As makeup director at 20th Century Fox for decades, Benjamin
(“Ben”) Nye, Sr., was responsible for over 500 films spanning the 1930s to the
1980s. If you’ve seen Gone with the Wind,
Miracle on 34th Street, The King and I, or Planet of the Apes, you've seen his work. When Nye retired in 1967,
he founded the Ben Nye Makeup Company, which today is based in a Los Angeles
headquarters and run by his son Dana. The company’s About Us page is here.
OVERALL GRADE: A
minus
The Ben Nye Makeup site is a great illustration of our Commandment
1 of About Us pages: “Know thy audience.” The product isn't sold retail;
it's sold via authorized retailers to professionals, and the photos and text
are geared to such visitors.
Products/Services and
Personality: A
The About Us page, “The Ben Nye Story” (accessed via the
“Read the Ben Nye Story” link on the Home
page) proves that you don’t need a dozen nested About Us pages to show your
company’s true colors. Ben Nye’s single page describes the founder’s career as
a Hollywood makeup artist, with examples of the movies he worked on. It
discusses his style, which still drives the business, and then moves on to his
son, who runs the company today. Then it mentions the company’s products, and
finally links to the company’s YouTube channel of tutorials by master makeup
artists. As befits a company that sells makeup, the page is crowded with
full-color photos of models, movie stars, and makeup.
Our one question is: What does “There’s more to come!” refer
to? It’s in the header of the page and repeated again at the end. If it’s
something Ben Nye used to say, we’d like to know that.
The other pages on the site are all, in a sense, About Us: four
pages of media coverage (In the
Media, Theatre
News, Artists
at Work, At the Show)
and In Print, a
collection of product brochures.
Accessibility: B
The site doesn't even have a Contact Us page: the barest of
information (mailing address and telephone) appears on the Catalog Request page. But
Ben Nye Makeup doesn't operate a retail store, and its products are sold only
through authorized dealers, so this seems adequate.
TAKEAWAY
You can be brief, yet brilliant, in relating your business
history. Focus on what makes you unique and great.
Does your Web site’s “About Us” section
accurately convey your organization’s history and capabilities? Every two weeks
we evaluate one example, grading it in three areas that are key to potential
customers: Personality (Who are you?), Products/Services (What can you do for
us?), and Accessibility (How can we reach you?). To talk about your About Us
page, contact us!
Today’s example was chosen at random;
CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company.
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