Luminary scores big with award-winning digital transformation of MCG and MCC
Digital agency Luminary has taken out an Australian Web Award in the Sports and Recreation category for its work on the Melbourne Cricket Club and Melbourne Cricket Ground websites.
The Australian Web Awards are judged by an independent panel of industry peers, evaluating entries on design, user experience, technical execution, accessibility and overall effectiveness — meaning a winning project doesn’t just look great, but sets a benchmark for the highest standards of web development and strategy in Australia.
The project saw Luminary consolidate three fragmented sites into two modernised platforms — MCC and MCG, with the Australian Sports Museum integrated under the MCG banner — all powered by a single instance of Optimizely DXP. The challenge was significant: the legacy digital estate was spread across three separate brands running on outdated, end-of-life platforms, with content management requiring constant duplication and massive traffic spikes demanding manual infrastructure scaling just to keep the sites online.
The MCC handles a complex digital ecosystem, catering to over 160,000 members, managing the Australian Sports Museum, and welcoming more than four million sports and entertainment fans to the MCG website annually.
Key features of the transformation included a mobile-first “My MCC” member portal streamlining dining reservations, club functions and renewals; an interactive multi-level 3D stadium map allowing fans to locate their exact seating section and nearest amenities; a dynamic events calendar with a centralised component model; and a migration to Optimizely’s PaaS managed cloud integrated with Cloudflare, allowing the site to absorb sudden spikes of tens of thousands of simultaneous users.
The results have been equally impressive. Comparing year-on-year data, overall web traffic lifted 15%, with mobile engagement up 21% and session engagement up 20% — particularly significant given that over 60% of users access the site via mobile devices, often while inside the stadium itself.
Says Marty Drill, CEO of Luminary: “Winning the Australian Web Award is a fantastic validation of what can be achieved through deep, collaborative partnership. From day one, the team at the MCC and MCG shared our vision for a modern, high-performance digital experience. Working alongside them, Two Circles and Optimizely, we have been able to completely revolutionise their digital presence, dramatically improving website speed, accessibility, and the overall fan and customer experience. This project demonstrates how strong technical architecture and human-centred design can truly bring an iconic physical venue to life online.”
Says Rey Sumaru, General Manager IT and Innovation at MCC: “Partnering with Luminary to rebuild the MCG, MCC and Australian Sports Museum websites has been truly transformative for our business. By consolidating three legacy sites into two using Optimizely, Luminary has streamlined our digital ecosystem and elevated the online experience for our MCC members and all patrons. The new sites reflect the prestige and energy of our iconic brands, delivering seamless navigation, inspiring design and enhanced performance. This evolution brings our brand promise of stepping into greatness to life in the digital space, ensuring we continue to provide exceptional experiences worthy of our heritage and future.”
The win adds to a recent string of recognition for Luminary, including Indigo Design and Communicator Awards, with judges recognising a high-performance digital ecosystem designed for scalability, integration and an improved user experience across platforms.
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