Carmel IN- The City of Carmel was awarded top prize in the 2010 Savvy Awards competition presented by the City County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA) for its efforts in creating the CarmelLink website to communicate with residents, visitors and businesses about the Keystone Parkway project. Among the judge’s comments about the CarmelLink.org website were that it is very informative, makes good use of graphics and is easy to understand. The judges also mentioned that the layout is pleasing to the eye.
This year, the City of Carmel Community Relations Department submitted an entry into the “Digital Interactive – Issue Specific Website” awards category for the CarmelLink website; the City is a candidate for one of three top honors in that category. Carmel launched www.CarmelLink.org, on May 1, 2008 to coincide with the Keystone Parkway project, which replaced six traditional stop light intersections along a major thoroughfare with safer roundabout interchanges, which are also more environmentally and pedestrian friendly. Since its launch, nearly 40,000 website visits from 62 countries or territories have occurred; pages on the site were visited more than 125,169 times with almost 40 percent of the traffic coming directly to www.CarmelLink.org.
The primary goal of the website was to stay connected with the community and keep citizens informed. The website was dedicated to the Keystone reconstruction project and includes the latest plans and renderings for all the aspects of the project, timelines, detour routes, pictures, videos and publications. It also provides a way to sign up for e-mail notices relating to the project. The interactive website features a virtual drive-through simulation video, a rendering that instructs pedestrians and motorists how to use the new roundabouts and all detour information for schools affected by the Keystone reconstruction project. It also addresses how the project is funded; how property will be impacted; why the road is being lowered instead of raised; how pedestrian and bicycle connectivity will improve; its safety and environmental benefits; and additional links.
3CMA is the leading organization for local governments that are innovating new and better ways of communicating with their citizens. Each year, 3CMA holds the Savvy awards competition to recognize successful communication and marketing initiatives. Awards are presented for creative and successful programs in three divisions: Communication & Marketing Tools; Communications and Marketing Graphic Design & Photography and Communication & Marketing Processes. All entries are judged on overall accomplishments, with measurable outcomes being heavily weighed.
-end-
Michelle Krcmery
Department of Community Relations
City of Carmel
One Civic Square
Carmel, IN 46032
Office - (317) 571-2495
Leave a comment