Client: Laurel Highlands
Service: Interactive
Background
The Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau (LHVB) is the official tourism and promotion agency for the Laurel Highlands region of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The bureau has 660 members ranging from single-person guides for cave exploration to five-star resorts.
Challenge
LHVB wanted a stronger, more sophisticated database functionality to generate, monitor, manage and filter leads for its diverse membership. Aesthetically, the LHVB board wanted “an award-winning site” that would stand out against the toughest competition, along with fast, simple site administration that could be performed internally.
Strategy
Working with a website programmer, Kröme designed a site that is as attractive as it is functional. Roughly 85 percent of the site is dynamic, meaning that the site content is always up-to-date.
Cold Fusion and Macromedia Flash were used to create a highly customized user experience that included unique mapping functions, a splash introduction with synchronized music and graphics, and search capabilities that enable the user to match their interests precisely with the region’s events, places and activities. In addition, the LHVB has all of the administrative tools and capabilities it needs to update the site easily.
Results
The new website, www.laurelhighlands.org, was introduced to more than 100 LHVB members and media at a special sneak preview. Members who had previously declined to pay a premium to be featured on the site are now doing so eagerly.
The site attracted 40,000 visitors the first week it was live and reached 1.1 million hits 6 weeks later. It achieved a 30 percent click-through rate to LHVB members’ websites and generated hundreds of leads for its members.
The site received worldwide recognition when it was honored with a Silver Click award by HSMAI, the hospitality industry’s premier international association.