What does a lion on a sofa in the Serengeti have at to do with marketing? 

Everything if you're LionShare. When you talk to them, they all have a very strong, aggressive personality. But that personality is very intentional. It is a carefully constructed strategy that is very nurturing for their clients.

LionShare came to use with an interesting dilemma. They had been working on building a website but were not satisfied with any of the concept their agency was giving them. We looked at some of the designs, and while some didn't hit the mark at all, there were a couple that really seemed to fit. Some of the problems came when LionShare started adding some twists to the concept to fit their personality - and when a client begins to "interfere" with design, well, we won't even go there.

Collaboration as a Strategy
So, our strategy was to go back to the drawing board. We wanted "reverse engineer" these concepts to get at the root of what made them great. We knew LionShare wouldn't be happy with something traditional. They wanted something that stood out and got some attention so that they could instill their marketing philosophy by introducing them to their personality. Having already gone through a large budget with earlier attempts with their previous agency, we also didn't have much to work with. So to save money on endless rounds of concepts, we thought it would be best to let the client participate.

We first had to set a few ground rules internally. We knew where we wanted to go with some concepts early. But we were also aware of the tendency that many of us have: if it's not our idea, it's not as good as it could be. By letting them participate in the creative experience, we gave them the opportunity right away to plug their personality into our concept.

The Design Strategy
The second part of the strategy was to have a concept that would be flexible. If you've visited the site already, you'll see how one scene ties in to the next. However, at the early stages, we were able to select different outdoor scenes and switch them up until we were actually ready to build. We again examined the personality of the company and developed the information architecture to ladder up to some very non-traditional descriptions. Then we brainstormed with the client on potential scenes that would communicate each site element.

The Implementation Strategy
Great implementation is not a strategy. It's a given. It's required for every aspect of business.  (See RSTLN E). However, in this case, it was vital. With a traditional site that's proven, you can get away with mediocre implementation. But when the concept is "out-there" you have to really come through with strong work. Otherwise, the result is "cheesy" and you lose the beauty of the strategy. Our designer and programmer really came through. Collaborating together with how to achieve optimal execution with an increasingly shrinking budget, the final site is a true work of art. Each scene is seemless and the flow of the site is natural and fluid.

How is this a sample of great work?
The best creative comes from limited constraints. (See Castaway Creative). And many times those constraints are budgets and sometimes it's a very demanding client. But whatever the constraint, it pushes your thinking.

LionShare.com was a work of love. The designer, developer, and I all found inspiration for other tedious jobs by working on this project. It speaks for itself, but the more behind the scenes you get with it, the more you can appreciate its beauty.

Why was this project smart for our agency?
1.) Small client. Huge Potential. When you have a client like this working on your side, you can get a lot of press and attention. Something we really needed. LionShare has been a great advocate, not only for new business, but for putting our name out there to their community.

2.) Showpiece. This is a great piece of work to inspire other clients and to get our name out quickly. As a new company, we needed something that would help us stand out. This was one of those projects. We knew that as soon as we developed our strategy. So we were able to work harder when it came to bringing it all together.