The American School Bus Council approached New Media Campaigns based on the depth of our previous work, and because they particularly liked how we had integrated the Salsa data management API into other sites. The ASBC, which advocates for school bus drivers and promotes school bussing, wanted a new site that better promoted their mission and also featured their "Love the Bus Month," an annual February initiative to raise awareness of, and appreciation for, school bus drivers and the hard work they do.
Designed and developed by NMC on the HiFi Content Management System, the new site is clean, professional, and ties in the colors of the ASBC's branding without being overly yellow. The site features a wealth of information about school buses--their impact on the environment, their safety record, and much more--presented in cogent menu choices that help visitors navigate to particular information. A News & Media section neatly encapsulates the common website news information: a blog, press releases from the ASBC, and news stories about the ASBC. Once on the News & Media page, there is helpful subnavigation to take you to the various news pages without leaving the section. This section also features a Sign-Up for Updates panel, which leverages a Salsa Labs API and makes it easy to follow the ASBC.
One of the prominent features of the new site is the Love the Bus section, which features its own unique custom design and custom-designed eCard tool that allows children to create appreciation cards for their favorite bus drivers.
An entire month dedicated to promoting school bus safety, efficiency, and driver appreciation, the Love the Bus initiative is integral to the ASBC's mission. Therefore, it was important to them and to us to make it stand apart from the rest of the site without abandoning the rest of the site's design elements.
After launch, ASBC immediately began publicizing the new site and the helpful features it offered to its stakeholders around the country.We think the new site will provide the ASBC with a great platform to spread their mission and message to a wider audience.