ATCHISON, Kan., February 14, 2011—MGP Ingredients, Inc. (MGPI) today launched a newly designed website to strengthen online communications capabilities as an essential part of the company’s digital and overall business model strategy. The reconstructed site, which can be accessed at www.mgpingredients.com, provides a more comprehensive and interactive venue for reaching out to new and existing customers, as well as making the user experience more beneficial and satisfying. It also contains enhanced components that address specific informational needs of other key constituencies, including stockholders, career applicants and business partners.
“The company’s new website has been designed to serve as a more effective tool for digitally branding MGPI and serving the informational needs of customers and other key stakeholders,” said Steve Pickman, vice president of corporate relations. “We intend for users to find the site’s updated contents and navigational devices to be highly beneficial, appealing and convenient. Likewise, the site should support a stronger presence for the company by helping increase awareness of who we are and the types of high quality, value-added products we provide, especially among existing and potential customers in the consumer packaged goods industry.”
Pickman added, “As opposed to a static medium, we view the new site as a living organism that will constantly evolve through updates, user-driven requirements and technological advancements. Electronic communications continue to gain greater and greater significance in our global society, so it is imperative that we strive to keep up with the pace of change in the way people and businesses interact and exchange information.”
Development of the new site was begun by MGPI’s corporate relations department this past August in collaboration with the Acquity Group, a nationally-acclaimed web strategy and design firm. Several individuals and departments across the company also provided input and assistance during the site development process. With approximately 60 percent more content than the previous site, MGPI considers it to be not only more informative, but also more user-friendly, more measureable insofar as tracking hits and visitor information, more manageable internally and more visually pleasing to visitors.
“We are excited to have completed the first phase of what is a much more comprehensive digital communications strategy, which in the future will include an enhanced company intranet site and the creation of an extranet site tailored to provide increased tools and uses specifically for customers,” said Shanae Randolph, corporate director of communications. “This strategy has provided us with a roadmap for better serving our customers in the digital space, as well as assisting the company in reaching its goals and objectives through innovative and evolving communications mediums.”
The company took a targeted customer-centric approach to the site’s overall design and creation, focusing on MGPI’s three principal product areas related to food, high quality alcohol and biopolymers. Contents were then structured to provide information most commonly required by customers, thus increasing awareness of product applications, functions, qualities and benefits.
With a new Innovation Center feature on the site, there is added transparency of R&D and applications processes provided through case studies, presentations and “Frequently Asked Questions” to further demonstrate the value and performance of MGPI’s products. The site additionally features tools that enable customers to instantly request product samples and data and for visitors in general to direct product-specific and/or company-related inquiries to appropriate staff.
In the Careers section, the “Who is MGPI?” area features employees from a cross-section of departments with a look into their job experiences, giving prospective employees real-life examples of a variety of responsibilities and opportunities at the company.
“As individuals visit the new site and become familiar with the contents and tools it provides, we believe its value as a principal communications device will increase,” said Randolph. “We also realize that it is essential that we continue to evolve this site to better serve our customers with improved information and online access to our company, thereby delivering the level and degree of user experience they expect.”