News

LiveFreeRideAlive.com Named Site of the Day by Leading Website Award Program

'Favourite Website Awards' Honors Neiman Work

HARRISBURG, PA (June 23, 2010) — LiveFreeRideAlive.com, the website component of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's (PennDOT) motorcycle safety campaign developed by Neiman, has been named the Favourite Website Awards' (FWA) Site of the Day for June 23. The website will be featured on FWA's homepage, http://www.thefwa.com for t,he day and is now eligible for the title of Site of the Month at the end of June.

This is the first time Neiman submitted work to FWA. LiveFreeRideAlive.com first made the Public Shortlist earlier this month, which is determined by public votes. Following the Public Shortlist victory, an industry panel of judges selected LiveFreeRideAlive.com as Site of the Day.

"Submitting work to a site like FWA.com can be daunting, but when you know you have something good, you have to go for it," said Ryan Katrina, Neiman's design director. "Not only did PennDOT entrust us to complete the task, they inspired us to create a powerful vehicle for an increasingly important cause. The fact that LiveFreeRideAlive.com was selected Site of the Day reenergizes us as a team and validates the work we've put into the site. FWA has been a source of inspiration for Adobe® Flash® and technologically innovative sites for a decade. You know you're in outstanding company and doing good work if you make it there."

LiveFreeRideAlive.com is the primary element of the Live Free Ride Alive campaign, which aims to educate Pennsylvania motorcycle riders about the importance of motorcycle safety and ultimately decrease motorcycle crashes and fatalities.

"Authenticity was the crucial piece in the creation of this website. Anything too polished or overly sanitized would be met with skepticism within the Pennsylvania riding community," said Chris Reif, digital creative director. "If we wanted to get our safety message out, we first needed to create an online venue that felt real to motorcyclists. The solution was giving the community control and the result is a site that allows motorcyclists to create content and participate in building a documentary with fellow riders. There was no risk of being inauthentic. These are real stories, from real Pennsylvania riders."

Led by Reif and Katrina, the Neiman team developed LiveFreeRideAlive.com, the first website of its kind dedicated to decreasing motorcycle crashes and fatalities in Pennsylvania, and the destination for all of the campaign's marketing efforts. The site delivers safety messages through first-hand stories from real riders, rather than from government, focusing on the freedom, independence and camaraderie unique to motorcyclists. Website visitors can read posts submitted by riders, watch videos and view the trailer to a soon-to-be produced documentary, while personally relating to the safety messaging in a unique manner.

"The site itself tells a great story," said Katrina. "It was built in a strong way, in an infographic style, to make the content more digestible to the user, which is absolutely necessary with a mission like this. The style and structure, combined with the emotional elements and appeal, make the site attractive and effective."

Reif and Katrina credit PennDOT and an entire team of innovative thinkers and designers for landing on a unique approach for the success of the website. Neiman's Hutson Kovanda, executive creative director, George Ward, associate director of strategy and insights, Dan DeLauro, senior developer, and James Madsen, copywriter, worked with Web designers James Macaroni of Neesta LLC (http://www.neesta.com) and Matt Althouse (http://www.mattalthouse.com) to design and build the site. Macaroni also teamed up with Neiman for the creation of another successful website, FullApologies.com. Neiman's Aubrey Hayden, agency producer, worked with Station Films' Director Peking on the documentary. Dina Morocco, account supervisor, and Andy DeBrunner, junior account executive, manage the Live Free Ride Alive campaign, with Angela Watson, account executive, and Aubrey Rowe, account coordinator, leading the campaign's public relations initiatives.

To see the website as FWA's Site of the Day, please visit www.thefwa.com. To see LiveFreeRideAlive.com in its entirety, please visit www.livefreeridealive.com.