The Client
Fuller's are a well-known and well-loved UK brewery. Their hundreds of pubs, bars and hotels all serve their signature beers which they've been brewing since 1845.
UX
CREATIVE
HTML5
SITECORE
The Brief
The existing set of individual pub websites were a random mix, made and managed by assorted parties. Fuller's wanted to collect them all together and centrally manage the design and core content so that they had quality control of their brand, and a set of sites to be really proud of.
The Technical Challenge
Fuller's have an internal Pub Management System that holds the information for all of their pubs. The sites would need to hook into that to draw out all the core data, as well as having the ability for content to be managed both centrally by Fuller's, and individually by each landlord. On top of that, every site (nearly 400 of them), would need to be managed within one CMS.
The Builder
Our solution was Pub Builder, a system that created brand new websites for every one of their pubs, and that allows Fuller's to simply and easily make a new site whenever the Fuller's family grows. When a new pub is added to the PMS, a new site is automatically built. A little customisation and content later and it's ready to go.
The Pubs
Our designs had to cater for Fuller's huge variety of pubs, from your regular locals through city wine bars to rural gastro-pubs. Each site had to encompass the Fuller's brand, whilst staying true to the spirit of each pub. We took a research trip to a few locations to get a real feel for their different styles to incorporate into our design ideas.
The Templates
We decided the range of pub personalities needed a range of designs. We created multiple templates and themes, from traditional to modern, that could be combined in any manner to best suit each pub. Our final builder includes 6 themes, 2 templates, and multiple modules to give them ultimate flexibility.
The Devices
It was important for the sites to be beautiful and useful at every size, so we made each template adaptive, with designs optimised for mobile, tablet and desktop. We also made all the images retina-ready to make the most of their photography on high-resolution screens.
The Photos
Fuller's commissioned photographers to capture each of their pubs, so our designs had to take full advantage of these, and allow for the pictures to be kept in their specific aspect ratios.
The Beers
Each site comes with a beer carousel, to show off which brews are available at each pub. The data is pulled from their PMS, and transformed into a fun and interactive way to browse the selection using Javascript.
The Iterations
The brief, and the Fuller's team, changed and evolved over the course of the project. Our designs and solutions adapted with them, to ensure we were catering for the different visions of the new stakeholders.
The CMS
We chose Sitecore as the CMS, as its great performance and advanced features made it a perfect platform for managing multiple sites. Our project needed to tap into lots of the more complicated functionality, like workflow, security, and multiple domain management, and we dived into intensive training in these areas to really up our game.
The Content
Nearly 400 sites come with a huge volume of content. We supplied Fuller's with a special test version of the site in advance, exclusively for entering all the content, to give them as much time as possible to get ready at their end.
The Analytics
A key goal was to be able to measure the success of every site, so we fully integrated analytics on every one, including across all of the third-party systems used for bookings. This allows data to be accessed by Fuller's and by each pub, and enables them to keep track of all their KPIs.
The Go Live
Every one of the sites was successfully launched on the same day. We of course celebrated in the most Fuller's - appropriate way we could, with a beer mat collage.
The App
We also completed several smaller projects, including an accompanying mobile app Pint of Pride. Developed for iOS and Android, the app uses GPRS to allow thirsty travellers to easily locate their nearest pint of London Pride.
The Celebrations
Fuller's kindly supplied us with a few crates of their signature tipple London Pride, so we had a mini celebration each time we hit a major milestone. They also invited us to a post-launch thank you party in London where we were met with true Fuller's hospitality, and a few pints too.
The Content
One of their key targets was to increase online hotel bookings to 28% by March 2013. By October 2012 our new sites had already got online reservations up to 33%.
Their traffic has also increased by a third since launch, gaining more than 100,000 extra visitors per month.
The Result
For this project, we not only delivered the client nearly 400 new websites, but also a system which allows them to simply add a new one whenever they need. Our solution more than exceeded the brief and smashed their targets, and Fuller's are thrilled with the result.