15 posts categorized "Web Sites"

09/25/2008 Faster than Bolt


Puma was quick to launch an online game challenging people to beat Olympic champion Usain Bolt in an online game at the Puma site. I like things like this because they’re
•    Quick
•    Easy
•    Fun

The visuals are pretty ridiculous, as is the concept, but I still had to do it three times. A good little brand builder.

I wonder if they leveraged this through expandable ads or social media. From a strategy and marketing perspective, it’s almost a crime if they didn’t.
Usain1

09/23/2008 Full screen, please


I’ve seen a couple of interesting sites over the last couple of weeks that have taken a huge step forward in the realm of Web site engagement. Using Flash 9 and AS 3, they’ve basically broken out of the browser window to deliver a full screen takeover experience.

Back in the day, the only way we could do this was through projector downloads. We were always constrained one way or the other to do a full takeover. There was always some distracting folder, window or desktop peskily lurking in the background reminding us to get back to work.

Look at these two sites:
Hyatt Siesta Key Beach (Click on Take a Tour, what a great video background!)
Lee Towndrow Photography (make sure you click on FS up in the top nav)

Hyatt

And of course, it’s not perfect. In full screen mode, your keyboard becomes useless: no text entries or keyboard shortcuts (thanks to Joe Manley for that info). But it’s a great improvement. Let’s hope Adobe keeps pushing this.

It’s the Web the way it should be.

09/17/2008 VSAC is a Winner


WA_2008 The Web Marketing Association awarded StartWhereYouAreVT.org a Standard of Excellence award for Education in this year’s WebAward competition. The site was part of an innovative campaign I helped develop at KSV to get young teens interested in continuing their education.

We pretty much turned expectations and conventional wisdom on its head by creating a Web centric outreach aimed at rural kids. The awards are nice (it won an Adobe Site of the Day as well) but the reaction from the kids themselves (they deemed it a “rock star”) was proof that VSAC found a new way to reach their young audience. All this from an organization that originally expected a TV campaign.

The site lets kids create a visual college of  “who they are.” It gets them to start thinking about what they like to do, and how that might actually lead to a career.

I led the engagement planning, digital strategy and interactive work. Julie Kravetz did the amazing planning, and I was lucky to work with the great interactive team of Corey Machanic (ICD/AD), Anna Goldsmith (copy) and Joe Manley (Flash Development).

Congrats team!
Smapllprofile

09/16/2008 Who is this for, anyway?


We marketing professionals like to be in control. We like making decisions and hope that someone (our bosses, our clients) thinks we’re making smart decisions. We tend to make it about us, not about you.

But it’s not about us anymore (if it ever was). Those who ignore this run the risk of making some bad decisions.

A while ago, we rebuilt a simple e-commerce site, one that was working pretty well, to make it work even better. Then we ran into a traditional AD who, with support of the ECD, refused to make a “crappy” Web site. It wasn’t about conversions or customers or business goals, it was about making it look “beautiful.” It was really about putting it in the AD’s portfolio.

The beautiful site is up, and it’s doing less business than its predecessor. Guess if the client is pleased.

I’ve seen marketing directors pull the plug on campaigns because they couldn’t see the banner ad or Google paid search. Never mind that we geo-targeted the ads to a different area or that we targeted a different target demographic.

If we can’t accept the fact that it’s not about us, it’s about the customer; if we can’t give up our control fixation and give more control to the customer, we’re going to continue to waste marketing dollars.

And with Lehman Bros, AIG and the rest of the economy starting to tank, that doesn’t seem like a very smart move.

09/15/2008 The Customer Speaks


Just saw an article that Sephora.com, like a growing number of online retailers, is adding a customer ratings and review feature to their site. I’ve always been a big fan off allowing customers to give feedback, even if it’s constructive (read negative) feedback. The stats show that people seem to want and need this more and more in making their purchase choices.

Sephora chose Bazaarvoice, the same company providing ratings to online stores from Macys to Home Depot. One thing I noticed in a short jaunt through those sites was: Where are all the ratings and reviews?

I found more on Home Depot than on some of the others, but still not that many. Somehow, I would expect people to review hardware more than clothes (although that may be my own gender shortcoming). I mean, you want to know that you bought the same refrigerator or tool set as someone else to make sure it works okay and that you’re not buying a lemon.

Clothes, on the other hand, are so personal and help us to stand out, rather than to blend in. Do you really want to recommend something so someone can look just like you?

On the other hand, the lack of ratings and reviews on all of these sites makes me wonder if customers feel suspicious that the site might censor their honest reviews. What is the tolerance and policy toward negative comments? I couldn’t see any spelled out.

Or maybe most of us just don’t have time or interest.

I wonder if we could increase ratings reviews in a couple of ways

  1. Reward people for their effort. Some type of points or rewards system might jump-start this. Since they’ve invested the money in the system, how about investing in the reviewers themselves?
  2. Outsource it. Maybe there’s a business model for an honest ratings and review broker to ensure that there’s no censorship. It would even offer a way to compare stores.

If you build something people want, and no one uses it, then something is clearly not working.

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