http://www.chicagobears.com

Situation: The Chicago Bears Football Club contacted Americaneagle.com in order to refresh their Web site for the 2008 season. Americaneagle.com partnered up with our home team once again to improve design, functionality, and maintenance capability.

Objective: As a team with millions of fans, the Chicago Bears Football Club was in need of a Web site that would accurately represent the excitement of their team. Specifically, they wanted to create a new Web site that would reflect the latest online design and technology standards. Therefore, the overarching goal of the project was to allow for a more engaging and profitable Web presence.

Solution: To achive the goals of the Chicago Bears Football Club, Americaneagle.com provided the following elements:

Improved Design: ChicagoBears.com was developed with a completely new design that would best suit the needs of both the Chicago Bears staff, as well as Bears team fans. The site now features a dynamic calendar banner, which allows fans to easily view the Bears schedule, and an enhanced interface that makes locating different sections throughout the site easier.

Web 2.0 Enhancements: Given the amount of content on the site, several Web 2.0 features were added to to the site to allow for higher interactivity. Some of the many innovative features added include the use of AJAX technology, multimedia, message boards, and an Interactive Depth Chart, which provides a forum for fans to see each player's position and string.

Search Functionality: Perhaps one of the most comprehensive and useful tools for online visitors at ChicagoBears.com is the search functionality, which goes beyond advanced fields and filters. This tool begins with the Content Management System, in which Bears staff can create keywords for the Web site. Each keyword is then set up to flag associated information. This gives Bears staff unlimited control over the content that is displayed for specific terms and gives visitors quick and easy access to more information. For example, clicking on a player from within the Team Roster will bring up photos, player bio, news, multimedia, and other related player information.

Pro Shop E-commerce Updates: In addition to meeting the needs of fans with interactive design and functionality, the Web site is also a revenue-generating tool for the Chicago Bears Football Club. While the design allots extra space for advertising opportunities and sponsorships, ChicagoBears.com also profits from an extensive e-commerce store. Following the success of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Chicago Bears turned to Americaneagle.com to design and develop their online storefront. Recognizing the specific needs of the Chicago Bears and their fans, Americaneagle.com implemented customized features within the Bears Pro Shop. Some of these features include “Shop by Player” and “Shop by Price” search menus, a multiple ship-to option, a scrolling merchandise tool, inventory and shipping indicators, fully integrated e-mail marketing, and more.

Robust Content Management System: In order to maintain all aspects of the site, including the Pro Shop, Chicago Bears staff members rely on a sophisticated Content Management System (CMS) to keep all the Web site content and functionality up to date. With the CMS, Bears staff can control virtually every aspect of the Web site without any programming or coding knowledge. Americaneagle.com created this fully customized CMS to streamline administrative processes, ensuring that updates are handled efficiently, timely, and correctly. For example, with one quick edit, a content change can be implemented site-wide. This eliminates the need for multiple edits to the same content that appears elsewhere on the site, which saves time and guarantees consistency.

Impact Results: Currently, the Chicago Bears have done triple the amount of transactions they had projected to have. Their original goal was to obtain 20,000 transactions within 1 year. They have received and fulfilled over 60,000 transactions since the online store launched in July of 2006.

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