The team of the USS Funny Garbage was on a rescue mission straight out of an episode of Star Trek -- to rescue the seminal science fiction brand’s abandoned website StarTrek.com, which had gone fallow and was adrift on the internet like the USS Defiant in episode #64 “The Tholian Web.” (Yes, we’re nerds.) Funny Garbage took on the challenge of redesigning and rebuilding the site, bringing it into the 21st century with an easy to manage Content Management System, the inclusion of fan-sourced content, and robust community features, with the goal of turning the site into a one-stop web destination for all things Trekkie.
From fans who loved the original television series to new fans hooked by the latest movie, our mission was to unify Star Trek’s web presence for all the generations of the franchise and provide them with authorized and accurate information. We made sure we were building a site that engaged the Trekkers and gave them the ability to social network by uploading convention photos, sharing memorabilia, displaying fan art, commenting on the message boards, and incorporating fan site webmasters as expert guest bloggers. We migrated data from the old site, including the active message boards, and by using Symfony PHP, created a branded recognizable, yet fresh forum in the new StarTrek.com.
In addition, we helped StarTrek.com update and revitalize their merchandise sales by creating a new online store, and opened the site up to advertisers for the first time. We linked this new content automatically to the merchandise. This connected the wares to the information, specifically targeted the user based on their particular Star Trek interests, and drove traffic to the store from every corner of the site. With a site so clickable, now there is even more earning potential for StarTrek. Funny Garbage is so proud that our enterprise took their “Enterprise” into the future.
