Red Bee Media blends broadcasting and branding expertise to create an online TV experience for a major UK brand.
THE CHALLENGE:
Waitrose TV is a new online video channel conceived to help inspire a nation of cooks. It features six channels of content, including how-to guides, cooking tips, interviews and exclusive recipes from Waitrose food experts such as Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal. To convert inspiration into sales, Waitrose wanted their channel to look and feel noticeably different from anything seen before. And, of course, it needed to feel distinctive to Waitrose. So they turned to Red Bee Media with the challenge of packaging and presenting Waitrose TV to make it as gripping and effective as possible.
THE SOLUTION:
Drawing on our experience in the world of broadcasting, Red Bee Media proposed the application of televisual as well as digital design principles to the user experience.
The interactive and social experience now expected when watching video online is catered for with a user experience design that includes buttons that link to recipes, buying options, sharing via social media and even registration for a Waitrose cookery school course. But as audiences have become more accustomed to catch-up TV online, many now want a more classic, indulgent TV viewing experience with minimal interaction. For that occasion there is a full screen viewing mode, and, at channel level, large scale thumbnail images to lead the audience to new content without the need for active searching. We used full screen imagery wherever possible and laid navigation elements over that imagery, in the same way broadcasters overlay their navigation graphics over the full-screen picture. We even created a new logo for Waitrose TV which fuses Waitrose’s existing identity with an icon derived from the world of TV and video.
THE RESULT:
The result is a TV experience, online. Whichever way the audience decides to consume the content, the whole experience looks and feels unmistakeably Waitrose. It is as involving and enjoyable as watching conventional TV on your big telly, yet not at all like watching just another video player embedded in a standard webpage. The visually-rich TV-inspired design gives Waitrose the perfect environment within which it can share its passion for food with as many viewers as possible, thereby raising awareness, deepening engagement and driving online sales.