(add)ventures, and Johnson & Wales University have won a top honor for an interactive on-line resource that experts have called “one of the world’s most well-executed websites.”
www.whatsnext4me.com was given the Best in Class (Youth) award from the Interactive Media Council, Inc., for excellence in design, development, and implementation in the youth category. The website is funded in part by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative. The Interactive Media Council is a nonprofit organization of leading web designers, developers, programmers, advertisers and other web-related professionals.
“The winner of this award has excelled in all areas of the judging criteria and achieved a perfect, or near perfect, overall score,” according to the IMC. “This site represents the highest standards of professionalism, standards compliance and impeccable planning and execution. This is one of the world’s most well-executed websites.”
Designed to appeal to youth and provide in-depth information on the hospitality industry, whatsnext4me.com includes real stories from real people in real jobs including corporate chefs, marketing mangers, and other hospitality professionals. Their personal profiles and even information on their salaries, education, home lives, and hobbies are documented and serve as an incentive to get young people thinking about careers in the hospitality industry.
According to recent studies by the United States Department of Labor, hospitality has been identified as a high-growth industry facing severe employee shortages. In 2005, Johnson & Wales University was awarded a nearly $1 million grant for the development and implementation of the website.
“The site will be a great asset for industry and for American high school students,” said John Bowen, University president, Johnson & Wales. “As America’s Career University® and America’s largest food service and hospitality educator it is critical that Johnson & Wales continually brings new thinking to the table on how we (along with employers) can increase the number of young adults entering the industry and reduce turnover. This can only happen when people select the hospitality industry as a career choice, rather than simply a place to get a front-line job for a few months.”
“We went directly to the source - the kids - and developed a look, content, and navigation that they would find appealing,” says Stephen Rosa, president and chief creative officer of (add)ventures. “We know that the genuine stories of real people in the hospitality industry found on the website will give kids the information they need to make a decision about a career in hospitality.”
Another key feature of the site is its bilingual implementation. “You can easily switch back and forth on each page between Spanish and English – as we have found many bilingual teenagers are apt to do in their day-to-day lives – without ever leaving the page you are viewing,” Rosa said.
About (add)ventures
(add)ventures is an advertising, public relations, branding, graphic, Internet, and multi-media design firm that produces work internationally. This award-winning integrated marketing communication agency headquartered in Providence, RI, generates Creative Power that serves multiple Fortune 500 companies as well as ambitious smaller organizations. (add)ventures can be reached at (401) 453-4748 or www.addventures.com.
About Johnson & Wales University
Johnson & Wales — America’s Career University® – was founded in 1914. It is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, food service, education, hospitality and technology. Preparing students for successful careers is the cornerstone of the University’s educational philosophy. A benchmark of the University has been its 29 consecutive year employment record – within 60 days of graduation, 98 percent of its students from the 50 states have jobs in their chosen career field. With an enrollment of more than 16,000 students, Johnson & Wales maintains campuses in Providence, R.I., North Miami, Fla., Denver, Colo., and Charlotte, N.C. For more information about Johnson & Wales University, visit www.jwu.edu.
