The Embassy of France in Washington, DC is the largest French diplomatic mission in the world. A staff of about 400 persons, divided in 15 offices engaged in a wide variety of activities, works under the direction of Ambassador Jean-David Levitte. In addition to their diplomatic mission, the Embassy of France publishes France Magazine, a bimonthly English-language review of "la vie française." Each 148-page issue showcases colorful writing and pictures alongside articles on French society, business, culture, travel and more.
The Embassy of France has an in-house staff that maintains their web presence and distributes information to both French citizens visiting the United States and citizens of the U.S. who are interested in visiting France. Over time, the Embassy of France's website had grown to be unmanageable and lacked a logical information architecture. In addition, France Magazine needed a way to continue to pique the interest of their substantial readership with frequently updated information between issues. Staff had difficulty making constant updates to bilingual articles and issues, layouts and banner advertisements, preventing the online site from keeping pace with the publication.

BrowserMedia worked with the Embassy of France staff to define a new image for the embassy. The French government wanted to convey the forward-thinking and technologically progressive spirit of the French people. BrowserMedia incorporated imagery that is indicative of modern French culture, while still embracing the charm that has made France a cultural icon. BrowserMedia worked with Embassy staff to devise an information architecture and navigation structure that is not only easy to maintain, but also scalable enough to efficiently organize the thousands of pages in the Embassy's content library.

In addition to the Embassy of France's primary website, BrowserMedia redesigned the online version of France Magazine. BrowserMedia software engineers developed and implemented a Content Management System (CMS) to provide France Magazine staff the tools to generate new articles with formatted titles, content, illustrations and photographs. Finally, BrowserMedia worked with the Embassy to devise a new outreach campaign to educate children about French history and culture.

Improved navigation, updates and database searches combined with a feel exuding French flair, have been widely successful with users and administrators. Fresher information and design, as well as the ease with which information can be found, provides a thorough and reliable source for articles appearing in the magazine. A modern image and design, all the while completely functional, has increased interest in and usage of the site dramatically. The "Just for Kids" section of the website has drawn an entirely new audience into the site, and is educating a new generation of Francophiles.

France Magazine subscribers can now reach current and past issues, and the magazine generates revenue from targeted banner ads that appear on pages hosting relevant articles.

BrowserMedia's work with the Embassy of France did not go unnoticed to others outside the development process. For its direction and design of the site, BrowserMedia received the Web Marketing Association Award in 2005, and the Horizon Interactive Award and W3 Silver Award in 2006.

Embassy personnel too have been pleased with the new changes. "The new features available on the menu-page, the re-organization of the different sections, as well as the overall look of the site are of tremendous help both for us to feed the site and prioritize the info, and for our visitors to find what they're looking for," Deputy Director Emmanuel Gagniarre said. "The site is today more attractive and convenient. The feedback has been extremely positive."