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Brief
The brief for the Transmission Impossible site was received by MadeByPi on the 6th May, under a month before the site launched. CBBC were keen to give their well established and much loved presenters Ed and Oucho an online home of their own, whilst also supporting the launch of their new TV show Transmission Impossible. The site needed to be branded enough to promote the new show, yet flexible enough to remain as an Ed and Oucho ‘hub’ once the show ended in the middle of August. The brief also required Ed and Oucho’s madcap, random and irreverent humour be captured on the site. The production sets that the twosome presented their shows from in the past always had a very home-made, put together feel – and it was essential that the new site complemented this.
Strategy
To truly get under the skin of Ed and Oucho and to ensure the brief’s requirements were met, reference photos taken of the presenters’ old production sets were used by MadeByPi to help set the look and feel of the site. Objects littered around the edge of the website were taken directly from Ed and Oucho’s environment, and were also used to help create the content of the ‘den’, which is the site’s focal point. The site needed to look home-made, as if Ed and Oucho had put it together themselves. To create this effect, the promo areas and the den appear as if they’ve been pinned, stuck or paper clipped to the site.
Execution
The new Ed and Oucho site needed to be as interactive as possible in order to engage the audience and help bring the presenter’s chaotic personalities to life. The site’s content is made up of video clips of the presenters in action, plus image stills that sit in their photo gallery. Site visitors are even greeted by Oucho’s take on a few classic songs (from Celine Dion ‘My Heart Will Go On’, to Dolly Parton’s ‘9 til 5’), and can select the tracks they’d like to hear from the music player. In order to present the site’s content in a fun and interactive way, MadeByPi created a ‘den’ for Ed and Oucho was created, to further play on the concept that the site is their online home. The result was a fully illustrated living room scene, full of interactive hotspots that are activated on mouse rollover - making the site feel very playable. Visitors can link to the site’s content not just from the main navigation – but also from the den – i.e. they can reach the video clips by clicking on the television, browse the photo gallery by clicking on the picture board.
The site was built in a way that allows CBBC to easily update the content, keeping the site feeling fresh – especially as the site needed to have the longevity to last once Transmission Impossible finished airing. This also allows CBBC to promote related content and other areas of CBBC that are relevant to the audience.
Results
The site has been really well received by CBBC viewers, especially during its period of promotion whilst Transmission Impossible was on air. MadeByPi has presented the site’s content is presented in a way that’s different to other presenter/programme support websites, truly reflecting the wacky personalities of its inhabitants – whilst being innovative at the same time.
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