Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Jarden Corporation introduced its new corporate website (www.Rawlings.com) and mobile-optimized digital platforms. The rebuilt site instantly transforms the user's brand experience with Rawlings, its complete product portfolio with elite pro players and championship-caliber collegiate teams that promote the brand's high-performance products at the highest levels of baseball.
“Rawlings' new, interactive digital experience more accurately aligns and promotes Rawlings' high-performance products and pro-preferred status as the #1 baseball brand worldwide,” said Kurt Hunzeker, senior director of brand marketing for St. Louis-based Rawlings. “With an ever-evolving global marketplace, availability of new digital technologies and the simple fact that our core consumers live on their smartphones, tablets and laptops, we knew we had to create an enhanced engagement platform that better connects our storied brand with players, coaches, parents, retailers and strategic partners from across the globe.”
To help develop the architecture and navigation of the new website, Rawlings conducted numerous focus groups, online surveys as well as implementing eye movement technology studies with its target market consumers. The final site design amplifies what users gravitate towards and how they naturally engage in their viewing experience as they interact with branded content.
The new site launch coincides with the start of Rawlings' 125th Anniversary celebration, and includes a historical perspective chronicling the company's game-changing product innovations over the years that transformed the way today's most popular sports are played, beginning with the first-ever fielder's glove introduced in Rawlings' inaugural year.
“With a new, in-house digital development team in place to constantly monitor, update and evolve Rawlings' digital capabilities, the redesigned website will continuously add new features and products with expanded descriptions, product image zoom tools and other features to enhance the user experience,” said Jeff France, Rawlings' creative director.
Upcoming updates include a comprehensive apparel section, increased social media interconnectivity, new product customization configurators and multilingual brand websites.
“This initial stage of the new Rawlings.com is just the beginning of what we can do in the digital marketplace,” said Kit Smith, Rawlings' technical director. “By coupling the power of the iconic Rawlings Patch and our legendary, high-performance product lines with the accessibility of the best professional players in the game, we now have an unlimited number of opportunities to best engage our consumers and accurately promote Rawlings' status as the authentic global baseball brand.”
Rawlings is the Official Baseball Supplier and Official Helmet of Major League Baseball, the official baseball for the NCAA, the Official Uniform Provider of USA Football and Team USA, the official football for the NAIA, the official basketball for the NAIA, NJCAA and AAU, and the approved baseball, basketball, football and softball of the National High School Federation.
