Black Dyke Band

Black Dyke Band are considered the greatest Brass Band in the world, having played with some leading musicians, including Paul McCartney, Elton John, Peter Gabriel, and The Beautiful South. During the 2020 Lockdown, the band secured funding to roll-out a new eLearning facility to their international audience.

The Challenge

After an initial consultation phase Doddle were engaged to join together their existing 3 websites, adding in the new eLearning facility, and ultimately making the new site easier to use and perform better for the band – this would observe a complete overhaul in design and functionality, and help secure the band’s brand which had been previously confused across the existing sites.

The Solution

Doddle engaged with the band and their trustees to completely understand their desired approach. We took great lengths to understand and detail the heritage of the 1855 established band.

After assessing and breaking down all of the content, we started work designing - we created thoughtful designs that considered the heritage of the band and the position they wanted to be in for the future. We took their existing menu structures across the band’s existing three sites and simplified the navigation, whilst importantly retaining all of the content previously stored on the site.

When we reached the build phase, we had decided on WordPress as the CMS of choice, so we could integrate a WooCommerce element for their shop, eLearning, and ticket sales. The solution neatly combined all three of these aspects into one combined checkout solution with a comprehensive shipping policy based on the Post Office’s world shipping zones, and cart weight.

Developing a custom theme with a number of bespoke blocks, allowing the band to easily manage the site without the need of a developer. This gave the band some branded block areas that they could add their own content without risk or causing problems on the front-end view of the site.

Chris Tarry was commissioned to provide copywriting services throughout the project to make sure the brands identity and overall message stayed consistent.

The Results

Since going live, the band have received glowing feedback on their new website from around the world. The sites new functionality is evident in their increased shop takings which have seen an incredible 9x improvement on average monthly sales through their website.

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I wanted to drop you both a note of thanks… indeed the rest of our Trustee team at Black Dyke Band requested that I do so… for the outstanding work Doddle have carried out in creating the new Black Dyke Band website.

As you know, the name of Black Dyke carries with it a reputation in Brass Banding and wider music circles of excellence and professionalism. We recognise that this excellence needs to be conveyed in everything that carries the Black Dyke name, and that not least in this regard was the band’s website which, for too long, had lagged behind in terms of what it conveyed about the band.

Your work has been both creative and diligent in pursuit of detail... these are two qualities that often do not combine, but under your guidance have shone through and delivered an outstanding result.

We believe Black Dyke Band now has a website of which it can be proud, and which will not only reputationally enhance the band, but also bring commercial advantage.

I ask Doddle to please accept the thanks and good wishes of the Black Dyke Band Trustees. As pandemic/lockdown life eases I trust that business, creative and family life will be good for you both.

Trevor Caffull, Treasurer