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Animal welfare footprint22nd October 2007

Is Britain really a nation of animal lovers?

From farmyard to front room, science laboratory to pet shop, human actions affect animals in many ways. In order to measure this impact, the RSPCA has produced its second groundbreaking annual report which looks at animal welfare through surveys and statistics. Lateral worked with the animal charity to develop a website to make this information as accessible as possible.

The site has been split into five key areas, based on those in the report: generic indicators, farm animals, pets, animals in research and testing, and wild animals. To measure how much animal welfare has changed in each of these categories since last year’s report, a “traffic light” system has been devised. A green light is used to indicate whether there has been an improvement, amber for static, and red to show that a situation has worsened. A grey light is shown to indicate insufficient data to measure progress.

Visitors to the site can also put their animal loving skills to the test in an online quiz, and find out ways of lessoning their own animal welfare footprint.

The new online art connoisseurs8th October 2007

Lateral has created a new community website for contemporary art auctioneers Phillips de Pury and Company.

Designed to generate and facilitate online art expertise, the site is driven by its users. Arts blogs give the site a sense of community. Users can put their knowledge to the test in the games gallery and access a video glossary of auction terms straight from the mouth of the international art specialist Simon de Pury.

The site is a hub for the uninitiated as well as the seasoned art enthusiast to convene.

“This standalone site, completely separate from the core brand, capitalises on the growing public interest in art and design and the desire to collect. Its aim is to engage and educate the user in the nomenclature of the auction process, enhance their knowledge of art and, above all, allow the user to hone in on his or her taste and collecting passion,” says chairman Simon de Pury.

Pets get slim20th August 2007

Overweight pets go under the spotlight to fight the flab on the RSPCA’s first community website.

Owners have been busy uploading pictures of their corpulent pets and sharing their woes. The site features ‘slimmer of the week’ as well as a weight clinic where TV vet Joe Inglis provides tips on feeding, exercise and weight loss. A virtual weight checker will be added later in the autumn.

Mathew Riley, Lateral’s group account director, explains the appeal of the site. “Community sites are a fundamental way for charity brands to support campaigning online. The internet was founded on the basis of communities sharing and discussing. That notion has grown stronger over the past decade.”

Justine Pannett, campaigns project manager at RSPCA, adds, “We all know what encouragement, support and advice we need to lose weight and it’s no different for our pets. A community site that shares this problem and supports owners was an obvious way forward.”

We’ll be hitting the low-cal cat food, then…