American Petroleum Exchange was a new "dot.com" business-to-business web site developed to auction refined fuel products in an industry that has been resistant to change. Our team participated in developing from inception, implemented and launched the overall look and feel of the front-end (Member Registration and Information) of their web site. The scope of our work included content and design for the marketing end of a multi-use web application, ultimately tying three applications, Ariba, Remedy, and PeopleSoft, for a complete auction program trading fuel in real-time. To facilitate education of end-users our team participated in design and development of on-line materials and printed collaterals that would help drive membership in The Exchange.

Three separate visuals were developed to represent the different market segments as shown here.

The challenge:

The printed materials for The Exchange needed to represent three segments while addressing each segment individually. This was accomplished by providing one presentation folder with separate inserts directed to the individual segment. Mousepads were provided for promotional "giveaways" at conferences and conventions. The first mousepad was produced quickly for a special meeting of the "Charter Memebers" group that preceeded the launch of web site for The Exchange. We wanted the group to become very familiar with the logo so this was used as the central theme for the mousepad and was replaced later with a version incorporating the visuals.

It was necessary to develop a convenient way to educate end-users. To facilitate this objective a complete training program was placed on CD ROM. The cover of the CD ROM used the icons found on the inside of the presentation folder to coordinate the overall look. The icons represented individual items from the visuals and would be of immediate understanding to the end-user. They were used to focus attention during the training process.

The American Petorleum Exchange web site was launched on October 2000 with well over 750 new members.

Collateral Developed:

• Presentation Folder
• Press Kit
• Brochures (3) targeting each segment
• Promotional mousepads (2)
• Newletters (2) e-mail format
• CD ROM - Training End-users