SG CIB : Bringing contacts to journalists
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Use of the site to bring information to a page rather than point to it.
The Site
SG CIB, Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking, part of France-based financial services group Société Générale, brings contact information easily to hand throughout its Press Room.
Press Room is a primary section of the site and has a Press contacts dropdown menu in the right-hand navigation panel on all pages. The menu has nine regional and country options reflecting the territories in which SG CIB operates; when a selection is made, the name of a contact appears beneath the dropdown bar along with a personal e-mail address (linked to a ready-addressed form) and telephone number.
The Press Room introduction page makes explicit reference to contacting your local press team, as do several sub-sections (for example, Spokespeople, Media Events), where enough information is included in their listings to enable journalists to identify instantly the country office they need.
The Takeaway
Named press contacts are a basic element of news releases but use of the web to extend the idea – giving journalists an immediate means of following up – beyond the archived releases is generally not well developed. Whether what’s offered is a generic telephone number or e-mail address, or involves a selection of business, corporate or national contacts, the information is usually on a separate contacts page. So, journalists have to click away from the content that’s interested them and may then have to click further to find the right contact.
SG CIB’s embedding of a dropdown menu in the section navigation allied to the display of the selected details in the same space shows how the site can be used to bring information to journalists rather than lead them to it. For example, if a media event is listed as being in Paris they can call up details of the France contact while keeping the event information in view. The result, a smoother and quicker service, is guaranteed to impress the press.
http://www.sgcib.comFirst published on 13 December, 2007