Lighthouse
Inbound marketing and experience universe in 3D
Brilliant results already 3 months after launch 🙌
More than just branding
Lighthouse consists of apartments, a bay center, shops and a café, restaurant and observation deck on the top floor.
A significant part of the idea behind the architecture of the Lighthouse building is to create an attraction in Aarhus Ø, to make it open to all Aarhusians. It's an idea that is already being brought to life online with the new virtual platform.
The website is more than just branding. The entire experience universe is integrated with HubSpot, i.e. an inbound marketing technology that qualifies leads. In this way, Lighthouse is able to stay in touch with potential buyers during the construction, and communication is even more targeted based on online behavior - such as through automated newsletters about life in the Lighthouse.
This allows the real estate developers to more or less manage the sale themselves, proactively generate all leads and use them for later projects. It's a completely new way to go to market, possible thanks to having inbound marketing in mind right from the start of developing the solution.
To do list - 3 phases
The website project was threefold:
🏠 Start-up. Branding of the project as a whole via the experience universe. The site as a basis for conversation with potential buyers, i.e leads, which are processed via inbound marketing.
🏠 The building process. The building is progressing rapidly and website users must be able to track progress via a logbook and ongoing timelapse of the building site.
🏠 Finished apartments. Users can see the finished apartment plans, book viewings and, of course, buy one of the many different types of apartments.
Designing a virtual universe
Selling a home in an apartment complex that has not yet been constructed is difficult. Mainly due to two reasons. First, because many potential clients will want to see the final result before committing an investment of this kind. And second, because the time from when the construction site opens till when the final home is ready is long and most clients who will sign up for an apartment early on will reconsider their needs and commitment in the project many times before the homes are ready.
These two issues were solved with the website: those interested in the apartments can get a very realistic impression of what Aarhus' new landmark will look like.
The new virtual platform enables potential buyers to engage in daily activities that take place in their future neighborhood and experience what is feels like to live in this area and continuously rekindle their interest in the project.
The technology behind
The aim was to make a relatively complicated technology appear simple and straightforward to use. The different tools used mean that the user can interact with the website and get as close to the actual finished Lighthouse as possible.
Here is a selection of the technology behind the award-winning design: Umbraco 7.7., Parallax ScrollMagic with GreenSock animation platform, Vue Js, Babel, PostCSS, CSSNext.
"The platform provides a realistic impression of what the building will look like - not just from an apartment on the 40th floor, but all the way around. And it's essential for sales that we meet interested buyers."
Award-winning, sales-generating website
The end result is an award-winning experience universe. The exclusive design combined with the interactive videos and realistic 3D animations have had the desired effect: Lighthouse Aarhus is already an attraction here, even though it only exists in a digital format.
Besides being awarded as Best Designed Site at Umbraco Awards 2018, the website has also won Honorable Mention and Mobile Excellence at Awwwards; Site of the Day at CSSWinner; Special Kudos at CSS Design Awards.
The universe has been created via 3D, sound design, drone flying, video recordings from the air using Nordic Seaplanes and diving in the bay with Aarhus SeaRangers.
Over the course of 3 months post-launch there was a 40% growth in newsletter subscribers - upgraded with new contact details and segmented according to interest in specific apartments.
43% of subscribers are sales qualified leads. The many potential buyers receive automated mail flow to keep communication open during construction.
More than 50 apartments were sold or reserved following inbound marketing processing of new and existing leads and transferring to estate agents.
