HypoVereinsbank : Bundling the news

A combination of features provides a powerful search tool.

The Site

HypoVereinsbank, a leading German financial services provider, gives journalists alternative tools for searching a sectional archive.

HypoVereinsbank (HVB) has a substantial media section, ‘Press Lounge’, that opens on the press releases (Presseinformationen) page. A standard list of linked headlines and summaries is headed by four dropdown menus that allow the list to be filtered by theme, brand, country and time frame (one of six fixed options from one week to two years). More than one filter can be used at a time.

A second search tool is positioned in the right-hand column of all pages throughout the section. This is enables a simple word search of press releases, but not of other Press Lounge content. It also does not work in tandem with the filters. Both tools and their options are identical on the German- and English-language versions of the site.

The Takeaway

Archive searches in media or investor sections tend to be rudimentary devices, often as basic as a choice of annual date-ordered lists. HVB’s multiple offering is near the other end of the scale. Together, the options of four filters and a keyword search provide a powerful tool for time-pressed journalists in need of finding information as quickly as possible. The fact that the filters work in combination gives a particular refinement. Setting up the keyword search as a discrete tool makes a press release search a ready option from all parts of the section.

Arguably, the keyword search would be even more useful if it covered the whole of the section. But its separation from the filters, which removes a possible extra level of refinement, would be more critical were the archive bigger (804 releases covering the past 10 years) – as would the lack of a manual date filter. As it is, getting the set menus right becomes central to the effective working of the filters.

First published on 02 February, 2010