Enticing audiences with a dedicated storytelling platform

Newfoundland, Canada: When Maverick Digital was approached by the team from the Colony of Avalon (CoA) to create a new website for them, we jumped at the chance: they would be our first Canadian client – and what a project to start with! What is the Colony of Avalon, you ask? Great question… 

The Colony of Avalon is a National Historic Site of Canada, located on the coast of the picturesque Newfoundland (famous for its birdwatching and the chance to see HUGE icebergs float by at certain times of the year). Visitors to the colony not only have the chance to tour the archaeological site, but they can also roll up their sleeves up and join the crew in unearthing the history of the area – a true hands-on experience! Other unforgettable experiences include a Colonial Cook-off in a 17th century kitchen or, for a fully immersive experience, why not play Dungeons and Dragons in the old kitchen while being served up local dishes by your host – count us in!

The Challenges 

When the team from the CoA reached out to us, they were hindered by a website that was entirely locked down – they had no way to edit the content, which was all out-of-date, resulting in a poor user experience. In such an isolated location, not being able to tell the story in a captivating way through their digital platform meant some visitors to the were unknowingly driving straight past the colony – missing out on an unforgettable experience!  

Aside from being unable to edit the website content, the old CoA website had no live booking functionality which caused headaches for those wanting to book, as well as the CoA staff who had to manually set up bookings, an unnecessary workload during peak season.  

A unique issue identified by the CoA team was that because the site is public property, they were finding people were exploring the site for free, without booking a tour with a local guide and therefore missing out on hearing the rich history of the area and the site itself.