roberts, Director, Shoot Music Promotions

“Big Eye Deers created both a compelling brand and web presence that was fundamental to my company. Their creativity is unrivalled!"

Tony Arthy, Worn-Out