Carnaby St tries site to boost profile

Carnaby Street and the adjacent streets are to have a “community” website – carnaby.co.uk – in an attempt to wrest the title of London’s top shopping and leisure destination from the likes of Oxford Street and Kensington High Street.

Carnaby Street’s owner, property company Shaftesbury, chose digital agency DS.Emotion to create the site, which goes live this week. Presented in a magazine-style format, the site promotes local retailers, restaurants, bars and residential units, and has links to relevant external sites.

A built-in content management system allows for regular updating of the information, while DS.Emotion will monitor traffic regularly.

Shaftesbury says it hopes to return Carnaby Street to its “Swinging Sixties” heyday. A spokeswoman adds: “Digital marketing is an increasingly effective medium to communicate with our commercial and public markets.”