With a passionate, loyal fan base, WNO knew they wanted to find a way to engage with them online as they never had before. Therefore we set out to design and build an online community that allows each member to customise their user experience. The site would be built to include ‘push’ technologies; getting content out to users even when they weren’t using the WNO site. We also knew rich media would play a key part in stimulating the audience, conveying the sensory drama of opera online.

Accordingly, we’ve adopted the latest internet technologies to build an engaging site:

• Using AJAX, we’ve developed content blocks that can be dragged and dropped around the Homepage, allowing users to customise the WNO site.
• A ‘My WNO’ community ensures can sign up for customised alerts, access performance resources and use embedded Flash players to enjoy music and videos.
• A WNO Soundtrack player gives the user the perfect musical backdrop when navigating around the site.
• When away from the site, RSS feeds, e-newsletters, and a desktop widget displaying news and performance information, all help to engage the user.

Having partnered with Welsh National Opera for nearly ten years, we’ve developed each new generation of website for them. But it’s this most recent success that we’re both most proud of.