Case Studies / Wendy’s High School Heisman
Nonprofit
Corporate IT
Custom CMS Website
Process Management
Switchbox built a cloud-based, high-availability platform for Wendy's High School Heisman that handles massive traffic spikes during winner announcements—supporting 100,000+ applicants, real-time photo/video updates, and strict COPPA/FERPA security compliance for student data.
0K+
Applicant athletes per year
The Challenge
Traffic spikes crashed winner announcements
Each year the Wendy’s High School Heisman attracts more than 100,000 applicant athletes from around the country. As each wave of winners is announced, students, friends, parents, and school officials perform millions of web searches over the course of a few hours—placing a significant load on both web and database servers.
Prior software partners were unable to keep the website performing during these high-load periods. Wendy’s turned to Switchbox to keep their site up and running during this critical window, partnering with Rattleback (a professional services marketing agency) on the web application’s design.
Our Approach
Engineering for the peak moment
Switchbox analyzed the traffic patterns and failure modes of the previous platform to design a custom cloud solution built specifically for high-traffic peak events. In partnership with Rattleback (design), we selected WordPress as the CMS core and planned a custom web application extension for search, reporting, and data aggregation.
Data security was built into the architecture from the ground up—meeting COPPA and FERPA requirements for handling student data. Load testing was incorporated into the delivery plan to validate performance before each annual announcement cycle.
What We Built
Cloud solution for peak traffic and security
A custom cloud-based solution was built and managed personally by the Switchbox team—developed specifically to handle high-traffic scenarios. WordPress was chosen as the core CMS, supported by a custom web application to facilitate searching, reporting, and data aggregation.
The system enables real-time updates to winner data, including photography and video updates as winners are announced in New York. The environment was built with data integrity and security in mind, safely storing student data and private information in adherence with COPPA and FERPA requirements.
The Results
Flawless performance elevated the award ceremony
Since launch, the new Wendy’s Heisman website and backing web application have performed flawlessly—allowing for drastically increased response time for data retrieval and enhanced site performance during peak traffic events.
Wendy’s team was so pleased with the results that they flew the Switchbox team to New York for the Heisman ceremony. The platform has continued to support the award ceremony as it grows in reach and popularity.
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