Welcome to Geek Unique Ltd

We are a small agency trusted by big brands.

Whether you are a start-up, local trader or international brand we provide you with the very best strategy to make your digital brand work.

Brakspear


Brakspear has a rich history, and as such they are renowned for their wonderful pubs, restaurants, hotels and brewery. Brakspear embodies the British way of life, from bustling pubs teeming with sensational Brakspear brews, to quintessential country hotels nestled in the sweeping English countryside. Their impressive portfolio boasts 132 establishments. Each and every venue is known for its captivating history, striking surroundings and enthralling individuality.

As you can imagine we were absolutely delighted when we learned they had chosen us to work with them on this monumental project and we’d like to share the journey with you.

How It Started


We were fortunate enough to have worked with Brakspears Marketing Director Dan on a previous project some time ago at Ideal Collection in Southampton, before Dan moved over to Brakspear.

When we discovered that Brakspear were looking to launch a whole new brand ‘Honeycomb Houses’ to enhance their direct bookings, we lept at the chance to throw our name into the ring. This opportunity grew into something much bigger and evolved into the build and development of a vast number of websites – and as the leading experts in website builds and development, we couldn’t possibly turn down such an incredible project.

Before we jumped into development mode, we worked with Brakspear to identify their long term goals and KPI’s.  Understanding where the business was at and where it wanted to be allowed us to develop a completely bespoke digital strategy encompassing many key elements.

One of the key focal points of this project was an improvement in direct bookings, capturing bookings on-site is a much more cost effective method than using a third party booking platform like booking.com – third party booking platforms typically take a portion of the payment to cover their fees.

Alongside enhancing Brakspear’s direct bookings: we concentrated on upselling and cross-selling a wide variety of occasions and venue spaces. Occasions such as weddings, birthday parties, corporate meetings and much more. All of which could be hosted in the array of spaces at each venue.

Understanding your clients long term goals is absolutely crucial to the development process – we pride ourselves on taking the time to properly research and understand our clients needs and requirements – we feel this sets us apart from some agencies who opt for providing a pre-made website package. We don’t do one-size-fits-all here at Geek Unique, which is probably why we have such great relationships with our clients, who not only use our services time and time again but recommend us.

Geek Unique focused on much more than developing a beautiful website. They worked alongside us to understand Brakspears long term goals and how we could achieve them via our websites. They focused heavily on conversion and KPI’s which would help the business grow further.

Dan, Marketing Director Brakspear

One of the key reasons we chose Geek Unique was value for money. They offer London quality consultation paired with India priced development. With this being such a big project, cost was an important factor to us.

Dan, Marketing Director Barkeeper

The Geek Unique Process – The Techy Bit


Once we had established and agreed on the details of how the website was to look and perform, we got straight to work on developing it.

We designed the first site UI (user interface) and launched it to test conversion and optimisation of the front and backend coding. After lots of testing, we were completely satisfied with the build – we then copied the site to encompass all of the other pubs and hotels.

The development was carried out on WordPress which allowed us to integrate custom plugins tailored to Brakspear’s requirements and long term goals. We installed custom plugins for booking integration with Siteminder and the necessary booking buttons. We also worked on custom plugin development with Design My Night – a custom website which allows the audience to tailor a night out in line with specific filters such as their budget, where they want to visit and the type of night they’re looking for.

Our UI design focused on maximising usability across a wide range of devices and ensuring a seamless user experience rolled into one. Understanding visitor behaviour on the previous website enabled us to create a website that pre-empted the customer journey, by including the right calls-to-action and relevant information.

As well as building and developing a bunch of beautiful websites, our savvy team of developers built Brakspear their very own custom server – boasting quickfire super lightning speed. Furthermore we built a totally custom reporting suite, allowing designated staff members to login and view all of their data and conversions in one place.

SEO & PPC strategies were fundamental for each individual site to ensure increased conversions across the board. Our specialist team of SEO & PPC experts meticulously researched each establishment and the keywords and search terms best suited to them and the local area. From this data they formulated bespoke strategies tailored entirely to achieving the right goals for individual venues.

With any strategy – reporting is crucial. Supporting evidence is vital to ensure you’re on the right track, this can be used to implement tweaks or further optimisation to improve specific objectives. We provide Brakspear with reporting on various metrics, with each report focusing on KPI’s relevant to the venue – so they can see what is working for them and what needs improvement.

Lastly, we sank our teeth into developing ‘Honeycomb Houses’ – this is the main website, a hub if you will, which hosts the main career platform. It also lists all of the Brakspear pubs, with built in map integration via MapBox – which allows you to search extensively through their establishments and find the right venue for your requirements.

The Geek Unique Process – The Creative Angle


With each establishment having such a unique style, whilst still epitomising the distinctive Brakspear personality – it was necessary to heavily invest in researching and understanding the Brakspear brand such as their 200 year old history, core values and USP’s. Despite the first site build acting as a blueprint for the other websites – each site is different and tailored specifically to the character of the venue.

We worked with Dan to redevelop the logos, brands and identity of the new websites. The overall design was tailored to each establishment, but can best be described as contemporary, sleek and stylish. It’s important that design always supports functionality, ensuring the call-to-action on every page was clear and the website navigation remained effortless allowed us to create striking yet effective sites.

With any website, content is key – not only to the audience but also our SEO & PPC strategies. Our team of copywriters collaborated closely with Dan to ensure the right tone and personality was conveyed on each website in line with the brand identity on both the landing pages and blogs.

We provided a commercial photographer to encapsulate the Brakspear brand and shoot a stunning array of images of both the establishment and its surroundings, which we used to adorn the websites. We think they perfectly demonstrate the individuality and personality of each venue.

The End Result


The finished product? An array of cleverly curated websites for Brakspear, which provide those all important high conversion rates. The improved conversion rates have resulted in some truly exceptional bookings. We’ve built a platform which makes enticing more customers effortless, our new and improved booking system is working for Brakspear – which is exactly what your website should do – work for you.

How exactly have we achieved this? Well, providing a flawless mobile experience alongside seamless integration on mobile apps – definitely helped. But the speedy data capture and automated booking logic really gives the booking experience a much needed boost. The new websites now allow Brakspear venues to take upfront payments for seasonal events such as Christmas bookings – reducing the likelihood of last minute cancellations. Last minute cancellations are the bane of the hospitality industry, upfront payments minimises the impact of this and allows venues to plan ahead efficiently.

We aren’t ones to brag but the hosting time has improved by a whopping 100% – that’s no mean feat and a statistic that we’re incredibly proud of.

Creating custom content with key search terms in mind has resulted in an impressive uplift in organic traffic to each website in line with the specially curated SEO & PPC strategies.

Direct bookings for the hotels and specific rooms have grown way above typical industry standards.

Overall, we have achieved what we set out to do. Here at Geek Unique we don’t just create aesthetically pleasing websites. We provide functionality, the best possible user experience, results that reflect your long term goals and a website that will grow with your business. The best part? We work with your budget, to offer a completely tailored service.

One of the key reasons we chose Geek Unique was value for money. They offer London quality consultation paired with India priced development. With this being such a big project, cost was an important factor to us.

Dan, Marketing Director Barkeeper