Workplace Safety”Prevent-it” campaign lacks finish…

Don’t get me wrong, I love the graphic WSIB shock-ads, I also love the messaging and clear, consistent “call to action” at the end of each print, radio and TV ad, which is to visit www.prevent-it.ca.The ads themselves are not informative, but rather act as lures to get people’s attention on the issue of workplace safety by having them visit the website.

The only problem is, the website itself has no content.

Yes it’s flashy and sexy, it incorporates some modern scripting languages, and it is consistent with the ads, but that’s about it. The site has no original, informative content. It’s simply a gateway to the WSIB website (which houses all the information that should be on “www.prevent-it.ca”), as well as various PDF documents, and media files of the advertisements. I can almost hear the ad/web agency proudly beating it’s drums and shouting “Look what we can do!” to potential future clients.

Noted problems:

• Splash page hurts search engine visibility (not a good place for sponsors to be on…who clicks on an ad before they even get to where they set out to go?)
• 30 second Flash intro is an unnecessary interruption for audiences seeking information (they already saw the ad on TV, why are you playing it again?)
• Broken links and/or links that re-direct back to the landing page (try pressing the second bullet under “parents”)
• PDF’s should not replace CONTENT! (Simply posting up PDF’s of your print collateral and calling that a website is sooo 90’s..get with the times!)

Things I do like:

• As noted in a previous post of mine, I love simple, clear calls to action that follow the 1-2-3 concept. In this case:

1. See-it
2. Learn-it
3. Do-it

In addition to this, the site segments the information according to identified target audiences:

So the general strategy and overall information organization of the site makes sense, only there is no meat. Where is the user engagement? Perhaps an online workplace safety quiz catered to each target audience would have done the trick? Or better yet a contest where users can submit nominations for the “safest workplace” award. Better still, how about a direct link to a place where users can post a complaint about their work environment, especially considering you just scared the living crap out of them!

That’s just my two cents, your opinions may differ. As you can tell I was quite disappointed after excitedly arriving at the site upon viewing the TV ads. Maybe my expectations were too high? What are your thoughts?

Cheers,

-MK