Connect appointed as build agency on new Land Rover website

Connect has been appointed as build partner for Land Rover’s new global website.

The appointment comes on the back of its successful work earlier this year with Jaguar Land Rover on its new website configurator.

As part of its remit, the Wolverhampton full service agency will work with Land Rover's web content management partner on the development and integration of Land Rover’s new website and will work with Land Rover’s other creative agencies in delivering the project. As before, Connect’s digital team will power, build and deploy the new Land Rover configurator.

Jose Espinosa, Connect’s director of digital services, said of the appointment: “This is a further demonstration of our capabilities in delivering innovative digital solutions as well as managing budgets and agencies. We’ve got some of the best digital brains in the business and it’s fantastic to be recognised for this again.”

2009 is proving to be one of Connect’s best ever years. So far this year the agency has picked up briefs from WD-40, Volkswagen, Goodyear Dunlop, Uniball and Ekornes.

Picture shows Jose Espinosa

Global Success for Connect's Digital Pioneers

NEW JAGUAR LAND ROVER CONFIGURATOR LAUNCHED TO GLOBAL CRITICAL ACCLAIM

A new Jaguar Land Rover configurator, created by Connect’s digital team, has been launched to coincide with the introduction of the new Jaguar XJ.

The vehicle configurator is one of the most advanced in the global motoring industry and has been created by Connect’s chief technical officer Jose Espinosa and head of enterprise IT Adam Perry.

The Connect system is based on a rules engine, similar to a database, which drives the site and the images.

Such is the complexity but brilliance of the new system, other global brands both inside and out of the motoring industry have already enquired about the new technology.

Speaking of the new configurator, Jose Espinosa (pictured), said: “Adam and I brought many years of digital experience to this project. This configurator is built using the experience gained working on other projects for Ford and Jaguar Land Rover. It was designed from the ground up to be easy and simple for clients and other developers to build the front end of the website.”

The new system is totally global. Adam Perry said: “We designed the system with the web in mind, making it cacheable. To this end we worked with Akamai, the world leader in powering dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online, which means that the configurator can be copied thousands of times across the world, improving the speed and reliability of the system.

"For example, if you are a consumer in Australia, you will largely be communicating with an Australian based web server (cache), which is obviously much quicker than communicating with a server outside of your region.”

“We’ve been supporting Jaguar Land Rover for six years, and it is great to see this evolution in site design to include an auto configurator run completely over our globally distributed network,” said Brad Rinklin, vice president of global marketing, Akamai. “This highly interactive feature demonstrates Jaguar Land Rover’s commitment to leveraging the Internet to maximise the customer experience.

With Akamai, Jaguar Land Rover will be able to offer superior site performance on a global scale, while minimising the resources required at their data center. This ends up being the best of both worlds for their end users and operations teams.”

Connect’s clients include Goodyear Dunlop, Amtico, Volkswagen, Tarmac, Costa, Triton and Bentley Motors.

LOOK AFTER YOUR DIGITAL HYGIENE

As the wind blows in from Mexico and we wash our hands for the 100th time in a day, it could be said we are all now taking our personal hygiene much more seriously.

However for one Midlands-based digital marketing specialist, it’s the region’s businesses that should be thrusting their digital hygiene to the top of the agenda.

Mexican American Jose Espinosa is Connect Group’s Director of Digital Marketing. He’s been with the 120-strong marcomms specialist for the last two years and before this he’s spent the last 20 years actively contributing his digital marketing expertise to blue chip companies such as Ford Motor Company, National Semiconductor, Motorola and Sun Microsystems.

One myth that Jose is keen to dispel to businesses is that their only web presence is via their own company website. Utter rubbish says Jose. “Let’s face it. Digital marketing is now so much more than just having a website. Customers now expect to find the majority of information on a product or service online.”

According to Jose, what businesses need to realise is that above and beyond their own company’s website, it’s every other website globally that users visit either before or after the corporate site that people need to be keeping updated with the very latest and accurate information.

“It takes more than just SEO to shift your audience’s mindset,” says Jose. “You have to put your message in front of them at every point in the digital journey. This will include targeting social and crowd-sourced networks and ensuring the brand is heard and seen.
“Developing a sustainable audience is highly dependent on creating a conversation. Word of mouth is powerful – and can be done just as effectively online. My advice to businesses is don’t just tell your visitors how great your museums are; let them tell each other how great they are.”

Jose says that websites should not just be an information source. “Websites should be developed and managed with one thing in mind – conversions. Our job as digital specialists is to focus on converting visitors to your website into customers by ensuring that users are “sign posted” to the next logical step – be that making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or downloading a brochure.”One important point is to create a post site visit communication strategy, which is a must for repeat visitors. Jose says: “Leverage what you know about your visitors to communicate to them with relevant information. Track users’ clickstream/preferences to send them targeted information – one newsletter does NOT fit all and you should create content for specific users to achieve the best results and return on investment.”

If businesses start talking to the digital world outside their own website, the opportunities are endless.

Since joining the Connect Group, Jose has been instrumental in setting up and managing the group’s digital marketing offering for clients including Jaguar Land Rover, Sustain, Triton and Tarmac. He enjoys technology in all its forms, but holds a special love for gadgets of all kinds and “futuristic” technology from the 1950s such as bubble televisions and valve amplifiers.