When we were commissioned to design and build the corporate site for a rapidly growing branded drinks manufacturer, Stock Spirits Group, we were concerned that international sites (the company had several overseas companies) should have the same look and feel. The company agreed and now we have implemented not just a corporate site, but sites covering international sales, US, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Some of these sites are in three languages too, just to add to the complexity, but each one has a standard (though flexible) format. If you visit any one of them, you’ll be in no doubt that you are in a Stock Spirits Group site.
Working with Stock, we made the decision early on that it was important to give countries full flexibility in terms of marketing in their home territories – so we would link out from the corporate site to any brand sites which they had built and maintained for their particular markets.
That immediately defused the ‘not invented here’ syndrome and demonstrated that what we wanted was corporate consistency, but not a corporate straitjacket.
Stock keep on expanding, and as they do, their network of sites grows too. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the next territory to be covered, followed by Croatia. And the brand promise offered by Stock Spirits products and the reputation of the company both continue to strengthen and develop.