Apple has outdone themselves again with this online media they recently ran on Apple. The gameplay using the iphone actually moves elements on the Yahoo page. Great stuff.
Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing has become the hot new craze. Not sure how it might work? Check out this ad campaign created by Playboy utilizing a mobile marketing campaign. They use traditional advertising to promote non-traditional. Interested in doing mobile media or trying to figure out how it can work within your business? Give me a buzz! *Disclaimer - this is a Playboy ad.
VIdeo + Interactivity = great experience
Other than the slow load time, this is a really great concept and spot-on execution. The goal, educate consumers on the features of the VW - in a way that is engaging and entertaining. They could have put up some screen grabs of the actual feature and written some copy next to it, but no. They incorporated video (very cleverly, I may ad) as well as an interaction tool. Great stuff! http://www.vwinnovatie.nl/en/
New VOTE site launched!
Flint Interactive launched a pretty cool new "Own Your Vote" site used to help educate UMD students on the election. It line items each of the topics and gives an overview of each candidate's view of each.
Progress Bars, mmm
We, at Flint Interactive, are passionate about the little things in life. Little details in our daily interactive worlds. Little things like progress bars. This is a great little video about a man equally as passionate about progress bars.
Interactive Buzz - August 1 '08
Harnessing the power of community
This is a crazy cool site (created as a sustainability effort by NEC) with gorgeous design and great functionality. Click "enter" to watch today's efforts in "replay", then click "Skip replay" to start interacting. Here's an overview: "Ecotonoha is a project to nurture a virtual tree collaboratively, and at the same time contribute to the actual environment to cope with the global warming. As you make Ecotonoha's leaves, the virtual tree will grow, and as Ecotonoha grows, real trees will be planted by NEC.
Flint Interactive's Recently Launched Websites
I know there's a listing down the right side of this blog - but I thought I'd send out the list in a posting as well. Here are some of the sites and other web tools Flint Interactive has launched in the last couple of months.
Sertich Consulting
UMD Bulldogs
Woo Her
United Way of Cass Clay
Fit City Duluth
Big Iron Farm Show
Vista Waters
Nodak Mutual
New Geography
Microlap
Fargodome
Fargo Moorhead CVB
Beacon Point Condos
Woodmaster
Northwest Manufacturing
Fred Mertz Farm Sales, Calgary AB
Residential Care Track for Points North
Sertich Consulting
UMD Bulldogs
Woo Her
United Way of Cass Clay
Fit City Duluth
Big Iron Farm Show
Vista Waters
Nodak Mutual
New Geography
Microlap
Fargodome
Fargo Moorhead CVB
Beacon Point Condos
Woodmaster
Northwest Manufacturing
Fred Mertz Farm Sales, Calgary AB
Residential Care Track for Points North
Interactive Buzz - July 18 '08
Microsite get edgy
I appreciate when brand isn't afraid to push the creative bar. This is a well-done video and entertaining "jingle" (that you can download) all encased within a lovely little microsite. And looky there, they included it on their corporate site so you can easily find it (see the blog posting about Microsites".
How to be a UX Team of One
This is a Slideshare presentation by Leah Buley at Adaptive Path. It's pretty good for designers out there... and here is her blog if you want more.
Micro-Interactions
I'm into presentations this week I guess. Micro-interactions is a new term that's been thrown around lately. A new concept - no - newly trendy, yes. It means everything from a company's blog to employee Twitters to employees themselves. Small interactions people may inadvertently have with your brand that make the world of difference. One of the best quotes from the blog reference below is "we need to remember that the real power in "social" is the quality of interactions we have with companies and brands".
This is a good presentation put together by David Armano, VP of Experience Design with Calgary-based Critical Mass. It's called "Micro-Interactions in a 2.0 World". I've included the Slideshare presentation below.
Interactive Buzz - July 3 '08
*side note - happy birthday to my dear husband!*
One of the best...
This is one of the best sites I've seen for getting a true sense of a brand in a digital format. In this case, the brand is a person - a photographer. I've seen hundreds of photographer websites and this one, more than any, gives you insight into who this person is, how she will be if you hire her and what you can expect out of this "brand" of one. It starts out with a (surprisingly quick-loading) video of her talking about what she does (wedding photography). The video adds a whole new dimension...you can see her, hear her and get a sense for what she'll be like. It's like an interview without doing any work. The transitions between pages have a little spark with more video and the copywriting on the site is fantastic. Whether it's truly her or a creative writer, the copy has emotion. (under Jasmine*). The "Life In Between" section is more than a "bio" and adds a creative flair to getting to know who this photographer is. Overall, this site does what many strive to do - get a true brand experience in a digital format and make a positive first impression.
Shops strive for a new formula
This is a bit of a long read but it's a good one - especially for people writing tactics into Comm plans and for creatives coming up with new and different ways to help people engage with a brand. Here's a quote from the story: "The shift from storytelling to user experience is huge," Armano says. "The advertising agencies that want to move beyond microsites are just figuring that out. It takes a different way of looking at things and expertise."
Volkswagon Germany (click on center image)
This site is in German, but it's visual enough to get a good sense of what's going on. The blend of video to set the stage, backed by some basic interaction. It's futuristic and it's purpose is about telling people VW is being eco-friendly. While it has nice glitz, it could have been better served by trying to connect with audiences a little more. The beginning video is good, but improved interaction and some deeper thinking would likely make this a bit better.
One of the best...
This is one of the best sites I've seen for getting a true sense of a brand in a digital format. In this case, the brand is a person - a photographer. I've seen hundreds of photographer websites and this one, more than any, gives you insight into who this person is, how she will be if you hire her and what you can expect out of this "brand" of one. It starts out with a (surprisingly quick-loading) video of her talking about what she does (wedding photography). The video adds a whole new dimension...you can see her, hear her and get a sense for what she'll be like. It's like an interview without doing any work. The transitions between pages have a little spark with more video and the copywriting on the site is fantastic. Whether it's truly her or a creative writer, the copy has emotion. (under Jasmine*). The "Life In Between" section is more than a "bio" and adds a creative flair to getting to know who this photographer is. Overall, this site does what many strive to do - get a true brand experience in a digital format and make a positive first impression.
Shops strive for a new formula
This is a bit of a long read but it's a good one - especially for people writing tactics into Comm plans and for creatives coming up with new and different ways to help people engage with a brand. Here's a quote from the story: "The shift from storytelling to user experience is huge," Armano says. "The advertising agencies that want to move beyond microsites are just figuring that out. It takes a different way of looking at things and expertise."
Volkswagon Germany (click on center image)
This site is in German, but it's visual enough to get a good sense of what's going on. The blend of video to set the stage, backed by some basic interaction. It's futuristic and it's purpose is about telling people VW is being eco-friendly. While it has nice glitz, it could have been better served by trying to connect with audiences a little more. The beginning video is good, but improved interaction and some deeper thinking would likely make this a bit better.
Interactive Buzz - June 20 '08
Welcome to the first day of Summer everyone! Sorry for the brief hiatus, but we're back in "buzz business" now!
Microsites
Microsites. Campaign sites. Sub sites. They all mean the same thing - a site apart from the brand's corporate site that contains narrowed and specific data, whether it's for a certain audience, to promote a special product or for an event. According to Blink Interactive, sub-sites can face an identity crisis and I couldn't agree more. Below are some of Blink's recommendations for helping to build awareness of those sub-sites and keeping users housed within their sub-site experience :
Keeping Users in Control of their User Experience
This is another posting from Blink about allowing users to maintain control of their user experience:
Keep users in their comfort zones. Keeping users in control of their experience is an important usability principle. This can take many forms, from providing a clear sense of place or progress in a flow to offering "undo" options. We tested a few web sites last year that pushed video or audio content to unsuspecting users as soon as they opened a page. Auto-play distracted users from their primary task or caused them to search for quick exit points. Other sites with multimedia content kept users in control by offering "Listen" or "Watch the video" links and obvious playback controls. Sometimes keeping users in control involves stepping them through complicated processes at their own pace or allowing them to filter and process emotional or sensitive information gradually, enabling them to retreat if overwhelmed. We observed the latter when testing health-related content explaining serious illnesses and procedures.
Micro Interactions improve Google Rank
This is an interesting AdAge article that discusses "micro interactions", such as "twittering" and "widgets" and how these little "micro interactions" can help get some 'shelf space' on Google. We all know that the more "discussions" you have out in "online land" the more relevant Google things you are. One quote from the article states that "Dell has 20 people dedicated to engaging social media", but suggested an alternative would be "To tell a wider swatch of company's employees to dedicate 10% to 20% of their time to it." Another example of a "micro interaction" is Harley Davidson's "video-rich widget" that users can add to their iGoogle page (among other places) to watch broadcasted content from its annual Sturgis gathering.
Banking Website
We've designed and developed a few bank websites so I'm always keeping my eye out on ones that are well done (since so many of them are not). Kiwi Bank of New Zealand does a particularly good job on their site...well, on their home page (only). They have great content prioritization, their site is easy to navigate and is visually appealing. Again - they failed like most other banks once they got past the home page - but... good job on successfully creating at least 1 page! I also found a "campaign site" they created in an attempt to "Stop the Aussie Bank Invasion"... which I found particularly amusing since we recently worked on a website for an Australian Bank entering the US market. Guess it's a commonality.
Microsites
Microsites. Campaign sites. Sub sites. They all mean the same thing - a site apart from the brand's corporate site that contains narrowed and specific data, whether it's for a certain audience, to promote a special product or for an event. According to Blink Interactive, sub-sites can face an identity crisis and I couldn't agree more. Below are some of Blink's recommendations for helping to build awareness of those sub-sites and keeping users housed within their sub-site experience :
- using and marketing memorable URLs that create a unique identity for the sub-site (such as www.npr.org/music)
- working with owners of the parent site to improve navigation to the sub-site, and
- optimizing the site-wide Search tool such that certain keywords and synonyms display results that direct users to the sub-site.
Keeping Users in Control of their User Experience
This is another posting from Blink about allowing users to maintain control of their user experience:
Keep users in their comfort zones. Keeping users in control of their experience is an important usability principle. This can take many forms, from providing a clear sense of place or progress in a flow to offering "undo" options. We tested a few web sites last year that pushed video or audio content to unsuspecting users as soon as they opened a page. Auto-play distracted users from their primary task or caused them to search for quick exit points. Other sites with multimedia content kept users in control by offering "Listen" or "Watch the video" links and obvious playback controls. Sometimes keeping users in control involves stepping them through complicated processes at their own pace or allowing them to filter and process emotional or sensitive information gradually, enabling them to retreat if overwhelmed. We observed the latter when testing health-related content explaining serious illnesses and procedures.
Micro Interactions improve Google Rank
This is an interesting AdAge article that discusses "micro interactions", such as "twittering" and "widgets" and how these little "micro interactions" can help get some 'shelf space' on Google. We all know that the more "discussions" you have out in "online land" the more relevant Google things you are. One quote from the article states that "Dell has 20 people dedicated to engaging social media", but suggested an alternative would be "To tell a wider swatch of company's employees to dedicate 10% to 20% of their time to it." Another example of a "micro interaction" is Harley Davidson's "video-rich widget" that users can add to their iGoogle page (among other places) to watch broadcasted content from its annual Sturgis gathering.
Banking Website
We've designed and developed a few bank websites so I'm always keeping my eye out on ones that are well done (since so many of them are not). Kiwi Bank of New Zealand does a particularly good job on their site...well, on their home page (only). They have great content prioritization, their site is easy to navigate and is visually appealing. Again - they failed like most other banks once they got past the home page - but... good job on successfully creating at least 1 page! I also found a "campaign site" they created in an attempt to "Stop the Aussie Bank Invasion"... which I found particularly amusing since we recently worked on a website for an Australian Bank entering the US market. Guess it's a commonality.
Interactive Buzz - May 23 '08
The New Subaru Campaign
This is a pretty good campaign that not only executes well on their TV commercial (check it out here or below) but also has a nice "Engagement" follow through on "SexySubaru.com". The microsite allows users to "engage" with what they saw on the commercial. It allows you to "become the photographer" of a new Subaru photoshoot. You can "share it with a friend" or "submit your photo to a contest", all with the underlying purpose of lead generation. The execution is well done - smooth, well written and well developed.
It's not about technology it's about sociology - Live Streaming Video
This is the topic of the "live broadcast" interview by David Armano at Critical Mass, Chicago as he interviews Bruce Nussbaum from Business Week. I'm sharing this for two reasons.... first, the content isn't bad (albeit quite long). Second, I found the delivery interesting. It's a "live broadcast" (not now, but when it was first shot). So, it's pretty raw, unedited. The guy from CM sits down, starts the camera and starts asking questions. It's not beautifully framed, lighted or produce, but it's effective. The live broadcast is brought to you from Ustream.tv - a free service. It's kind of crazy, actually. You can watch a live streaming video, and users can "comment" to the person doing the video, so he/she can "respond live". You can also see how many "viewers" are watching him/her and see all other "past" live broadcasts. It's crazy and a little bit scary.
Beautiful Site Design
Who wouldn't expect a beautifully designed site from a company that brings you a beautifully designed bottle? Level Vodka. That got me thinking... Vodka bottles are notorous for their beautiful bottle designs. Are they all that good in their web designs? Here are a few more...they enjoy their video, tis for sure:
Grey Goose - Has some interesting visuals/functionality
Belvedere-vodka - Of course.
Chopin - You need a new interactive agency
This is a pretty good campaign that not only executes well on their TV commercial (check it out here or below) but also has a nice "Engagement" follow through on "SexySubaru.com". The microsite allows users to "engage" with what they saw on the commercial. It allows you to "become the photographer" of a new Subaru photoshoot. You can "share it with a friend" or "submit your photo to a contest", all with the underlying purpose of lead generation. The execution is well done - smooth, well written and well developed.
It's not about technology it's about sociology - Live Streaming Video
This is the topic of the "live broadcast" interview by David Armano at Critical Mass, Chicago as he interviews Bruce Nussbaum from Business Week. I'm sharing this for two reasons.... first, the content isn't bad (albeit quite long). Second, I found the delivery interesting. It's a "live broadcast" (not now, but when it was first shot). So, it's pretty raw, unedited. The guy from CM sits down, starts the camera and starts asking questions. It's not beautifully framed, lighted or produce, but it's effective. The live broadcast is brought to you from Ustream.tv - a free service. It's kind of crazy, actually. You can watch a live streaming video, and users can "comment" to the person doing the video, so he/she can "respond live". You can also see how many "viewers" are watching him/her and see all other "past" live broadcasts. It's crazy and a little bit scary.
Beautiful Site Design
Who wouldn't expect a beautifully designed site from a company that brings you a beautifully designed bottle? Level Vodka. That got me thinking... Vodka bottles are notorous for their beautiful bottle designs. Are they all that good in their web designs? Here are a few more...they enjoy their video, tis for sure:
Grey Goose - Has some interesting visuals/functionality
Belvedere-vodka - Of course.
Chopin - You need a new interactive agency
Interactive Buzz - May 16 '08
How Little Do Web Users Read?
This study shows some interesting facts about how little users read and how much they scan...Summary: On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely. Going back to the primal rule of pulling out content that is the MOST important and making it “bold” or bulleted in some way... Or shortening paragraphs and using strong paragraph titles, all while maintaining the integrity of the content and making sure it's SEO friendly. By the way, SEO friendly often means 200-400 words per page. So, if you're building a 400-page count page, make sure your most important message is covered in about 80 stand-out words.
Agency site - Nice design
I'm sharing this site (SeedGivesLife.com) only because I appreciate that the design is "different". It has a nice fluid navigation all based around a "tree landscape" concept. With that said (and noting the paragraph above this one) it's 100% Flash and not likely very SEO compliant. And I'm disappointed that they don't supply any "over" states for their content navigation so I have to guess if it's a link or not...and their copy is a little difficult to read...and they're "portfolio" area is confusing to find and difficult to use...and their home page is useless. However, I do think it's interesting that their "news" area is all contained within a Blog. So overall, maybe I don't like it as much as I thought. I like the design but give it a low usability rating.
This cartoon made me laugh - and oh-so-true.
This study shows some interesting facts about how little users read and how much they scan...Summary: On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely. Going back to the primal rule of pulling out content that is the MOST important and making it “bold” or bulleted in some way... Or shortening paragraphs and using strong paragraph titles, all while maintaining the integrity of the content and making sure it's SEO friendly. By the way, SEO friendly often means 200-400 words per page. So, if you're building a 400-page count page, make sure your most important message is covered in about 80 stand-out words.
Agency site - Nice design
I'm sharing this site (SeedGivesLife.com) only because I appreciate that the design is "different". It has a nice fluid navigation all based around a "tree landscape" concept. With that said (and noting the paragraph above this one) it's 100% Flash and not likely very SEO compliant. And I'm disappointed that they don't supply any "over" states for their content navigation so I have to guess if it's a link or not...and their copy is a little difficult to read...and they're "portfolio" area is confusing to find and difficult to use...and their home page is useless. However, I do think it's interesting that their "news" area is all contained within a Blog. So overall, maybe I don't like it as much as I thought. I like the design but give it a low usability rating.
This cartoon made me laugh - and oh-so-true.
Flint Interactive Buzz - May 9 '08
Word of the week: GEO-TARGETING
Geo targeting (in internet marketing) is the method of determining the physical location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based his location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code organization, ISP or other criteria. So if you have a regional-only company, for example, insurance ONLY in North Dakota, you can choose to have the Google AdWords ads ONLY served up to people coming from an IP range within North Dakota. The benefit is that you're not serving up ads to people who will find it irrelevant.
Leading With Digital - Good AdWeek Article
This is an interesting article in AdWeek about companies leading with digital solutions. From what I've been reading & seeing lately, it seems to be the way it's going. In all of our marketing options, what are the two solutions that allow for the most engaged brand experience? PR and Interactive (digital). Here's a quote from the afore mentioned AdWeek article by Brandon Berger titled "Leading with Digital"(May 7, 2008).
Beautiful site by Audi
Audi has a microsite for it's new Audi RS 6. It's quite beautiful. Not only the site with it's array of videos, animation and audio production, but the entire campaign. The site offers specs on the car (the videos are well done, of course), but also a look into their entire campaign. Granted, I may be more interested than many, simply due to my passion for really great advertising, but they did an exceptional job in the concept and execution of this campaign. The site offers their TV commercial (check it out below), the making of the commercial, and wallpaper. I also found it interesting that they're entering the "social sharing" segment by allowing users to "Send, Share and Bookmark" their content.
Here's the commercial. The concept is the power and preciseness of the dancers mimicking the engine of the new Audi. I appreciate that they are not showing a car driving down a winding road overlooking a cliff like everyone else.
Geo targeting (in internet marketing) is the method of determining the physical location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based his location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code organization, ISP or other criteria. So if you have a regional-only company, for example, insurance ONLY in North Dakota, you can choose to have the Google AdWords ads ONLY served up to people coming from an IP range within North Dakota. The benefit is that you're not serving up ads to people who will find it irrelevant.
Leading With Digital - Good AdWeek Article
This is an interesting article in AdWeek about companies leading with digital solutions. From what I've been reading & seeing lately, it seems to be the way it's going. In all of our marketing options, what are the two solutions that allow for the most engaged brand experience? PR and Interactive (digital). Here's a quote from the afore mentioned AdWeek article by Brandon Berger titled "Leading with Digital"(May 7, 2008).
When you lead with digital, "How will the consumer interact with my brand?" is always the first question. The key word there is interact. The problem comes first, then the audience, then the solution. You don't go into the brief with an expectation of what you want to create; you go into the brief with an expectation that a solution will manifest itself in the best and most efficient way possible for the target audience. This means that the solution might not necessarily be media, but it could be a product, a Web site, a video game, a banner or even a print ad.
Beautiful site by Audi
Audi has a microsite for it's new Audi RS 6. It's quite beautiful. Not only the site with it's array of videos, animation and audio production, but the entire campaign. The site offers specs on the car (the videos are well done, of course), but also a look into their entire campaign. Granted, I may be more interested than many, simply due to my passion for really great advertising, but they did an exceptional job in the concept and execution of this campaign. The site offers their TV commercial (check it out below), the making of the commercial, and wallpaper. I also found it interesting that they're entering the "social sharing" segment by allowing users to "Send, Share and Bookmark" their content.
Here's the commercial. The concept is the power and preciseness of the dancers mimicking the engine of the new Audi. I appreciate that they are not showing a car driving down a winding road overlooking a cliff like everyone else.
Interactive Buzz - May 2 '08
Today's fact: It's the 2nd of May and it's still cold in Minneapolis, MN (47˚F) Did I fall asleep, miss summer, just wake up and it's really November?
WORD OF THE WEEK - "Del.icio.us"
A social bookmarking website. Instead of bookmarking your favorite sites using Internet Explorer or Firefox, bookmark them to a web-based site. It will keep all your bookmarks in one spot so you can access them from any location. It will also allow you to bookmark things not only for yourself, but your friends as well as give you the ability to see what others are bookmarking.
I defined this a couple weeks ago, but I'm going to do so again:
BRANDED UTILITY: Brands being genuinely useful to their customers, employees, suppliers, and to the people they touch.
A Really Good Example of Branded Utility: Nike+ Coach
This site is the prime example of Nike being useful in the lives of their consumers. This tool allows users to track their runs (or even just walks) on a daily basis. They define the site as "train individually or as part of a team, with existing training programs or by creating your own." You can set goals, use maps, see a gallery of others challenges and join them if you'd like, see and be a part of a community that shows events, distances and world runs. You can leave motivational messages for friends or teammates. If someone leaves a message on a future training run, you've got to complete the run to unlock the 'support message'. You can also download music that will help you run and a podcast of a "running coach" that assists you along the way. One small link amidst the entire site will bring users to Nike Gear. The rest of the site does no blatant selling.
Here's a quote from Nike and how they're changing their advertising mentality.
Welcome Back Spring (except here in Minnesota, bah humbug)
This is a nice little microsite from Lowes. While it took what felt like 3 hours to load, it's a lovely little site with nice use of video/animation and fun (if you're bored) functionality. The site allows you to visit your neighbors, and build your own yard, using products from none other that Lowes. Plant your shrubs, trim them with the hedge trimmer, add a fountain, firepit and even a disturbing little leap frog statue to your yard. Listen to the birds chirping and settle into your new virtual backyard. Again, Lowes, it's a nice site but work on your load time. Do you seriously think I have all day? Maybe because I'm just short and cranky because it's cold.
WORD OF THE WEEK - "Del.icio.us"
A social bookmarking website. Instead of bookmarking your favorite sites using Internet Explorer or Firefox, bookmark them to a web-based site. It will keep all your bookmarks in one spot so you can access them from any location. It will also allow you to bookmark things not only for yourself, but your friends as well as give you the ability to see what others are bookmarking.
I defined this a couple weeks ago, but I'm going to do so again:
BRANDED UTILITY: Brands being genuinely useful to their customers, employees, suppliers, and to the people they touch.
A Really Good Example of Branded Utility: Nike+ Coach
This site is the prime example of Nike being useful in the lives of their consumers. This tool allows users to track their runs (or even just walks) on a daily basis. They define the site as "train individually or as part of a team, with existing training programs or by creating your own." You can set goals, use maps, see a gallery of others challenges and join them if you'd like, see and be a part of a community that shows events, distances and world runs. You can leave motivational messages for friends or teammates. If someone leaves a message on a future training run, you've got to complete the run to unlock the 'support message'. You can also download music that will help you run and a podcast of a "running coach" that assists you along the way. One small link amidst the entire site will bring users to Nike Gear. The rest of the site does no blatant selling.
Here's a quote from Nike and how they're changing their advertising mentality.
“Last year, Nike spent $220 million of its $678 million United States advertising budget on traditional media (down 55% over ten years), while its nonmedia ad spending increased to a record $457 million. Behind this shift is a fundamental change in Nike’s view of the role of advertising. No longer are ads primarily meant to grab a person’s attention while they’re trying to do something else – like reading an article. ‘We want to find a way to enhance the experience and services, rather than looking for a way to interrupt people. How can we provide a service that makes the consumer go, wow, you really made this easier for me?’ Nike executives say that much of the company’s future advertising spend will take the form of services for consumers – like workout advice, online communities and local sports competitions. Nike portrays the shift in strategy as a return to the company’s roots in the 1970s, when, in the words of an early magazine ad, Nike grew through ‘word-of-foot marketing’. ‘We’re not in the business of keeping media companies alive,’ says Nike Global Branding VP, Trevor Edwards. ‘We’re in the business of connecting with consumers.’” (Steve Saenz, The New York Times)
Welcome Back Spring (except here in Minnesota, bah humbug)
This is a nice little microsite from Lowes. While it took what felt like 3 hours to load, it's a lovely little site with nice use of video/animation and fun (if you're bored) functionality. The site allows you to visit your neighbors, and build your own yard, using products from none other that Lowes. Plant your shrubs, trim them with the hedge trimmer, add a fountain, firepit and even a disturbing little leap frog statue to your yard. Listen to the birds chirping and settle into your new virtual backyard. Again, Lowes, it's a nice site but work on your load time. Do you seriously think I have all day? Maybe because I'm just short and cranky because it's cold.
Interactive Buzz - April 25 '08
Word of the Week: Permalink
A permalink is a permanent link to a particular blog posting. Since blogs are organic and grow and grow and grow with multiple postings on a page, a permalink will bring you specificallly to one posting.
Video enhances an experience
This is my favorite site this week...actually, maybe one of the best sites I've seen in a long time. Houlihans is a restaurant with multiple US locations. I really (!!!) enjoy their use of video on the home page. Restaurant websites have 3 primary purposes: 1) What do you have to eat? 2) Give me a sense of the environment 3) How can I find/call you? Houlihans succeeds with an engaging home page video that has life and personality. It shows everything from the artistic details in food prep, a pan or two of the space and a group of girls out for "girls night". The video is not only well produced, but I really enjoy the "through the screen" effect they've applied vs. a simple straight-up video, which, granted, they likely did for pure navigation readability, but it's so well done.
I also really like the content. As the home page loads it says 2 different things to entertain you...1) "Oh look, now you're the waiter" and 2) "Websites are measured in bites. Ahh, the irony". How great is that?
And last but not least, they not only delivered concept, execution and all-out experience on the home page, but they had some fantastic follow-through. The brand voice lives throughout every single stinkin' page. It's awesome. One of the best content-designed sites I've ever seen. Go ahead, surf through and you'll know what I mean. The content is easy, engaging and fun to read. At least fun for a designer who appreciates good creative, copy and food. They've also built in a couple of "engagement areas", like "Coaster Creator", in which your witty coaster message may be chosen to be used in restaurants nationwide.
I've never been to Houlihan's, but I'm going soon. Hopefully their food and service is 1/2 as good as their website.
And more video
This site loads with a video, and it's well executed, as only something from Kermit the Frog would be! The video alone made me stay on the home page longer than I would have on other sites. And while the video played, I looked around at other options I had. Plus, Kermit's impressions are too fun not to watch. Who doesn't want to see Kermit's impression of a screen saver, n' Pac man, n' ahhh, it's endless. If you stay around long enough the "I'm upgrading to iKermit" made me laugh. hahaha. I love the mumpits. Well done Kermit.
A permalink is a permanent link to a particular blog posting. Since blogs are organic and grow and grow and grow with multiple postings on a page, a permalink will bring you specificallly to one posting.
Video enhances an experience
This is my favorite site this week...actually, maybe one of the best sites I've seen in a long time. Houlihans is a restaurant with multiple US locations. I really (!!!) enjoy their use of video on the home page. Restaurant websites have 3 primary purposes: 1) What do you have to eat? 2) Give me a sense of the environment 3) How can I find/call you? Houlihans succeeds with an engaging home page video that has life and personality. It shows everything from the artistic details in food prep, a pan or two of the space and a group of girls out for "girls night". The video is not only well produced, but I really enjoy the "through the screen" effect they've applied vs. a simple straight-up video, which, granted, they likely did for pure navigation readability, but it's so well done.
I also really like the content. As the home page loads it says 2 different things to entertain you...1) "Oh look, now you're the waiter" and 2) "Websites are measured in bites. Ahh, the irony". How great is that?
And last but not least, they not only delivered concept, execution and all-out experience on the home page, but they had some fantastic follow-through. The brand voice lives throughout every single stinkin' page. It's awesome. One of the best content-designed sites I've ever seen. Go ahead, surf through and you'll know what I mean. The content is easy, engaging and fun to read. At least fun for a designer who appreciates good creative, copy and food. They've also built in a couple of "engagement areas", like "Coaster Creator", in which your witty coaster message may be chosen to be used in restaurants nationwide.
I've never been to Houlihan's, but I'm going soon. Hopefully their food and service is 1/2 as good as their website.
And more video
This site loads with a video, and it's well executed, as only something from Kermit the Frog would be! The video alone made me stay on the home page longer than I would have on other sites. And while the video played, I looked around at other options I had. Plus, Kermit's impressions are too fun not to watch. Who doesn't want to see Kermit's impression of a screen saver, n' Pac man, n' ahhh, it's endless. If you stay around long enough the "I'm upgrading to iKermit" made me laugh. hahaha. I love the mumpits. Well done Kermit.
Interactive Buzz - April 16 '08
Super short and late (by only a few days!) posting. Sorry about that. Enjoy anyway.
TWITTERING as a Marketing Tool
So I’ve been infatuated by Zappos lately (as Darcy is well aware!). (Zappos is an the #1 online-only shoe retailer). Surprisingly, not because of the shoes. I read an article about how Zappos is using Twitter ( A microblogging tool) successfully to market their brand. Not many companies are doing this so I signed up to follow Zappos Twitter feeds. Turns out the CEO of Zappos is who is Twittering (31 year old Tony Hsieh), which is even more intriguing. Who doesn’t want to know what the CEO of a very successful company does every couple hours of his day. (For those of you who say "not me, what a waste of time," I'd likely guess watches no form of reality TV. The benefit to this is I'm following a really smart entrepreneur and new-age marketer. Maybe I'll learn something.)
He twitters about his wait at the airport, his martini at dinner, his family, the speech he's giving, who he's having dinner with, etc... And of course – throws in a percentage of “marketing pushes” back to his site. But he doesn’t over push. That's the key. He’s a smart guy I’ve discovered. (Like the fact that he took a $500,000 company to a $600+ million company in a few short years doesn’t already qualify him for that.) He’s giving away shoes and trips and other such things to his twitter followers. He’s asking for feedback on his next venture – Zeta (Zappos on steriods). He’s building a ‘face’ and a ‘personality’ to a brand that is faceless – since it’s online only.
I can honestly say that last week if you asked me "what's the first thing that comes to your mind when I say 'shoes'", it wasn't Zappos. This week, that has changed. This week, I’m a fascinated voyeur wondering what the Zappos guy is doing today. Oh, you’re giving a speech...and there is a sale on shoes so I should go visit your site? Ok.
TWITTERING as a Marketing Tool
So I’ve been infatuated by Zappos lately (as Darcy is well aware!). (Zappos is an the #1 online-only shoe retailer). Surprisingly, not because of the shoes. I read an article about how Zappos is using Twitter ( A microblogging tool) successfully to market their brand. Not many companies are doing this so I signed up to follow Zappos Twitter feeds. Turns out the CEO of Zappos is who is Twittering (31 year old Tony Hsieh), which is even more intriguing. Who doesn’t want to know what the CEO of a very successful company does every couple hours of his day. (For those of you who say "not me, what a waste of time," I'd likely guess watches no form of reality TV. The benefit to this is I'm following a really smart entrepreneur and new-age marketer. Maybe I'll learn something.)
He twitters about his wait at the airport, his martini at dinner, his family, the speech he's giving, who he's having dinner with, etc... And of course – throws in a percentage of “marketing pushes” back to his site. But he doesn’t over push. That's the key. He’s a smart guy I’ve discovered. (Like the fact that he took a $500,000 company to a $600+ million company in a few short years doesn’t already qualify him for that.) He’s giving away shoes and trips and other such things to his twitter followers. He’s asking for feedback on his next venture – Zeta (Zappos on steriods). He’s building a ‘face’ and a ‘personality’ to a brand that is faceless – since it’s online only.
I can honestly say that last week if you asked me "what's the first thing that comes to your mind when I say 'shoes'", it wasn't Zappos. This week, that has changed. This week, I’m a fascinated voyeur wondering what the Zappos guy is doing today. Oh, you’re giving a speech...and there is a sale on shoes so I should go visit your site? Ok.
Interactive Buzz - April 11 '08
WORD OF THE WEEK - "Digg"
I've seen this little icon on the bottom of many sites. Or even the term to "Digg" an article, blog posting, video, etc. So what does "Digg"ing it mean? Digg (according to Wikipedia) is a community-based news article popularity website. It combines social bookmarking, blogging and syndication with a form of non-hierarchical, democratic editorial control. News stories and websites are submitted by users, and then promoted to the front page through a user-based ranking system.
-------------------
The internet is like Paul Harvey
I'm assuming most of you are familiar with the syndicated radio broadcaster - Paul Harvey and his famous quote "And now for the rest of the story..." Pay attention to traditional media and just how many campaigns tell you to visit "www...." for more. During the Superbowl, while I didn't count, I bet that at least half of the commercials asked to you visit their URL for more.
Good execution:
I was watching TV last night and UPS's "Whiteboard" campaign commercial was on. It had a guy drawing on a whiteboard, illustrating just one way in which UPS can help your business. Then, "to find out more, visit www.ups.com/whiteboard". This is one of the best "completing the story" executions I've seen in a long time. This "microsite" is an in-depth web of videos, animated shorts, copy and illustrations that allow users to interact, pick their problem, snoop around and find a solution that's relevant to them. They bring the brand elements through by using the "TV Illustrator" guy at the intro and followed through with the 'illustrative' style they introduced on TV. This site is a great example of taking the brand to the next step and allowing people to engage further.
Bad execution:
Another example of one that is not as well done is for the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. I've been seeing the TV commercials that tell a story about a family and their premature babies, then it drives you online to find out more. I couldn't remember the URL, so I just went to www.childrensmn.org and "Great!" there was a banner at the top of the page that has the graphic I saw on tv and the copy that says "Born 3 months early..." I'm hoping for more details on that story, maybe an update on their life...link to their progress blog...anything. However, when I got there, I was disappointed. I couldn't figure out how to "continue the story". So I left.
The moral of the story is - if you're going to ask people to go out of their way to get more online - deliver something worthwhile. The last thing you want to do is disappoint someone before they even buy your product or service.
-----------------------------------------
Unique Navigation System
This is a pretty cool site - Sparks - as long as you're willing to just "play" with it an are not actually coming here to complete a task or look for specific information. While this site HAS a lot of good, useful information, it requires you to go on a bit of a journey to find it. It's an entire wall with scribbles and art and furniture and wall hangings. You navigate by moving around the wall. If you scroll all the way to the bottom you can see the "sitemap" of the entire wall to get an appreciation for the whole thing. Again - fun design, executed well, but not really task-based functionality.
-----------------
Great Quote:
This quote has nothing to do with interactive or websites - but it does have to do with the presentation of information. And I just thought it was worth sharing:
"One of the things I learned about in the formative stages of my career was public speaking. I learned by watching lots of presentations, and one thing I figured out early on is that most CFO-level speakers — particularly CEOs, particularly male CEOs—really suck as speakers. They're boring; they're long; they wander around. I saw speech after speech, and I discovered that if there's anything worse than a speaker who sucks, it's a speaker who sucks and you have no idea how much longer he or she is going to suck. That's a horrible feeling.
To prevent you from getting that feeling, I've developed a Top 10 format. All of my speeches are in Top 10 format, because if you think I suck, I at least want you to be able to track my progress through the speech so that you know approximately know how much longer I'm going to suck."
— Guy Kawasaki
Interactive Buzz - April 4 '08
Word of the Week - Twitter
So, do you Twitter? I don't Twitter but I'm beginning to feel just a wee-bit of peer pressure to start. Friends of mine at a competing agency seem to Twitter on a regular basis. Wellllllll, if they're Twittering, I certainly should be, right? Even if I don't become a regular Twitterer, I should at least have an account and become "one" with Twittering. So, what the heck is Twittering? Basically, it's simple. It's just "Microblogging". Or like they explain on their site "Twitter is a service for friends, family and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" (NOTE: Twitter is actually a "brand" of the microblogging category. It just happens to be the most well known, so we're making a brand into a verb for the sake of this post.) Blogging is for deep, insightful thoughts, opinions or sharing of ones life. Microblogging is for posting short thoughts, musings and ponderings. You're limited to 140 characters per posting. So, why the $@%# would you want to Twitter or read other people's Twitters? See the video reference I've noted below.
Great Online Video Execution
From the same site mentioned above - this is one of the most clever video executions I've seen in a really long time. Go to Twitter.com and click on WATCH THE VIDEO. It's simple, quick and entertaining. Add that to the fact that it is useful and has some pretty solid content. After watching it, I actually understand the purpose behind Twittering.
3M enters the "Make your own video" craze
(Sigh) As if it hasn't been done 1-million and two times already, 3M has entered the craze of "create a video about our product, share it, you could win!" They have a Microsite about the promotion, banner ads to drive you here, and a networking area for video uploads/views on YouTube that they pre-populated with self-created videos. Today (4/3/08) is actually their "YouTube buyout" day. This means that their video is placed on the home page of YouTube for the entire day in hopes of folks noticing it. I honestly couldn't make it through 1 version of a consumer-created video. I tried watching 8 different ones and...It was just too painful to watch. I don't think there were more than 8 posted total so far and I'm not sure how many of them were "3M" lobbied videos and how many were organic uploads. Maybe none if they're just kicking off the campaign. I'll watch this for a couple weeks and see how many total views they get.
So, do you Twitter? I don't Twitter but I'm beginning to feel just a wee-bit of peer pressure to start. Friends of mine at a competing agency seem to Twitter on a regular basis. Wellllllll, if they're Twittering, I certainly should be, right? Even if I don't become a regular Twitterer, I should at least have an account and become "one" with Twittering. So, what the heck is Twittering? Basically, it's simple. It's just "Microblogging". Or like they explain on their site "Twitter is a service for friends, family and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" (NOTE: Twitter is actually a "brand" of the microblogging category. It just happens to be the most well known, so we're making a brand into a verb for the sake of this post.) Blogging is for deep, insightful thoughts, opinions or sharing of ones life. Microblogging is for posting short thoughts, musings and ponderings. You're limited to 140 characters per posting. So, why the $@%# would you want to Twitter or read other people's Twitters? See the video reference I've noted below.
Great Online Video Execution
From the same site mentioned above - this is one of the most clever video executions I've seen in a really long time. Go to Twitter.com and click on WATCH THE VIDEO. It's simple, quick and entertaining. Add that to the fact that it is useful and has some pretty solid content. After watching it, I actually understand the purpose behind Twittering.
3M enters the "Make your own video" craze
(Sigh) As if it hasn't been done 1-million and two times already, 3M has entered the craze of "create a video about our product, share it, you could win!" They have a Microsite about the promotion, banner ads to drive you here, and a networking area for video uploads/views on YouTube that they pre-populated with self-created videos. Today (4/3/08) is actually their "YouTube buyout" day. This means that their video is placed on the home page of YouTube for the entire day in hopes of folks noticing it. I honestly couldn't make it through 1 version of a consumer-created video. I tried watching 8 different ones and...It was just too painful to watch. I don't think there were more than 8 posted total so far and I'm not sure how many of them were "3M" lobbied videos and how many were organic uploads. Maybe none if they're just kicking off the campaign. I'll watch this for a couple weeks and see how many total views they get.
Interactive Buzz - March 28 '08
A NEW FEATURE:
I'm going to start something new called "WORD OF THE WEEK". I'm going to pick a random "online-related" word and simply define it. If there are examples, I'll include some. There is new "web lingo" created by the minute, it seems, so in an effort to educate the masses enough to say "Oh, yea, I've heard of that", I'll try and define some of them...until I run out, that is :)
WORD(s) OF THE WEEK : Branded Utility
I've seen this phrase creep up in a lot of the blogs I've read. So what does it mean? Simple: Brands being genuinely useful to their customers, employees, suppliers and the people they touch. Creating an online tool, application, system, etc...that will truly be useful to their customers (and that contain advertising within it). The goal of this is to help the brand ingrain within someone's life; having a tool that helps them and makes their life better.
Here's an example, the "Price Checker" tool within Tesco's website (I'm guessing it's a grocery store). It allows you to type in the name of a product and it'll give you the costs at Tesco + competitive stores.
Another is the AccuWeather widget that lives on my desktop and tells me the current temp. outside and the 5-day forecast.
Moma Exhibit - An Elastic Mind
I'm going to just place someone else's blog posting (Thanks Space 150). It describes this exhibit and website. It's a pretty crazy website and the information design throughout is fascinating. Not necessarily always functional, but certainly fascinating. Including the "Search" function/results. Since this is about "art" and not selling a product, they are able to take some liberty in their usability.
by: Todd Lintner, Space 150
I'm going to start something new called "WORD OF THE WEEK". I'm going to pick a random "online-related" word and simply define it. If there are examples, I'll include some. There is new "web lingo" created by the minute, it seems, so in an effort to educate the masses enough to say "Oh, yea, I've heard of that", I'll try and define some of them...until I run out, that is :)
WORD(s) OF THE WEEK : Branded Utility
I've seen this phrase creep up in a lot of the blogs I've read. So what does it mean? Simple: Brands being genuinely useful to their customers, employees, suppliers and the people they touch. Creating an online tool, application, system, etc...that will truly be useful to their customers (and that contain advertising within it). The goal of this is to help the brand ingrain within someone's life; having a tool that helps them and makes their life better.
Here's an example, the "Price Checker" tool within Tesco's website (I'm guessing it's a grocery store). It allows you to type in the name of a product and it'll give you the costs at Tesco + competitive stores.
Another is the AccuWeather widget that lives on my desktop and tells me the current temp. outside and the 5-day forecast.
Moma Exhibit - An Elastic MindI'm going to just place someone else's blog posting (Thanks Space 150). It describes this exhibit and website. It's a pretty crazy website and the information design throughout is fascinating. Not necessarily always functional, but certainly fascinating. Including the "Search" function/results. Since this is about "art" and not selling a product, they are able to take some liberty in their usability.
by: Todd Lintner, Space 150
The elastic element of the title denotes the flexibility of the modern mind necessary to process large amounts of information, while the design aspect acknowledges the role that it plays in our creation and incorporation of new ideas and practices. In the spirit of the show, there is even more innovation to be found on the accompanying website, with 50 pieces that are not included in the physical installation. It’s a massive, mind-boggling site; to help focus matters, we’ve included links to some of Shawn’s favorites.
Design helps us process and synthesize the information overload. The show has been assembled to approach this challenge from many different angles, mixing the pragmatic with the provocative. Architecture and Justice exposes the relationship between U.S. incarceration rates and neighborhoods. It strikingly visualizes the phenomenon of “million dollar blocks” – residents of one city block can cost states $1 million yearly in jail expenses. Although disturbing in its implication, the work also inspires the possibility of reform.
This idea of data visualization carries over into Aaron Koblin’s Flight Patterns. Combining art, science, and statistics, the work uses FAA data to construct animated flight paths that reflect the actual movement of planes across North American airspace. It dynamically demonstrates actual traffic while also showing a high-level perspective of the network’s structure.
There is also work on display that uses tech for less serious purposes. Philip Worthington’s Shadow Monsters updates the traditional pastime of shadow puppets by using custom-designed vision-recognition software. By using a modest toolset – computer, camera, projector, and light box – hand gestures become living, software-enhanced entities. In this set-up, the hand that imitates a canine’s profile actually turns into a growling, fanged wolf.
-------------
Starbucks and their new Social Networking site
Everyone is aware of Starbucks attempt at a new start (or almost everyone). And everyone is aware that Starbucks success revolved around the social aspect of the coffee craze. Well, Starbucks has created a social network (or "online community" - call it what you will) around this promise of a refreshed Starbucks experience. Share your ideas of an improved Starbucks experience, vote on others, discuss things and see changes that have been implemented. I applaud the interface designers. It's a simple design, great navigation structure, has nice detailed elements and makes the whole process seem like it's easy-breezy, if not even downright fun. And they carried this quality design throughout the entire site. Nice job, Starbucks. If I wasn't such a Caribou fan, I'd sign in and give you my thoughts! (Thanks for this link, Kim!)
Interactive Buzz - March 21 '08
The most innoative navigation I've seen to date...Publicis & Hal Riney
OK, the UBER cool part of this isn't going to work for most people, so I'll just share my experience. Users can choose to navigate by their "camera" or by "mouse". I happen to have a Mac that has an iSight camera built into the top of the monitor, so I chose "camera". By moving my head left or right, up or down I can navigate their entire site. Granted, it's not super fast, but because it's so cool, I don't care. Just being able to navigate by moving my head alone is fascinating! The fact that the fluid navigation looks a little like blood in water is a little odd, but whatever. Functionality is very innovative!
Cheetos Attempt at a Social Network
Interesting strategy... "lets set up a social network around Cheetos" because c'mon, who doesn't want to blog about their Cheetos, right?. Here's their site: Orange Underground. I'd love to see the objectives and results of this project. I'd also like to see their "awareness comm plan". I found the add on FACEBOOK (good placement), but I haven't seen it anywhere else. And I actually really like Cheetos...no, seriously. It appears to be Cheetos blatent attempt at creating a social network around there product. They created RAOC - Random Acts of Cheetos. You can download a PDF showing RAOCs (why a PDF? C'mon Frito!) and join their YouTube Network to upload your own RAOC videos (really?) But it's also just a distribution ground for a bunch of videos they've produced about their ideas for RAOCs. I'm not sure how many people have uploaded their own videos, but so far... here are some "Viewer counts" on their videos... 48,485, 27,300, 37,630, 9,765 So, whether they're selling more Cheetos or not, I'm not sure... but they're certainly getting their brand out there.
Great Rich Media Banner AdThis is a great rich meda banner ad from AAA Auto Insurance. It's quite simple, but it gets the point accross, requires a little interaction that is relevant to their message.
Interactive Buzz - March 14 '08
Fun & creative way to announce a new product feature!
Heard of Verisign? VeriSign, Inc. is the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the digital world. So that's the technical definition for - they make sure online shopping carts are secure. They came up with this clever (can you tell I liked it?) microsite to sell a special new feature. The site is called: No More Abandoned Carts. The took the fact that people shopping online "abandon their carts" for fear of security and twisted it to a literal execution of "abandoned shopping carts". They ask for you to send your photos of abandoned shopping carts around the world... and you'll get a chance to win a gift card to Overstock (for online shopping, of course). This builds a level of "social interaction" by asking people to engage and share. They took the approach of having a 3rd party "owner" of this site, "Liberty, the Cart Whisperer" - so it didn't feel so "corporate marketing", and they added some fun features, like "poems" and "downloads". "Liberty" also has a Facebook and MySpace presence. Why not, right? My summary...this solution is a clever and engaging way to let the world know "we have even more security than ever", as opposed to just simply stating that on their site and asking people to go there and care.
Fred and Sharon Movies
I'm including this only because it made me laugh. That's all.
Rich Media Banner Ad
Rich Media banner ads. Relatively new in our market - but rather effective when they come to garnering attention or getting users to "interact" with your online advertising. They can take many, many shapes and forms. Just some of the things you can do with rich media banner ads: 1) a mini website within an ad 2) it can expand out and pull live data from your site 3) You can allow a user to watch a video within your ad 3) They can interact by doing things like "playing a game" or "rearrange your room" from within the ad 4) An image can overtake the page for a second or two. If you want to look at some examples of Rich Media ads... check out PointRoll's site for some of their examples.
ALSO...Check out the rich media banner ad we did for AdFarm on AgriMarketing.com. It loads in the header of the page and is on a random reload. You'll likely need to "refresh" your page until you see it. As a simple "expander ad" it's pretty basic in the world of "rich media", but it's pretty cool anyway. Check it out.
Below are some metrics results supplied by PointRoll. They're showing the average "interaction rates" with rich media ads, by industry. "Interaction" means anytime a user expands an ad by rolling a mouse over it. Click on the image to view larger.
Interactive Buzz - March 7 '08
Guest Blogger - Alissa Pesta - Discusses the differences in the Presidential candidates websites... Thanks Alissa!
Barack Obama
Barack has a design style that is very soft, clean and glowing. Very fitting to his non-aggressive personality and approach.
Last month the main message on his homepage was: “Be part of the 1 million people to own this campaign.” This tactic obviously worked. Obama set a fundraising goal of $55 million in just one month which is a record for any presidential campaign.
“...Democrats' dominance of Internet fundraising could allow them to out-raise Republicans for years.” read full story in the LA Times < http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-money7mar07,0,5499350.story >
This is how powerful interactive can be. He has turned HIS personal goal into MY goal. He makes being a part of this campaign easy through his MySpace-like dashboard. I can chat with other Obama followers, I am supplied tools of how to set-up an event with reminders sent to me along the way to send a thank you to this contributor or send a follow-up to those who have not responded. Every time I send emails, update my Obama blog, plan an event – I get points. Currently, I am in 209,614th place. I’m not really sure what the prize for first is...perhaps a free keychain?
Hillary Clinton
Hillary’s site is not as involved as Obama’s. You can “Build their Base” and “Help Raise Money” which only allow me to input email addresses and send a canned newsletter. Her biggest call to action (besides contributing) is to make phone calls where she supplies a script and a page for you to enter your call activity. There are no reminders and it doesn’t really hold my hand through the campaigning process like Obama’s. However, Hillary is all about video and has mastered the micro-site where she can target specific audiences.
The Hillary I Know
Video after video of testimonials. You can share your story by uploading your own video. Gives the warm fuzzy feeling that Hillary has touched many lives...most of them which are her friends.
Hillblazers
Hillary invites youth to support her on Facebook, answers questions on YouTube, gives a play-by-play using Twitter
Her Microsites:
HillaryHub (Heavily Hillary branded)
The main visual is something anti-Obama. Includes a listing of news articles, blog entries and video posts about Hillary. It contains mostly headlines with little visuals.
The Fact Hub (Less Hillary branded)
This looks different then the Hillary Hub, but the content seems to be the same but more focused on video and visuals then plain text headlines.
The Delegate Hub: “Facts and Myths about the Race for Delegates in the Democratic Nomination.”(Not Hillary branded)
Facts and myths given from the side of the Clinton campaign...without you really thinking it’s from Clinton.
Attack Timeline “Obama on the Attack” (I find this pretty funny)
Hillary’s tattle-tail website where she stinks out Obama on EVERY statement and defends herself where she can. She utilizes Flash technology to quickly skim through a day-by-day timeline.
John McCain
Again, the website matches the personality. I see McCain as more aggressive with a tough-guy attitude. The use of black and dark blues and hard edges all relate this same, very masculine feeling. For as much content as they have decided to place on the homepage, it is organized into well defined areas. A nice use of Flash draws my eye to the “Supporter Spotlight.”
I give a thumbs down to McCain’s campaign action center. I put in my request to have my own McCainSpace website, but it took a day or two to get confirmed and then it didn’t even work. My other options at this point are to sign-up for the e-newsletter or download a wallpaper. I can take other directions like how to volunteer, but I’m already too bored and disappointed to care.
Mike Huckabee
Although Huckabee’s site is “fine” it lacks the stature of the other candidate sties. I was able to find his stance on issues easily, but I was disappointed in becoming a “Huckabee Ranger.” I am only directed to send a e-newsletter to my friends. I now have the option to login to “MyHuckabee” and I don’t know what the difference is. I am very confused at this point and I don’t even get a Ranger badge. He does include a website widget to include on your blog. I don’t think adding a widget on my blog–that only my family will read–is going to create the amount of energy and action like Obama’s site.
Barack Obama
Barack has a design style that is very soft, clean and glowing. Very fitting to his non-aggressive personality and approach.
Last month the main message on his homepage was: “Be part of the 1 million people to own this campaign.” This tactic obviously worked. Obama set a fundraising goal of $55 million in just one month which is a record for any presidential campaign.
“...Democrats' dominance of Internet fundraising could allow them to out-raise Republicans for years.” read full story in the LA Times < http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-money7mar07,0,5499350.story >
This is how powerful interactive can be. He has turned HIS personal goal into MY goal. He makes being a part of this campaign easy through his MySpace-like dashboard. I can chat with other Obama followers, I am supplied tools of how to set-up an event with reminders sent to me along the way to send a thank you to this contributor or send a follow-up to those who have not responded. Every time I send emails, update my Obama blog, plan an event – I get points. Currently, I am in 209,614th place. I’m not really sure what the prize for first is...perhaps a free keychain?
Hillary Clinton
Hillary’s site is not as involved as Obama’s. You can “Build their Base” and “Help Raise Money” which only allow me to input email addresses and send a canned newsletter. Her biggest call to action (besides contributing) is to make phone calls where she supplies a script and a page for you to enter your call activity. There are no reminders and it doesn’t really hold my hand through the campaigning process like Obama’s. However, Hillary is all about video and has mastered the micro-site where she can target specific audiences.
The Hillary I Know
Video after video of testimonials. You can share your story by uploading your own video. Gives the warm fuzzy feeling that Hillary has touched many lives...most of them which are her friends.
Hillblazers
Hillary invites youth to support her on Facebook, answers questions on YouTube, gives a play-by-play
Her Microsites:
HillaryHub (Heavily Hillary branded)
The main visual is something anti-Obama. Includes a listing of news articles, blog entries and video posts about Hillary. It contains mostly headlines with little visuals.
The Fact Hub (Less Hillary branded)
This looks different then the Hillary Hub, but the content seems to be the same but more focused on video and visuals then plain text headlines.
The Delegate Hub: “Facts and Myths about the Race for Delegates in the Democratic Nomination.”(Not Hillary branded)
Facts and myths given from the side of the Clinton campaign...without you really thinking it’s from Clinton.
Attack Timeline “Obama on the Attack” (I find this pretty funny)
Hillary’s tattle-tail website where she stinks out Obama on EVERY statement and defends herself where she can. She utilizes Flash technology to quickly skim through a day-by-day timeline.
John McCain
Again, the website matches the personality. I see McCain as more aggressive with a tough-guy attitude. The use of black and dark blues and hard edges all relate this same, very masculine feeling. For as much content as they have decided to place on the homepage, it is organized into well defined areas. A nice use of Flash draws my eye to the “Supporter Spotlight.”
I give a thumbs down to McCain’s campaign action center. I put in my request to have my own McCainSpace website, but it took a day or two to get confirmed and then it didn’t even work. My other options at this point are to sign-up for the e-newsletter or download a wallpaper. I can take other directions like how to volunteer, but I’m already too bored and disappointed to care.
Mike Huckabee
Although Huckabee’s site is “fine” it lacks the stature of the other candidate sties. I was able to find his stance on issues easily, but I was disappointed in becoming a “Huckabee Ranger.” I am only directed to send a e-newsletter to my friends. I now have the option to login to “MyHuckabee” and I don’t know what the difference is. I am very confused at this point and I don’t even get a Ranger badge. He does include a website widget to include on your blog. I don’t think adding a widget on my blog–that only my family will read–is going to create the amount of energy and action like Obama’s site.
Interactive Buzz - Feb 29 '08
Quarterlife
+ 6 million streams to date
+ $0 in advertising
+ Viral phenomenon
The first internet show to be picked up by network TV (NBC, premiers Feb 26th, then airs Sunday nights at 8pmCST). This is really a fascinating creation...the way it started and its evolution. The site is part real, part not. A real social networking site about characters who use social networking. The line between watching entertainment and being smack-dab in the middle of entertainment is certainly blurred.
Adobe Launches Microsite
Adobe has launched "Adobe Cards" as a microsite to announce Creative Suite 3. There are no words - its simply to entertain designers. It's got some pretty crazy animation/Flash stuff going on.
Great Type Treatment
This is a pretty cool type treatment - in a video/animated format. Below is a quote from the blog entry.
(CONTENT NOTE: The voice-over content in the video may be considered offensive. It is from a movie that was rated R. Consider this your warning.)
"I find this interesting on more than just a visual level…as a typographic study it is outstanding. The words will change into graphics, jump from one side to the other, offering the viewer a “feel” for the story rather than just reading."
+ 6 million streams to date
+ $0 in advertising
+ Viral phenomenon
The first internet show to be picked up by network TV (NBC, premiers Feb 26th, then airs Sunday nights at 8pmCST). This is really a fascinating creation...the way it started and its evolution. The site is part real, part not. A real social networking site about characters who use social networking. The line between watching entertainment and being smack-dab in the middle of entertainment is certainly blurred.
Adobe Launches Microsite
Adobe has launched "Adobe Cards" as a microsite to announce Creative Suite 3. There are no words - its simply to entertain designers. It's got some pretty crazy animation/Flash stuff going on.
Great Type Treatment
This is a pretty cool type treatment - in a video/animated format. Below is a quote from the blog entry.
(CONTENT NOTE: The voice-over content in the video may be considered offensive. It is from a movie that was rated R. Consider this your warning.)
"I find this interesting on more than just a visual level…as a typographic study it is outstanding. The words will change into graphics, jump from one side to the other, offering the viewer a “feel” for the story rather than just reading."
Interactive Buzz - Feb 22 '08
Nice Site
Product Name: Elephant Beer
Tagline: "Probably the best beer in the world" (I love that tagline, by the way)
The Website: http://www.carlsberg.com This is a fun little site...well designed and entertaining. Elephant Beer allows users to find out about an Elephant Man...and allows you to take your picture with "Elephant Man Ears"..then, of course, send it to your friends. I uploaded one of Glenn - mostly because his picture was the most accessible. Just a simple little feature that will help users 'engage' with the brand, versus just reading about it.
Beautiful Information Design
The Red Cross (9/11 Legacy) did a beautiful job of sharing a lot of information - from the strong, well done videos to the timeline...graphs...copy...navigation and overall beautiful white space.
Inspiration for Web Designers
Below are a few links where I go for web design, features, functionality and online marketing inspiration:
http://www.designlicks.com/flash/index.php
http://www.coolhomepages.com
http://www.thefwa.com/
http://www.commarts.com/interactive
Interactive Buzz - Feb 15 '08
Consumer Generated TV
Current.com. Heard of it? I hadn't until today (and my cable provider doesn't provide it (Direct TV, Comcast, Dish, AT&T, Time do, however).) It's consumer generated tv programs, news, ads, etc... completely created and uploaded (to Current.com) by users. I guess there are users who continuously upload weekly programs, news feeds, etc. It's fascinating, really. You can watch it on TV, or watch the broadcasts live on the web (of course!). You can comment and see related videos. You can send all the shows/videos to your friends and/or embed them in your site/blog (just like YouTube).
You can view by topics (Currently popular, Most popular, Recently on TV), by People, by Viewpoints (online only). On TV, you watch whats on at the time.
Snippets (Pods) are short...from 1-7 minutes. Perfect for the A.D.D. folks out there. And I'd have to assume the demographics are pretty young. I can't see my parents getting much out of a station like this.
You can also make commercials with elements supplied by the brands themselves. They'll supply you with things like logos, messaging and a music library. If they use your ad, you get paid. If they use your ad in other arenas, you have the chance to get a lot more. Participating advertisers... T-Mobile, Toyota, & XM Radio.
Here's the definition of a "Pod"... which is a bulk of the content on the site.
A pod is a short video that tells a story, profiles a character and/or shares an idea. Current TV pods are nonfiction videos that are anywhere from one minute to seven or eight minutes; it's a self-contained story, a profile of an interesting character or a dose of information. It's like the atom of the Current TV universe.
Great Design. Great Functionality. Great Idea.
Etsy.com. One of the most unique shopping experiences out there. They're an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade. Very human to human products. None of the mass-manufactured stuff. Polar opposite of Walmart.
First off, all content is consumer generated. To design a beautiful interface with that fact alone is impressive. But beyond that, Etsy has built in some fantastic search features. Not only fantastic in function, but in form as well. All designers and developers should take note. Check some of them out... like the Time Machine, Geolocator, Connections. They also offer online classes, a community forum (social network) to connect with other Etsy users and other useful little features.
Etsy defines: "A positive first impression & a positive user experience". Good job Etsy.
Permalink
Current.com. Heard of it? I hadn't until today (and my cable provider doesn't provide it (Direct TV, Comcast, Dish, AT&T, Time do, however).) It's consumer generated tv programs, news, ads, etc... completely created and uploaded (to Current.com) by users. I guess there are users who continuously upload weekly programs, news feeds, etc. It's fascinating, really. You can watch it on TV, or watch the broadcasts live on the web (of course!). You can comment and see related videos. You can send all the shows/videos to your friends and/or embed them in your site/blog (just like YouTube).
You can view by topics (Currently popular, Most popular, Recently on TV), by People, by Viewpoints (online only). On TV, you watch whats on at the time.
Snippets (Pods) are short...from 1-7 minutes. Perfect for the A.D.D. folks out there. And I'd have to assume the demographics are pretty young. I can't see my parents getting much out of a station like this.
You can also make commercials with elements supplied by the brands themselves. They'll supply you with things like logos, messaging and a music library. If they use your ad, you get paid. If they use your ad in other arenas, you have the chance to get a lot more. Participating advertisers... T-Mobile, Toyota, & XM Radio.
Here's the definition of a "Pod"... which is a bulk of the content on the site.
A pod is a short video that tells a story, profiles a character and/or shares an idea. Current TV pods are nonfiction videos that are anywhere from one minute to seven or eight minutes; it's a self-contained story, a profile of an interesting character or a dose of information. It's like the atom of the Current TV universe.
Great Design. Great Functionality. Great Idea.
Etsy.com. One of the most unique shopping experiences out there. They're an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade. Very human to human products. None of the mass-manufactured stuff. Polar opposite of Walmart.
First off, all content is consumer generated. To design a beautiful interface with that fact alone is impressive. But beyond that, Etsy has built in some fantastic search features. Not only fantastic in function, but in form as well. All designers and developers should take note. Check some of them out... like the Time Machine, Geolocator, Connections. They also offer online classes, a community forum (social network) to connect with other Etsy users and other useful little features.
Etsy defines: "A positive first impression & a positive user experience". Good job Etsy.
Permalink
Interactive Buzz - Feb 8 '08
Superbad Ads... ur, Superbowl Ads
I'm sure you all hunkered down with your bowl of steaming chile and plate of crackers n' cheese whiz in excited anticipation of what will surely be the very best, most creative ads of all the year. If anyone was like me, just like every year, I was disappointed. A couple interesting ones I'll point out though - utilized online components.
1. MySpace - they didn't advertise in a :30 spot - they just put up a URL during the game that said: See all the ads after the game - www.myspace.com/superbowlads Not sure what they paid to do that - but at least they didn't have to go through the humiliation of bad advertising.
2. GoDaddy - They capitalized on their 'shame shame' experience 2 years ago in which FOX banned their "too risqué" girly girl ad. This year - let's make a too risque ad, tell people on TV it's too risque and just have them watch it on their website. They get people to the site (goal 1) and people are likely more engaged with the ad than if they were to watch it on TV. One thing I found though - there is a REASON Danica Patrick is a race card driver and NOT an actress. Uf.
3. Microsites (Campaign sites)
a. Audi - http://www.truthinengineering.com/ (site better than ad)
I think this site is quite beautiful and I love the navigation. The site loads with a video you can skip - then a car zooms in on a beautiful black background. Rotating billboards of information fill the sky. This site is MUCH better then their "Godfather" spoof Superbowl Ad.
b. Tide http://mytalkingstain.com/ (ad better than site)
Tide had a pretty funny ad. The site, though, less powerful. My Talking Stain .com Create your own talking stain commercial. You can view and vote on some of the submissions on YouTube: (http://www.youtube.com/mytalkingstain). Concept overdone. Plus, I found many of them more creepy than funny.
I'm sure you all hunkered down with your bowl of steaming chile and plate of crackers n' cheese whiz in excited anticipation of what will surely be the very best, most creative ads of all the year. If anyone was like me, just like every year, I was disappointed. A couple interesting ones I'll point out though - utilized online components.
1. MySpace - they didn't advertise in a :30 spot - they just put up a URL during the game that said: See all the ads after the game - www.myspace.com/superbowlads Not sure what they paid to do that - but at least they didn't have to go through the humiliation of bad advertising.
2. GoDaddy - They capitalized on their 'shame shame' experience 2 years ago in which FOX banned their "too risqué" girly girl ad. This year - let's make a too risque ad, tell people on TV it's too risque and just have them watch it on their website. They get people to the site (goal 1) and people are likely more engaged with the ad than if they were to watch it on TV. One thing I found though - there is a REASON Danica Patrick is a race card driver and NOT an actress. Uf.
3. Microsites (Campaign sites)
a. Audi - http://www.truthinengineering.com/ (site better than ad)
I think this site is quite beautiful and I love the navigation. The site loads with a video you can skip - then a car zooms in on a beautiful black background. Rotating billboards of information fill the sky. This site is MUCH better then their "Godfather" spoof Superbowl Ad.
b. Tide http://mytalkingstain.com/ (ad better than site)
Tide had a pretty funny ad. The site, though, less powerful. My Talking Stain .com Create your own talking stain commercial. You can view and vote on some of the submissions on YouTube: (http://www.youtube.com/mytalkingstain). Concept overdone. Plus, I found many of them more creepy than funny.
Interactive Buzz - Jan 25 '08
Interesting digital agency site
I found Collective London's site design and functionality interesting and engaging. Engaging in that each area within the site is completely different. The only constant on each page is the logo + navigation tab. The About Us tab is a novel of copy - but if you mouse over the highlighted words it breaks it down to more precise information. Their People/Jobs area is particularly fun. I like their bios and how they don't take themselves too seriously. And I like how they explain their work - which means I don't have to read anything. Nice. (Click on the Honda UK Car Site - they built some cool features into this)... then visit the actual site.
Widget
Collective London also offers their blog in a widget format... this way, you can get their blog delivered to your phone.
What's a widget (gadget)? A downloadable application that can live on your phone, your web browser or computer desktop. The widget can be developed to do pretty much anything a website can do. For example, there are various "widgets" I can add to my "iGoogle" page - some may include a "slideshow" widget in which I can add photos...or a "Pacman" widget that lives on my iGoogle page and lets me play the game from that screen. On my computer, I have a "clock" and "calendar" and "weather" widget, as well as a "calculater" and "current nearby gas prices" widgets. I used to have a "dog" widget but I forgot to feed it and it died. :(
Think about this as a tool for your clients... do they have information they want to share with their customers? The widgets are easily developed and can be BRANDED with client logos if need be.
Lite Brite
Just because it's fun (and cool functionality)
I found Collective London's site design and functionality interesting and engaging. Engaging in that each area within the site is completely different. The only constant on each page is the logo + navigation tab. The About Us tab is a novel of copy - but if you mouse over the highlighted words it breaks it down to more precise information. Their People/Jobs area is particularly fun. I like their bios and how they don't take themselves too seriously. And I like how they explain their work - which means I don't have to read anything. Nice. (Click on the Honda UK Car Site - they built some cool features into this)... then visit the actual site.
Widget
Collective London also offers their blog in a widget format... this way, you can get their blog delivered to your phone.
What's a widget (gadget)? A downloadable application that can live on your phone, your web browser or computer desktop. The widget can be developed to do pretty much anything a website can do. For example, there are various "widgets" I can add to my "iGoogle" page - some may include a "slideshow" widget in which I can add photos...or a "Pacman" widget that lives on my iGoogle page and lets me play the game from that screen. On my computer, I have a "clock" and "calendar" and "weather" widget, as well as a "calculater" and "current nearby gas prices" widgets. I used to have a "dog" widget but I forgot to feed it and it died. :(
Think about this as a tool for your clients... do they have information they want to share with their customers? The widgets are easily developed and can be BRANDED with client logos if need be.
Lite Brite
Just because it's fun (and cool functionality)
Interactive Buzz - Jan 11 '08
It's an "agricultural" theme throughout this weeks posting. Enjoy!
BEAUTIFUL Design + Execution
http://www.prospectdenim.com/
Does nice design get you excited? If so, you have to check this out. The large, dynamic picture, accompanied by the subtle, but effective Flash movement & some great background sounds (turn up your volume a bit) is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. When I see really fantastic design + execution, I get a little emotional. This site did it. Click on "Collection" to see how the products are displayed. Fantastic. (Granted, not AS fantastic if you're living in the land of non-high speed, but I'm not certain who their audience is, so I won't judge them.)
Brand-Engaging Entertainment Microsite
Everyone knows how successful Office Max's "Elf Yourself" was this season. This is in the same line. A microsite created for the pure purpose of entertainment from the brand to you. I have to admit, it's VERY VERY well designed and executed and it's FUN. Well, I thought it was as about much fun as someone could have with potatoes. I created this little parade for our AdFarm CD - Glenn. Enjoy.
Engaging and Entertaining Corporate Site
This is the corporate site for McCain Foods. This appears to be an Ag-based blog posting today. It's not quite as fantastic as the potato parade for Glenn, but it's very well executed. Even the little "our process" executed in the Flash headers is pretty entertaining. I like how they got the process across visually so lazy people (like myself) don't have to read about it - we can just watch it. PLUS - who knew that the "best fat for roasting potatoes is goose fat"? Fascinating. A little gross, but fascinating.
BEAUTIFUL Design + Execution
http://www.prospectdenim.com/
Does nice design get you excited? If so, you have to check this out. The large, dynamic picture, accompanied by the subtle, but effective Flash movement & some great background sounds (turn up your volume a bit) is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. When I see really fantastic design + execution, I get a little emotional. This site did it. Click on "Collection" to see how the products are displayed. Fantastic. (Granted, not AS fantastic if you're living in the land of non-high speed, but I'm not certain who their audience is, so I won't judge them.)
Brand-Engaging Entertainment Microsite
Everyone knows how successful Office Max's "Elf Yourself" was this season. This is in the same line. A microsite created for the pure purpose of entertainment from the brand to you. I have to admit, it's VERY VERY well designed and executed and it's FUN. Well, I thought it was as about much fun as someone could have with potatoes. I created this little parade for our AdFarm CD - Glenn. Enjoy.
Engaging and Entertaining Corporate Site
This is the corporate site for McCain Foods. This appears to be an Ag-based blog posting today. It's not quite as fantastic as the potato parade for Glenn, but it's very well executed. Even the little "our process" executed in the Flash headers is pretty entertaining. I like how they got the process across visually so lazy people (like myself) don't have to read about it - we can just watch it. PLUS - who knew that the "best fat for roasting potatoes is goose fat"? Fascinating. A little gross, but fascinating.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
