ACIA-NA 2013 Excellence in Airport Marketing and Communications Awards “Pick Your Window Seat” Website for McGhee Tyson Airport: Category: Website Submitted by: Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority

Website: “Pick Your Window Seat” Website for McGhee Tyson Airport: - Entry Statement Project Description In 2012, McGhee Tyson Airport celebrated its 75th Anniversary with a year-long campaign aimed at encouraging the community to interact with the airport on a variety of levels. The concept of personalizing the airport and creating opportunities to more effectively interact with passengers and guests was the driving force behind the campaign’s theme, “75 Years of Making Memories”. With a website that hadn’t seen a significant alteration since 2005, the redesign of the airport’s website became one of the major tactics highlighted in the anniversary strategic plan. By first assessing the site’s content and the most utilized aspects of the old version of the site, the staff was then able to begin the process of revamping the site to better reflect the needs of the 2012 traveling public. The concept for “Pick Your Window Seat” plays off the concept that the passenger has a choice in its website experience by choosing how to interact with us. Are they taking a trip and need help planning? Are they on the site to learn more about navigating the airport when they visit with us? Or are they looking to work with the airport on a project? The new site design allows them to narrow their content choice - making it easier to find the information they need more quickly. Goals The goal for the website redesign was to give the site a more defined strategy that focuses upon providing information in an easy-to-navigate way while creating a creative approach to distributing the information. We expected to meet this goal by: 1. Limiting the site’s content to promotional, requested and pertinent information specific to McGhee Tyson Airport. 2. Reducing the number of repetitive questions from site visitors regarding functionality issues by 25% in Incorporating the airport’s 75th Anniversary theme (creating a personalized, interactive experience with the airport) into the design of the new site.

Production We partnered with web designers, Graphic fX, to create a new look for the site that successfully married the public’s need for better functionality with the goals of the 75th Anniversary campaign (creating dynamic, personalized experience). Evaluation Please note that we launched and began tracking our new website in the middle of January 2013, which limits our analytics and comparisons to the month of February. 1. Since the redesign, our website’s number of unique visitors has increased by 10.12% (from 39,845 in Feb to 43,893 in Feb. 2013). 2. Since the redesign, our website’s bounce rate, which is the percentage of visitors who enter the site and leave the site rather than continue viewing other pages within the site, has decreased by 35.63% (from 59.00% in Feb to 37.98% in Feb. 2013). This means that 35.63% more of our viewers are staying on our site and viewing more of our pages compared to the old website. 3. The airport has received responses from site visitors praising the new design. 4. The functionality issues that troubled the old site are not an issue with the new site, which is proven by our decreased bounce rate and a significant decrease in questions regarding parking, directions and airfares since the new site launched. 5. The site has been dramatically changed in regards to content. Unless the page specifically relates back to the airport and its operations, it was taken off the site. This reduction in content has made it easier for site visitors to find the information they need more quickly. 6. The design of the website was recently awarded a Silver Addy Award for Consumer Websites (second place) from the Advertising Federation of Knoxville (regional advertising competition). Budget Over the course of two fiscal years, the airport budgeted $20,000 for the site’s redesign. To date, the website has cost $17,345 for graphics and design. The site’s content is managed in-house by two administrators and has required approximately 30 hours of work. Website: “Pick Your Window Seat” Website for McGhee Tyson Airport: - Entry Statement

Website: “Pick Your Window Seat” Website for McGhee Tyson Airport: - Old Site The airport’s website required a redesign and reorganization of content to meet the changing needs of the East Tennessee travelling public.

Website: “Pick Your Window Seat” Website for McGhee Tyson Airport: - New Site