Nitto's new website wins top design honors from PR association

Nitto newly revamped online presence has been awarded first place in the best website category at the 2011 Internet Marketing Association (IMA) awards. The accolade recognizes organizations of all sizes for their expertise and effectiveness in utilizing a wide range of Internet marketing activities.

“We’re honored to receive first place at the prestigious IMA awards,” says Stephen Leu, a marketing specialist at the tire maker. The site “was developed to provide our customers with a superior experience, helping them make informed purchasing decisions through interaction with existing Nitto advocates using popular social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter,” he explains.

The site was created by Cie Studios, a developer of custom social, mobile and web applications, to assist car and truck enthusiasts in selecting the best tires for their vehicles.

For those not as familiar with Nitto’s products, the designers put together “Tires 101,” an online tutorial that offers background information on the tire industry and the company’s tires.

“The site is optimized for mobile devices and employs the latest technology, graphics and animation, text and social media to engage users in an interactive purchasing experience,” says Leu. “The site also promotes participation in Nitto’s passionate online user community of more than 348,000 Facebook fans alone.”

“We are dedicated to equipping Nitto with the best tools in which to communicate with their avid customer base,” says Edward Yu, Cie’s president, adding that “we worked closely with the company to create a unique user experience on the site, enabling interaction with Nitto’s very social online community and providing detailed information on product offerings.”

The site gives users the option to click on one of three tire categories to view multi-dimensional images and highly detailed descriptions of Grappler Truck, Street and Competition tires. They can search by vehicle type, model and other filters to find the right tire and size for their vehicle.

Visitors can also review daily news updates, watch special multimedia features as well as follow and share information with their friends via social media channels. Potential customers can utilize the site’s geo-map function to locate the company’s tire dealers by zip code.

For more information, visit www.nittotire.com and www.ciestudios.com.