Brief
We were asked to develop a way for any UK company to find worldwide export opportunities. It had to be simple to use. And it couldn't rely on users having any marketing or analytical expertise. Targets were set at 10,000 businesses using the site within three months. Some good PR in national and business press would be a bonus.
Insight
Traditionally, resources for business have been two things. Bone dry. And biased towards specific countries and markets. Consequently, the hard-pressed would-be exporter has felt less than inclined to pursue the path of research.
Solutions
We took the immensity of Google data as our foundation. Then we sat down and worked out what Google information we could use, at what point, and for what purpose. This helped us design and build the main website. But the website alone could have been too daunting an initial prospect for users. So as a way of whetting their appetites, we also designed and built a special search gadget. This allowed any user to anonymously and quickly input their own export criteria and identify potential new markets. The answers would then link to other information and resources on the site. The gadget used publically available data but collated and cross-referred in a way that had never been done before, giving the results a value and accuracy above and beyond anything else on the market.
Results
With 22,000 unique businesses engaged we were twice as successful as our initial target. There was widespread media coverage which helped drive users to the site. Much of the success, however, must be due to the sheer simplicity and functionality of the gadget. Overall, this was an immensely technically challenging brief that taxed the skills of all our departments. But working together, we analysed, we created, we designed, we built and we did it. And we also picked up the prestigious Revolution Award for Innovation on the way!.
