Five thousand two hundred and eighty is the number of feet in a mile. It also represents the commitment Lawrence & Schiller makes to go the extra mile for its clients.
Each quarter L&S honors an employee who embodies the spirit of 5280. Someone who has gone above and beyond to deliver significant results for a client. Not just someone who has put in long hours, but someone who has been strategic, insightful and relentless. To this person the Marketing and Advertising (MAP) Award is presented.
Bob Davidson
From a long list of nominees, the MAP winner for the first quarter of 2010 is Bob Davidson, an Interactive Programmer who’s been with Lawrence & Schiller since August of 2008. Davidson was selected because of his work on Digital Revolution… the redesigned, re-organized and re-programmed website for the South Dakota Office of Tourism.
Months in the making, Digital Revolution transformed www.TravelSD.com from an informational website to a transactional one, allowing visitors to not only research their South Dakota vacations but also book them without leaving the site.
Davidson was the technical lead for a group of programmers who developed the site in ASP.net and created the following functionalty:
- Partner Pages – for a nominal one time fee, visitor industry members can gain access to a content management system with the ability to update content, add photos & videos and integrate social media.
- Online Booking – Partners have the option of working with the state’s central reservation system and offering their inventory for online bookings.
- Related Content – based on location, attraction type and visitor interests, related content (including vacation packages, events and news stories) is automatically displayed on each detail page.
- Interactive Trip Planner – any attraction, activity, event or lodging with a physical address can be added to the Trip Planner. Integrated maps show the location of attractions and visitors can drag-and-drop itenerary items onto a calendar which then automatically updates the maps.
During its first full month of operation, the average time per visit spent on the new TravelSD.com has gone up 22%, usage of the Trip Planner is up 57% and online sales are up 257% over the same time period in 2009!
Congratulations to Bob and the South Dakota Office of Tourism.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Congrats, Bob!
Much deserved!
Go Bob!