Pinnacle Marine New Zealand

Pinnacle Marine is a firm of yacht brokers in New Zealand and the country's exclusive dealer for the Azimut Benetti Group – the world's number one brand for luxury yachts. As of 2023 Pinnacle Marine had the largest fleet of European yachts in New Zealand.

Shown below is a multimillion-dollar Azimut Grande 32M. At the time of writing, Pinnacle has sold two of these superyachts: the first to a Kiwi buyer in 2020, the second to a client in Phuket, July 2023.

1. Work

I've been partnering with Pinnacle Marine since the company was founded. My work includes:

  • Website Design / Development
  • Strategy / Competitor Analysis
  • Setting up a customized, fully-fledged Content Management System
  • Content Strategy / Content Creation
  • Site Optimization

The most recent re-design was completed in August 2023 when I improved the home page and the site's "look and feel" on smaller, handheld devices.

2. Design

We've all seen listings pages where, on widescreen monitors, products are typically shown in rows of two or three. On this site I wanted to try something different. Why not intersperse rows of three with full-size images? It's not easy to do and is seldom done, but the effect works well. The listings pages for superyachts and stock / demo boats show this effect in action.

Content is optimized for smartphones, meaning it's designed to ensure the same immersive experience users get on desktop computers. The design is every bit as user friendly on tablets.

Pinnacle Marine Mobile

3. Content

I've written all 20 or so articles on the site. Topics range from historical essays to yacht reviews and online interviews. Some of these articles rank well: a search for "Nabila Yacht", for example, will show Pinnacle Marine's article about Donald Trump's former superyacht at #2 or #3.

The site uses Roboto, a typeface developed by Google for its Android platform. Examples of the four weights (100, 300, 400, 500) are shown below.

Pinnacle Marine Typography

4. Outcomes

The Pinnacle Marine website plays an important role in the company's online marketing. It introduces the core brands that Pinnacle represents and showcases some of the finest yachts in each collection. Listings for stock & demo boats generally include video, virtual tours, photo galleries and dealer-sourced brochures.

The site generates a steady stream of enquiries, as well as driving users to Pinnacle's social media channels. The company was largely unscathed by the pandemic. In 2020, for example, they sold six new boats, only one of which cost less than a million dollars. Sales were equally buoyant in 2021 and 2022.

5. Client Feedback

Our business is selling high-end sail and motor yachts and ancillary services to global buyers, our websites support these ends. AB Design manages our website and supplementary marketing collateral, and developed our custom CRM needs with excellent results. I can highly recommend these services.

Grant Saunders
CEO Pinnacle Marine

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