ALT’s website Davey Award for a fresh take on manufacturing

In the manufacturing industry where websites are often clunky, outdated and difficult to navigate, Applied Lubrication Technology (ALT) wanted a fresh approach. This international manufacturer of chain lubricants and automated lubrication systems reached out to us in 2018 for help reimagining its web presence. ALT is well established as an industry leader with a forward-thinking approach to business, and it wanted a website that would reflect this. Over the next four months, we worked closely with the ALT team to understand their business and translate this into an impactful new website. The resulting site showcases ALT’s expertise and offering while helping the company stand out from its competitors. It also caught the attention of the judges in the 2019 Davey Awards, who recently honoured the ALT website with awards in three categories.

Key takeaways from developing an award-winning website:

1. Don’t let your industry dictate your approach to design.

Adopting a lookalike approach may feel like a safe strategy, but it won’t help with breaking through in a crowded market. The new ALT website reflects the company’s industry-leading position and shows it has something unique to offer its customers.

2. Design thinking is a powerful tool for navigating complex topics and content.

With ALT, we used creative design to create a simplified user experience that reflects the company’s approach to business. The result is a website on which visitors quickly and intuitively find the information they need.

3. Ensure strategic marketing efforts are linked to business outcomes.

First and foremost, our work on the ALT website was aimed at supporting the company’s business outcomes: boosting online discoverability, communicating clearly with on-brand messaging and complementing business development efforts. These objectives were integrated into every step of the website development process. Overall, the ALT website served as an important reminder of the constant balancing act in web design: daring to make bold design decisions while remaining focused on business results. According to Davey, our collaboration with ALT succeeded in finding this sweet spot.

Davey Award Wins for the ALT website:

• Websites: Manufacturing > GOLD
• Feature Categories: Best User Experience > GOLD
• Feature Categories: Best User Interface > SILVER

What are the Davey Awards?

Why Davey? Think David taking on Goliath with big ideas rather than big budgets. In other words, an annual international celebration of the best creative work by small firms around the world.

• There were nearly 3,000 entries from around the world in the 2019 Davey Awards.
• The awards are judged by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, advertising and marketing firms.
• Current AIVA members include Condé Nast, Disney, GE, Keller Crescent, Microsoft, Monster.com, MTV, Push., Publicis, Sesame Workshops, The Marketing Store, Worktank, Yahoo! and many others.