BBC.COM

BBC Worldwide, 2007

Communications for BBC.com, the international, advertising-funded counterpart to the UK's licence-fee BBC.co.uk. Where the domestic site answered to a public service remit, BBC.com had to work as a commercial media brand competing for a global audience's attention on its own terms.

That distinction mattered for everything that touched it. A story that worked for a UK audience already primed to trust the BBC needed different handling for a market meeting the brand as one commercial option among many. Communications had to build credibility from scratch rather than borrow it.

Working on BBC.com alongside TopGear.com, LoveEarth.com and BBC Motion Gallery in the same year meant handling several distinct audiences under one parent brand: UK entertainment fans, an international general audience, and commercial media buyers. Each expected something different from the same name.

A trusted name still has to earn attention audience by audience. It doesn't transfer automatically.