Microsoft SQL ServerCustomer Solution Case Study

Design Agency Builds Celebrity Magazine Web Site in Just 11 Weeks

London-based publisher Emap enlisted the help of user-centred design agency How Splendid to build a Web site for its leading celebrity weekly, Heat magazine. Under

pressure to meet a tight launch deadline, How Splendid used Microsoft® .NET Framework 2.0 connection software to build an engaging Web site, hosted on a Windows Server® 2003 operating system, with Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 database software. The Heatworld Web site launched on time, and, in its first month, generated more than five million page impressions.

Business NeedsLondon-based Emap Consumer Media is responsible for one of the United Kingdom’s leading celebrity weeklies—Heat magazine. In recent years, Heat’s circulation has risen to more than 550,000, with a readership of 2.1 million, making it one of the country’s most successful consumer titles. The magazine’s blend of celebrity news, gossip, and fashion has earned it a dedicated, predominantly female, audience that buys into the Heat philosophy.

As part of the Emap ambition to create a truly multiplatform brand, Mark Frith, Editor-in-Chief at Heat, and Julian Linley, Editor at Heatworld, created the concept of Heatworld. Designed to represent all the brand values of Heat in a digital environment, Frith wanted Heatworld to extend the touch point between brand and reader from a weekly

connection to an hourly one. The Heat team recognised that by incorporating video, audio, and user interaction, the site could add a third dimension to the brand. But it was conscious that the site should complement the magazine rather than take readership away from it.

Frith decided to adopt a blog-style format for the Heatworld Web site. The Heat team was aware that this medium offered it exciting new opportunities. Rebekah Billingsley, Digital Business Director, Emap Entertainment, says: “We wanted the Web site to break stories as they happen, and provide engaging multimedia content. Basically, it’s about all the things that a digital platform can offer that a magazine can’t.”

In the world of celebrity gossip, timing is everything. “We’re breaking

news and seconds can make the difference between being the leading site and being a follower of other sites,” explains Billingsley. With the magazine team under time pressure and charged with providing unique content for the Web site, it was essential that Heatworld had a user-friendly content management system (CMS).

The Heat team also wanted the Web site to: Give visitors easy access to the

latest stories. Foster an interactive Heat

community. Attract leading brands to advertise

on it.

SolutionIn February 2007, Heat decided to work with Microsoft Certified Partner How Splendid to develop Heatworld. The user-centred design process

Customer: Heat Magazine (Emap)Web Site: www.heatworld.com Number of Employees: 5,500Country or Region: United KingdomIndustry: Periodical PublishingPartner: How Splendid

Customer ProfileHeat magazine is the leading celebrity weekly published by Emap. The magazine has a circulation of more than 550,000 readers and is renowned for its unique editorial style.

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio

− Windows Server 2003− Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Technologies− Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0− Microsoft ASP.NET− Microsoft Visual Studio 2005

Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies

adopted by How Splendid had impressed Emap on previous projects for brands such as New Woman and Empire magazine.“When How Splendid came in and pitched to us, they took the blog idea and really expanded it. They understood the brand, the audience, and what Heatworld needed to be,” says Billingsley.

With How Splendid onboard, there was only one other challenge for the Heatworld development team. The site had to be ready for the start of the eighth season of UK reality TV show Big Brother. Billingsley says: “The Big Brother deadline was massively important. Our view was that if we didn’t hit that, then it didn’t matter whether we launched in three months or five months because all the traffic would have gone to a different Web site.” This gave the development team 11 weeks to create Heatworld and deliver a rich user experience.

Once the Heat team had worked through the concepts and design of the site with How Splendid, the development team had four weeks to build the site. From experience, developers at How Splendid knew that using the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and the Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 development system they could develop the site quickly. Paul Bishop, Managing Director at How Splendid, says: “We use Microsoft .NET technology at How Splendid because it’s quick and reliable to develop on, and you can reuse components you’ve built before. It also gives us the flexibility to implement the best user experience.”

By reusing components from the New Woman site, the development team reduced the amount of code duplication. Developers took advantage of many out-of-the-box features to meet the deadline. The caching facility in Microsoft ASP.NET was easy to implement and increased the performance of the Web site, while integration with the Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 hosting environment at Emap was straightforward.

BenefitsHow Splendid met the Heatworld launch deadline in May, and has subsequently integrated a mobile environment, and an application for social networking site Facebook. In its first four weeks, Heatworld generated five million page impressions. The Web site is ahead of its competitors in the Comscore Internet traffic rankings and is already attracting big name advertising clients. In September 2007, Heatworld

received 400,000 unique visitors and generated eight million page impressions.

Heat journalists can break stories quickly with two user-friendly content management systems (CMSs) at their disposal. Heat employees use one system to upload content and the other for page layout. Sebastian Wells, Lead Developer, How Splendid, explains how these were developed in time for the launch: “We reused the CMS frameworks and user controls, so

we only needed to make visual changes.”

The development team created a user-friendly page layout system by incorporating drag-and-drop features such as voting modules and feedback boxes. Editors can easily arrange pages to their preference—for example, they could use the CMS to incorporate six gallery modules and one voting module.

Heatworld uses the CMS to deliver highly customised advertising campaigns. At its launch, the Web site had already agreed advertising deals with media company Virgin Media, and cosmetics companies Rimmel and No.17.

By meeting its deadline to launch in time for Big Brother 8, Heatworld secured sponsorship from Virgin Media for its coverage of the reality show. Billingsley says: “It’s the first digital project that I’ve worked on that’s launched on time. We were impressed that How Splendid took the basic concept and worked it into something exciting.”

Heat editorial employees can link stories in the magazine to content on Heatworld, which adds value to the magazine. “Heatworld adds another dimension to Heat,” says Billingsley. “In the magazine we can write a celebrity story, but on the Web site we can often show footage of that story.”

The Heatworld interactive forum is one of the most popular areas of the site. With Heat readers commenting on the latest stories, it generates nearly a quarter of all Heatworld page impressions.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published November 2007