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Big:Group/Mastercard

A key factor in delivering superb, interactive, online content is a reliable hosting partner. big:group, in keeping with many hi-tech marketing agencies, chose to partner with Rackspace® Hosting.

Big is beautiful

The big:group is a well established, full service, creative communications agency providing a wide range of creative services to all sectors of commerce and industry.

WIDE PORTFOLIO OF EXPERTISE
The company has developed highly visible promotional programmes for many blue chip clients including MasterCard, Cadburys, SAS, and Tesco. It boasts a wide portfolio of expertise within the entertainment, film, travel and leisure sectors and offers advanced design and development of sophisticated, content managed, e-commerce websites.

MASTERCARD MASTERSTROKE
A recent big:group web2 project for MasterCard was ‘Priceless Travel’. This is MasterCard's new, striking and informative travel website, focusing on some of the world's top holiday destinations with a series of bespoke offers and discounts for MasterCard users. Big:group’s site for MasterCard is a great example of the agency’s creativity. It features fantastic bespoke offers from partners, such as the five star luxury hotel chain Hyatt and holiday specialist Virgin Holidays, to luxury spa discounts and selected car hire. It guarantees the very best savings for MasterCard cardholders.

LATEST SOCIAL NETWORKING TOOLS
Sitting within www.MasterCard.co.uk/travel, the Priceless Travel microsite also incorporates the latest social networking tools. Facebook Connect enables Facebook users to review the destinations and offers, and to instantly share them with their friends. Visitors to the website can also sign-up to the Priceless Travel Newsletter ensuring they are kept informed of any upcoming holiday bargains, luxury hotel accommodation offers and details of how they can save with their MasterCard.

The brilliance of the site is in its clean user friendly, information sharing design which encompasses a newsletter communications strategy, all of which make Priceless Travel a true web 2.0 site!

HOSTING IS KEY
A key factor in delivering superb, interactive, online content is a reliable hosting partner. big:group, in keeping with many hi-tech marketing agencies, chose to partner with Rackspace® Hosting.

Ed Riseman is General Manager at big:group and he explained the reasons behind the selection. “We have been involved with web hosting since the foundation of our interactive division in 2000. In our previous hosting forays we have encountered a variety of issues. Companies tended to be totally process driven with very poor communication skills, and offered little or no proactive server management. The experience was not pleasant.”

Ed revealed, “When Rackspace was first recommended to us we took some of their expansive claims with a big pinch of salt, but the reality is that the company has more than lived up to its enviable reputation for Fanatical Support®. Price is certainly a key factor for everyone in today’s economic clime, and Rackspace tends to be at the premium end of the market, but in reality this is more than compensated for by the delivery of service and the high quality of the product, which inspires huge confidence.”

COMMAND OF TECHNOLOGY IS 100%
Ed said, “This is critical for us and our clients’ sites, which are hosted on Rackspace servers. In addition, their technical ability and command of the latest technology issues is 100%, yet they still manage to put a human face on client support, which is so welcome and doubly important in this impersonal world.”

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PARTNER IS VITAL
Ed went on to say, “Choosing the right hosting partner is vital for every creative agency.” His advice for others is. “You need to be confident that network uptime is 100%. Make sure your contract includes burstable bandwidth to allow for unforeseen traffic spikes.”

Ed summarised, “Make sure you Insist on proactive support with adequate checks and balances. Demand ongoing server and technology upgrades are included in your contract, and find out about the attitude and reputation of the company before you sign a contract. And if you are ever in doubt, just look at the hosting company’s other clients to be sure. I am happy to say that our relationship with Rackspace includes all of the above and is very strong. I am more than happy to recommend them to my clients and other companies.”

Brian Thomson is Rackspace EMEA Managing Director. “I am delighted to have big:group as both a client and a partner. Their market position and blue chip client base are worth a great deal to our reputation and certainly go a long way towards underlining the fact that Rackspace is the recognised hosting partner of choice for the marketing and creative industries.”

If you are looking for something big online then visit big:group at www.biggroup.co.uk or call them on 020 7229 8827. For creative hosting there is no other choice than Rackspace. Please visit www.rackspace.co.uk or call us at any time for FREE hosting advice on 0800 988 0100.