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When The Idea Works was invited to enter the epic pitching process for the Jersey Tourism website we knew it was going to be more than a labour of love; If after 11 years of developing the jersey.com website, their eye had started to stray; like Madonna we were going to have to completely re-invent the site and what they thought of us if we were going to rekindle the flames of this relationship.

To achieve this the entire site, brief, end-users, marketing strategy, was broken down into a strategical overview of what they required and how this could be delivered. Our identified area of focus for economic growth was the end users.  Research identified 2 distinct user groups with specific aims, namely, "lookers" and "bookers".

Our challenge was to address the objectives of both these groups. Lookers (ie, those browsing several destination websites) needed to be tempted by attention grabbing content, while bookers needed access to specific information. We also recognised the relationship between these groups - we saw the need to convert lookers into bookers.

Our solution was a content filtering system selectively delivering editorial style content to sub-groups within the "looker" category, designed to excite interest in the destination. Video diaries were to be used as a means to advertise and suggest itineraries in a way that our "lookers" could identify with.The browsing friendly interface was designed to allow "lookers" to follow paths of interest where they would then be encouraged to book. "Bookers" needed access to specifics - "when is Mont Orgueil castle open ? What events are on and when ?" A research focused sub-site 'visit-jersey-info' would provide the answers to these questions in a clear concise way.

In addition we encouraged users to interact with the site via a 'scrapbook' of their favourite items and the invitation to submit their own experiences, video-diaries and photographs which would be used to generate future content and act as a valuable PR tool.

Our solution placed 'visit-jersey' within the panoply of a network of sites aimed at promoting Jersey as a whole - delivering on the requirement to encourage economic growth and sell the 'uniqueness' of Jersey as a holiday destination.

All it took was some of The Idea Works 'blue sky thinking'.