What happens when a much-loved Melbourne music venue undergoes major restoration and renovation? How does it retain its icon status and its loyal following while attracting a whole new client base? How does it spread the word of upcoming events in a fast, dynamic and highly competitive environment, while making it easy for theatre staff to manage the large volume of website updates associated with constant addition of new shows and events information?
With impressive and major renovations and refurbishments now completed, the Forum Theatre is ready to showcase and promote its talents, facilities and services through an equally extensive website upgrade.
Background
With its copper-domed clock tower and its night-sky interior, The Forum Theatre is more than a Melbourne icon, it’s a historically significant Australian entertainment venue and a unique Melbourne landmark.
While it is primarily recognised as a live music venue attracting big names from the international and local music scene, the Forum is now also capable of hosting a wide variety of corporate functions and media events, such as fashion shows, product launches, car launches, book launches, receptions and private parties.
The goal for the Forum Theatre website is to retain its current and loyal music patrons while attracting a whole new client base with its additional offerings.
Approach
Digital Bridge has a long association with The Forum and its management team at the Marriner Group. We’ve managed and maintained the Content Management Systems of The Marriner Group's websites for many years, so we were delighted when they asked us to redesign the visual design of the Forum Theatre website too.
The management team envisaged a striking and impressive new look for The Forum’s website: one that reflects the uniqueness of the venue itself. The site must be both highly responsive, intuitive to navigate and work seamlessly across all devices. It must further promote the venue’s live music experience while leveraging it to attract new clients seeking a personal and/or corporate events venue.
Result
The energy and dynamism of The Forum’s on-the-pulse live music scene fuelled the broader web-design elements, including photography/imagery and graphics. This allowed Digital Bridge’s design team to emphasise the excitement, momentum and buzz that any event (personal or corporate) held at The Forum, could expect to generate.
The Forum’s unique confluence of diverse architectural elements are showcased as the cornerstone of this thriving, energetic hub in all its splendour.
A shift to, and focus on, dynamic content creates a more interactive and engaging user-experience. The pace of content has been set to ensure that ‘just-right’ feel and timing, resulting in friendlier customer usability.
Featured artists and bands can use the venue’s website as a platform to promote their work and stream music and videos, thus encouraging more site visits that last longer while increasing awareness through greater cross-promotion between artists, bands and The Forum Theatre itself. This underpins the all-important partnership approach the venues takes in supporting visiting artists.
Upcoming gigs are displayed visually, reducing the dependency on elaborate text and better leading viewers’ eyes across, up and down the page.
The much-needed (and business-vital) database gathers more reliable and higher-value subscribers thanks to a gentle ‘once-every-couple of months’ newsletter pop-up.
The Forum Theatre and its passionate management team can now boast a website that looks every bit as good as it handles.
Vividly and exhilaratingly engaging, fast and super-responsive on every device, this newly renovated and refurbished venue now has an equally impressive website renovation.
Digital Bridge designs, develops and manages powerful websites and web-based applications for Australian businesses. We are based in the heart of Fitzroy, Melbourne.
