New Solano Power Website by Digital Agency LBi Provides Experiential Engagement for Customers

May 19, 2010 - PRLog -- New Solano Power Website Created by Top Digital Agency LBi Provides Experiential Engagement for Customers and Professional Stylists

ATLANTA, May 19, 2010 – LBi, a top marketing and technology agency, has launched a new website for Solano, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high quality salon tools and part of Newell Rubbermaid’s global brand portfolio. The new site (http://www.solanopower.com) provides a true experiential engagement for customers and is a part of an overall new digital strategy for the Solano brand.

Solano challenged LBi to produce an integrated digital strategy to drive measurable behavior and evolve the brand online from a basic manufacturing site to a high-end product site, one that engages consumers experientially.

The new website delivers that experiential goal on many levels:
•   The site features a fully branded, interactive environment that communicates “premium.”
•   Solano loyalists will find a one-stop-shop where they can browse, make purchases, and register their products.
•   The site educates on products, provides care and repair information, and connects stylists and their followers to other activities around the brand.
•   The new site design allows Solano to easily update the site with media hits, events info, and even YouTube videos from the floor of the latest industry event.

“Solano has a proud history of innovation, and LBi built on that, developing a site with innovative elements that enhance the product experience,” said Ivy Garcia, Creative Director and Content Strategy Lead in LBi’s Atlanta office.  “Ergonomics and styling are very important to Solano customers, so we used 3D modeling and rich media to let them actually play with the product as they would at home.  This creative approach allows the sexiness of Solano’s product design to be fully featured.”

Using rich media, video, and custom imagery, LBi delivers the content through an audience-specific mix of Solano and consumer voices, with all content seeded with messaging triggers to stimulate online and offline purchase behavior.

”We partnered with LBi because of their experience delivering world class websites that reinforce business strategies, and because they understood how to foster the unique digital dialogues that lead to long-term relationships between Solano and our customers,” said LeRon McKendrick, Senior Brand Manager, Solano.

Moving forward, LBi and Solano will closely observe metrics on a diversity of behaviors including gift-giving patterns, new-category interest, and gauging advocacy interest through polls and social seeding. By integrating subsequent customer insights, they will develop custom incentive and rewards programs to drive brand preference, loyalty, and advocacy for a brand that’s digital offering is quickly becoming a central feature of an evolving and community-centric brand identity.

Solano Site Incorporates Innovative Sharepoint Applications
The new Solano site is an example of how the agency has begun using Microsoft SharePoint to create sites for clients, beginning with an integrated platform for client Newell Rubbermaid’s more than 30 brand websites.

ABOUT Solano International®
Solano International is a professional line of high-quality, high-performance salon tools designed to meet the needs of serious stylists. For more than 30 years, Solano International has been dedicated to providing the best salon tools in the industry including hand-crafted professional grade hair dryers utilizing the latest technologies and the highest standards of durability, quality and superior customer service. Solano’s “Care and Repair” Warranty Program offers a 2-year limited warranty on all dryers, including an option for an indefinite number of renewals. Solano International is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. For more information, visit www.Solanopower.com.

About LBi
LBi is a global digital marketing and technology agency, blending insight, creativity and expertise to solve business problems. The largest genuinely full service agency of its kind in Europe, LBi provides the full range of digital capabilities, including digital strategy, branded content, service design, media, CRM, technology, managed hosting and support services.

On February 25, 2010, LBi merged with Bigmouthmedia, the largest search engine marketing specialist in Europe. Combining LBi’s best in class services with Bigmouthmedia’s leading search engine marketing, LBi is now positioned to meet the growing customer demand for one agency to provide all of these services across geographies. The company now employs over 1,800 professionals located primarily in the major European, American and Asian business centers such as Amsterdam, Atlanta, Berlin, Brussels, London, Milan, Mumbai, New York, Paris and Stockholm. LBi is listed on Nasdaq OMX in Stockholm and NYSE Euronext in Amsterdam (symbol: LBI). www.lbi.com/us

About LBi in Atlanta
LBi’s Atlanta office provides award-winning strategy, creative, and technology solutions for leading brands around the world. From Atlanta, LBi’s serves clients including Bayer CropScience, Roche Diagnostics, Newell Rubbermaid, Calphalon, Graco, Rubbermaid, and TheLadders. Learn more at http://www.lbi.com.