Lateral solves Agatha Christie Web brief

London-based digital consultancy Lateral has redesigned the official Agatha Christie website for entertainment company Chorion, which holds the rights to the crime writer ‘brand’.

Lateral came through two rounds of a three-way competitive pitch to win the appointment last May.

The consultancy was briefed to create a community-based site, www.agathachristie.com, that could be driven by what Lateral creative director Simon Crab calls ‘super fans’.

The site, which goes live this week, offers Christie paraphernalia across book, audio book, e-book, film and play formats, as well as games and merchandising.

Crab says Chorion wanted to reach a global audience over a broader age range.

‘[Agatha Christie] has a huge pre-teen and over-60 audience, as well as a big foreign audience. In Japan and India there are a lot of small fan sites. Chorion wanted to be involved in that,’ says Crab.

The site offers news, discussion forums, blogs, event listings and e-commerce.

‘The core part is the discussion forum,’ says Crab. ‘It’s not written from a Chorion or Agatha Christie point of view; the super fans contribute articles and drive their own traffic.’