Another award for Mando Group’s Philharmonic website

The website Mando Group developed for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (www.liverpoolphil.com) has been awarded ‘Tourism Website of the Year’ at England’s Northwest Tourism Awards.

The high-profile event was organised by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and hosted by BBC North West Tonight presenter Ranvir Singh. The cream of the region’s tourism industry gathered at Manchester Central for the fourth annual England’s Northwest Tourism Awards. The Liverpool Philharmonic website will now have the opportunity to represent the Northwest in the national Enjoy England Awards for Excellence, organised by VisitBritain, which will be held in April 2008.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the oldest concert-giving organisations in the world, and the second oldest in Britain. The orchestra gives over 60 concerts a year as well as touring performances in the UK and abroad. Its Principal Conductor, Vasily Petrenko is the youngest conductor in the history of the Orchestra.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic required an updated website to help users find out what is on and book tickets online more easily. The website also offers interactive features that mean users are able to watch video footage and listen or download excerpts from particular concerts. The site also sells CD's and memberships online as can accept online donations. Mando Group worked with the Philharmonic to develop a new website solution that would meet all these requirements.

As part of the first phase of the project, Mando Group undertook a detailed usability study on behalf of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. From this, we presented detailed wire frames of the new layout and a revised structure to the site. These were then rigourously tested by end users before commencing with phase two.

Matt Johnson, Chairman of Mando Group commented,
“This has been a significant piece of work for Mando Group and we are very pleased for the site to have been awarded Best Tourism Site of The Year.
This award and the figures really stands as testament to the commitment of everyone involved in this project.”

Millicent Jones Executive Director, Marketing Communications at Royal Liverpool Philharmonic said "We are delighted with improved Royal Liverpool Philharmonic website. We have seen an incredible increase of traffic, 42% up from this time last year and an impressive 32% increase in online ticket sales. Mando Group's thorough approach and commitment to usability has delivered a highly functional, user-friendly website".