ABOUT

In partnership with Aberdeen City Council and in a bid to illustrate the story of the people of Aberdeen, the National Theatre of Scotland launched project Granite. Looking to build a presence online, we were chosen to redesign and develop the microsite.

Conducting market research amongst the public of Aberdeen the aim was to identify what brings people to Aberdeen, what they need to get through the day and anything amazing that had ever happened to them. Following the research, the responses informed the narratives of four events throughout November and December made up of Sound, Video, Theatre, Dance and the finale taking place throughout March and April 2016.

With over 18 years of experience in the arts and culture sector we were really excited to get involved in project Granite and help tell the Granite story to audiences worldwide. Kicking off the project, we spent a morning on-site at the National Theatre of Scotland whereby we took the time to understand the aims and objectives of the project and advised how these could be achieved. The main aims for the project include:

Provide information on how the public can get involved with Granite, when the events are taking place, purchasing tickets and booking timeslots to events.

Provide information about the partner organisations for the project to promote the cultural infrastructure in Aberdeen.
Engage the audience both amongst new and existing users as well as Aberdonian ex-pats from across the globe to engage with Granite.
Although a key aim is to build an online presence, a key aim is encourage interaction outwit the website both offline and on social channels using the designated hashtag.
For greater flexibility we selected WordPress as the preferred content management system for the website. As well as market research on the streets of Aberdeen, the website will act as a secondary research tool with an online form prompting users to get involved and share their opinions on what makes Aberdeen great for them.

With the responses informing the narratives for the four events, we developed functionality to include multiple pieces of content from sound bites, video, and imagery for each event to ensure users are kept engaged. As such, the user experience is enhanced and provides a clear reason for visitors to return to the site following the events. Social media integration throughout the site also encourages engagement following the event to build up social presence as well as keeping the audience involved and engaged throughout. After developing the hashtag #GraniteAberdeen, this now pulls through the top three tweets using the hashtag to feature on the site as well as the ability to add another hashtag.

In the first month of launch, there were more than 3,000 page views, 74% of users were returning users and 33% of the traffic has come from both mobiles and tablets. As well as this, 30%+ traffic has come directly to the site with 72% from Scotland indicating the site is gaining traction in and around Aberdeen resulting in engaged users.

We have just been selected for another exciting project with the National Theatre of Scotland and can’t wait to get started with it.