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On the 13th October 2016, we were kindly invited to attend the Wirehive 100 Awards, an event showcasing digital excellence and outstanding work from agencies in the southern counties based outside of London. This year’s Wirehive 100 consisted of 16 different award categories and we had been shortlisted for the ‘eCommerce Site Of The Year’, alongside Reflect Digital, Advantec and Salad Creative.
The website we had submitted for the award was Superior Fires, a leading online retailer of high efficiency gas fires, electric fires, stoves and fireplaces and part of Focal Point Fires, the largest gas fire manufacturer in the UK. The brief when we built the site was to increase the business’ overall conversion rate, provide a seamless responsive experience for mobile users and future proof the architecture of the site by allowing future development work to be undertaken with flexibility and in a cost effective manner. Using the open framework of the Magento platform, we were able to deliver against these targets through various design, development and logistical streamlining initiatives. Superior Fires were delighted that the project was delivered to a standard that exceeded all their expectations and the Media Lounge team believed it was a worthy site to put forward to Wirehive 100 this year.
The award was to be judged and critiqued by various highly respected digital professionals within the industry, each specialising in a different field. The criteria for the award itself was divided into design, development, content, SEO and performance. We felt confident that we had created a brilliant site, but with other fantastic sites in the running we knew that winning would be no easy task and our collective fingers were firmly crossed!
It was the night of the big event! Two of the Media Lounge family headed to the venue which was the amazing Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands in Surrey. Excitement was in the air and the guys were relishing every moment!
Fast forward to Friday morning and we questioned our Andy to get all the details of the night and here he is picking up the story from arriving at Mercedes-Benz World…
“Marcus and myself were really excited to be going to Wirehive 100. Both of us are really fond of this event so to be representing Media Lounge for an award was an amazing feeling. When we eventually arrived (Marcus had a slight trouser malfunction which meant that we were running late) at the venue we were greeted with glasses of Champagne and shown to the main lobby where we got the chance to mingle with the other guests. As you would expect, the venue was incredible – an enormous, brightly illuminated modern glass structure, filled with incredible Mercedes-Benz memorabilia! It really set the tone for the evening that lied ahead.
After 30 minutes of mingling and drinking Champagne, we were shown to our table, where we were treated to a fantastic 3 course meal alongside fellow industry professionals. It was such an amazing atmosphere and there was a real electricity in the air! The lights hit the stage where Robert Belgrave (CEO – Wirehive) came out to kick start the awards ceremony with a brilliant opening speech then handed over to comedian Paul Chowdhry who would be our host for the evening!
I looked at the line up for the awards, and to mine and Marcus’ joy the award we were nominated for was second in the running order. This was great as it meant that we would find out if we had won or not sooner rather than later which meant we would finally be able to relax for the the night. The time had come and Skip Fidura (Executive Director – Dotmailer) walked onto the stage to present the award for ‘eCommerce Site Of The Year’. All the hard work we had done at Media Lounge with our friends at Superior Fires to get to this position all came down to this moment. All I remember is hearing the words “And the winner is… MEDIA LOUNGE”! We were ecstatic! I jumped up and began walking towards the stage, expecting Marcus to follow… but he was being shy and didn’t want to come and accept the award. James Rossel (COO – Wirehive) who was also sat at our table, got up and physically pushed Marcus towards the stage and together we were presented with the award! We were shown to the backstage area where we were interviewed and had our photo taken with the award, and then went on to enjoy the rest of the night 😉
(From what I remember) the rest of the night was a truly amazing experience. A fantastic event, spent with incredible people. A big thank you to everyone involved, and well done to all the other winners on the night! To be recognised for all our hard work was a feeling like no other! Everyone at Media Lounge and the whole Superior Fires team are over the moon with the accolade. Bring on next year!”
Back at the office, when we were told that we had won the award, to say that we were happy would be an understatement! The judges described the site as a “strong design with lots of important micro text, encouraging the customer to buy” and a “Highly functional fast eCommerce site”. We are all so proud of this amazing achievement and are still on cloud nine!
Ciao for now…