American Councils for International Education Upgrades to Drupal 8

Inclind and Threespot worked with AC to complete a series of stakeholder interviews, assessing the current site’s content and analytics. "We brought in Threespot to reimagine how we present our brand to our various stakeholders, from funders to government officials to alumni," said Angie Mareino, Director of Marketing at AC. The team established the following goals and plan of attack for the AC website redesign:

Expanded Brand Impact
AC needed to reach new countries, educate new audiences on new program models, and generate leads with funders to support their work. A brand that’s represented clearly, concisely, and consistently throughout a digital channel is critical to meeting these objectives.
The website redesign has strengthened brand awareness by making the mission and the impact of the organization's work more accessible to various stakeholders, including partners and funders. Before the redesign, the website was more complex, and offered a more segmented look at organizational activities. For the primary audiences, this sometimes meant a more indirect pathway to information.

By taking a broad view of the entire network of web properties that encompasses AC, Threespot and Inclind connected the appropriate AC audience segment to the most relevant tier of information for its needs. Through an improved presentation of AC’s work, the new site better communicates who they are as a brand and as an organization.

Improved Audience Targeting
High-level decision-makers in AC’s three primary target audiences are looking for information about the organization as a whole, not detailed program information. Conversely, program participants seeking different and more granular information about programs can be better served on individual program sites and/or the American Councils Study Abroad site through convenient listings and links.

The redesigned americancouncils.org can now primarily provide potential partners and funders with information on the reputation and credibility of AC. This shift allows the most relevant content and messaging to speak to AC’s most influential audience.

Enhanced Functionality, Content Layout, and Visual Tone
The redesigned site provided AC’s brand and content new energy. The site’s visual direction is international, professional, and effective, complemented by a set of features that includes:

• strong home page design that clearly communicates “who we are, what we do and where we work”
• more modular page systems accommodating flexible content creation for staff, like new initiatives and research
• easy ways to create customizable landing pages without development support
• clear visitor gateways for target audiences
• easier ways to add slides and captions to photos
• improved opportunities for storytelling
• increased engagement with a donation function and more prominent social media icons.

Project Outcome
The redesigned AC site supports the international credibility and impact of this organization while making the brand more personal, with participant testimonials, relevant content, and updated photos.