Pod1 Blog

When Pod1 was approached by luxury hotel chain, Red Carnation to build a new group of sites, for the business as a whole and each of the individual hotels meant that this project was always going to be a logistical challenge.

Red Carnation Hotels was very clear that each hotel should have its own individual site, with its own unique identity and its own URL as each hotel is promoted as an individual entity. This inevitably led to the development of what are basically 11 separate websites each with a different colour palate, look and feel.

From a usability and reporting point of view, the bespoke Content Management System gives the user editorial access to all the sites making changes across the entire group as simple as for an individual site.

The Red Carnation Group started back in 1984 with the purchase of the Chesterfield in Mayfair followed a couple of years later by the Chesterfield Palm Beach. Since then the group has gone from strength to strength bringing the total number of hotels to 12 including the Oyster Box nr Durban due to open in 2009.

This way for photos >>>

Somewhere you can get down and boogie with your soundmachine! Make it your own, share with others, regardless your are sure to bust a move!!! Have fun:)

Launched the first week of January, this banner campaign was designed to promote the Schroder Income Maximiser financial fund.

This campaign has been aimed at two different markets groups. These are the trade audience, in the form of Independent Financial Advisers and also for the first time the product will be promoted direct to the UK consumer.

The creative brief stated that Schroder uses a concept of ‘old and new’. The ‘old’ reflects Schroder’s solidity and 200 year heritage. Whilst the ‘new’ element, shows their ability to innovate, create new products and be market-leading.

To reproduce this message digitally Pod1 took the concept of a statue hitting a golf ball with a high tech driver to create a series of interactive and static banners with the strap-line ‘Driving your income further’.

To view the banners in situ please follow the links below.

Consumer banners:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml;jsessionid=GJBZSVCRZZVBBQFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0?menuId=244&menuItemId=2851&view=PICHEADLINESUMMARY&grid=F7&targetRule=14

http://www.find.co.uk/investments/funds&trusts

Trade banners:

http://www.ifaonline.co.uk/public/showPage.html?page=ifa2006_investment

http://www.investmentweek.co.uk/public/showPage.html?page=inv_week07_content_investment_trusts&f=1400

Pod1 was engaged by Killik & Co stockbrokers, to provide the design and production element for their new customer website.

Killik & Co, an independent partnership founded in 1989, was formed to address the rapidly growing market of new investors, encouraged by the Thatcher reforms of the 1980s. The aim was to provide advisory services to private investors of all sizes, via well-qualified investment professionals.

The emphasis for the site was on the information architecture as the site contains a large amount of content, some of which contains a fair amount of financial jargon.

It was recognised early on in the development process that there were two distinct potential customers or users those who were “financially savvy” and those who weren’t. Based on this knowledge the site was designed to offer two completely different user journeys, one for the fledgling or first time investor the other for the seasoned or experienced investor.

These two distinct variations ensure the large amount of content on the site is displayed in the most relevant way depending on the user’s requirements.

Travel Intelligence’s aim is to be the ultimate one stop shop for sourcing and booking the perfect boutique or luxury hotel anywhere in the world and What Makes TI special is the community of 130 professional travel writers covering over 107 countries worldwide.

Travel Intelligence approached Pod1 to handle the creative element and the information architecture of the new site, based on our experience in the Hotel and Travel sector, gained through our past work with clients like Mr & Mrs Smith, Paramount Hotels, Red Carnation Hotels and Virgin Holidays.

As the site was so content heavy it was important that the look of the site was clean and simple and this was achieved using a palate of blues and white to give the pages an almost minimalist feel.

The design element was also important in optimising booking flow and overall usability across the site, which was further aided through a deliberate focus on quick page loading times due to the use of Script.aculo.us and the avoidance of Flash.

The site will continue to evolve over the coming months, so watch this space for further developments.