The Grandad way

Grandad has a number of clients in the arts and culture sector, and our in-depth knowledge and experience with these sorts of organisations has proved invaluable at a time of such uncertainty. Strategy underpins every aspect of our work, and so when the first lockdown came into effect, our team was already working on solutions to further digitalise our client’s content. 

This goes beyond simply having a website. Grandad has worked to create custom digital experiences which have the capability to support and adjust to the fast-changing nature of the events industry. Thanks to social distancing measures, many events have progressed to a purely digital stage, and so the role of a website has become essential to the success of any arts and culture organisation.

We are seeing a huge change in the ways audiences interact with brands both on and offline across all industries. Investing in your website so you can adapt alongside these changes is essentially a way of safeguarding for the future, especially in a sector as impacted as the arts
Paul Sheffield, Creative Director at Grandad

Thanks to the infrastructure implemented on our long-standing client Brighton Fringe’s website, when COVID hit we were able to add additional functionalities to allow them to host pre-recorded and live events. Users could access events through a dedicated members area which would display performances in different states depending on whether the user had purchased it or not. The user journey here was seamlessly kept on the same URL, meaning that when users would eventually revisit the page, the content would update based on when the event was occurring. This gave Brighton Fringe a huge advantage in that it allowed them to pin all of their promotional outreach to a singular page, whilst users could access the content they wanted with just the click of a button.

In addition to this functionality, Grandad worked to implement technical elements which allowed Brighton Fringe the capability to offer alternate experiences for certain members. The brand’s membership scheme - Friends of Brighton Fringe - offers exclusive perks for becoming a member and supporting the charity's mission and projects. The team at Grandad were able to apply their digital expertise to find new ways of promoting this membership - ensuring that users were able to take advantage of a particular area of the site to see how many offers they have available, alongside their previous history. We bought an upsell commercial model into the buying flow so that users were made aware of the scheme and its benefits early on in their purchasing journey. The intuitive nature of this flow could recognise if the user was already a member, and change the copy accordingly to see if they wanted to use their benefits for a particular event, or join the scheme. This was woven in amongst subtle CTA’s to donate and support Brighton Fringe as the user approached checkout - a vital addition given the difficult year Arts and Culture organisations have experienced. 

Securing your future

Our experience with Arts and Culture brands has provided us with some exclusive insight into how they can adapt and thrive on digital. Having the ability to provide premium members access to gated content - such as special QA sessions and unseen media for different events - is a feature we have already worked on for certain clients, and are actively suggesting others to follow suit. Grandad will work as an extension of your team to understand the reasons why and exactly how your website’s users would want to interact with your content and build the functionality accordingly - ensuring a smooth user experience and enhanced engagement with your content.

It has become clear that Arts and Culture organisations must invest in their online presence to be able to maintain any sort of success. Talk to Grandad today to find out how we can help you future-proof your brand and go beyond the ordinary.

Get in touch!

Book in a chat with Paul on 01273 944 400 or email by clicking the link below

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