Project of the Month
Breast Cancer Marathon Website Redesign
Client:
26.2 with Donna The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer (BCM) is the only U.S. marathon dedicated solely to raising funds to end breast cancer. 100% of the proceeds for this race will go directly to The Donna Hicken Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to helping women with breast cancer. While a portion of the proceeds will be used by the Donna Hicken Foundation for the critical care of breast cancer survivors in need, the foundation has pledged to donate the majority of the funds raised to Mayo Clinic for research and its Multidisciplinary Breast Clinic, which specialized in the detection and treatment of breast cancer.
The inaugural run will be held in Jacksonville Beach, Florida on February 17, 2008. It is the vision of the planning committee to ensure the race is first class. BreastCancerMarathon.com is one of the primary communication vehicles for the race. The website not only contains details about the race, sponsors and partners, and associated training programs, but is the primary vehicle for race registration and merchandise sales. It is critical that this site stay current and searchable. In addition, as a part of the comprehensive Marketing Plan provided by The Dalton Agency, a Monthly E-blast newsletter is a major strategy in the race’s national grassroots marketing task list. The plan calls for an e-newsletter with updates about the Marathon, healthy running tips, Galloway training program information, items for sale, etc. The target audience includes Galloway Training Program members, marathon registrants, sponsors, Mayo Clinic, and selected e-mail lists provided by race partners.
Challenge:
The initial web site for the race was launched in early 2007. Only the basic details about the race were defined at that time, so the site’s information architecture was very basic. The planning committee recognized that the site architecture and design no longer supported the growing needs of the organization, and had concerns that the look and feel of the site was too feminine, appealing only to the female audience.
Solution:
IDEA II’s User Experience and Interactive Marketing teams quickly engaged with stakeholders of the race to redesign the site, providing a new information architecture that organized race details by end user need – creating sections of content specifically for runners, supporters, sponsors, and the media. IDEA II’s Creative Team leveraged elements from the race’s recent poster design as a starting point for the site’s new look and feel, providing a more gender neutral palette while maintaining the organization’s established brand of the ‘Running Ribbon’. Copyeditors were also engaged to enhance the site’s copy with rich keywords, optimizing the site for search engines. A complimenting e-newsletter was also designed. Both the site and the newsletter launched in early October, taking advantage of a critical month for the race – Breast Cancer Awareness month.
