Adobe's Flash On isn't very bright

Adobe has launched a new microsite called Flash On which they are using to promote the fusion of online and television. I sent a lot of time going through the site to be sure I experience it all and in the end it still left me feeling like I was missing something.

The site is simple enough with a collection of thumbnails and a drop down in the upper right hand corner that will let you organize them. I started by clicking through the thumbnails and found a mixed bag of content that spans several categories and quality levels. Once that exploration was finished it I realized that this didn't do justice to any of the mediums or their brand - so what was the point here?

From an Internet or interactive standpoint the site is missing almost all the standard things you would want like forward to a friend or a simple search field. One of the guys I work with wanted to show me a video and we gave up after surfing through several categories and never being able to find it.

From a television stand point the video decent quality and loads quickly there isn't anything new or really that exceptional here.

From a brand standpoint there is a small button in the bottom right that bring up a screen that talks about how Adobe tools are at the forefront of this media fusion but there is no payoff. Did they use their programs to create the work? Did it give them an advantage in the market place? How are they creating this fusion? Where are the interactive video experience that are more than a passive viewing experience that use the power of the interactive medium to go beyond what you can on TV? Without answers to these questions the payoff is just that they can give you a server technology to play video in Flash which would be great if the campaign launched three years ago.

At this point all I can do is hope there is a version 2.0 coming that will make this site more than a Flash version of YouTube with very little content.

Swift 3D - Now with 100% more paper

Electric Rain, the maker of the long running Swift 3D program, has announced that the new version of their software will include the ability to export to Papervision3D format. It will be nice to have a tool that will make it easier to work with the technology but the program still drives me crazy since I came from the visual effects work and after working in Softimage and Maya the clumsy interface is like trying to create a sculpture with a dull Q-tip.

Truth or blogmail?

It is fascinating to look at the social dynamics that have been created by the Internet. The one dynamics that is the most relevant for advertisers is the power consumers find in their new found ability to publish their good and bad thoughts through a variety of mediums online. The dis-satisfied consumer who used to just write a letter to the company can now make a video and post it to YouTube, start a blog to chronicle their problems or publish a Web site as a platform to publicize their thoughts. This creates a whole new definition of for what is involved in customer relationship management.

One of the most publicized cases of this was in November 2004, an Englishman named Adrian Melrose bought a brand-new Land Rover Discovery 3 and it was a lemon. The dealer and Land Rover corporate didn't take the problem very seriously so Adrian began to write a blog called "Discover the Truth About Land Rover Discovery 3" and took his complaints public. For weeks, Land Rover ignored the blog even as it began to get thousands of sympathetic comments. It got to the point where Land Rover could no longer ignore it and they replaced his car. Proving that God has a sense of humor the replacement broke down and while they were fixing it the loaner they gave him also broke down. All of this was of course documented in great detail on his blog and it continued to gain more attention and press. In the end, Land Rover decided to give him his money back to stop the bleeding.

We all know that if Adrian had not started his blog and documented his problems he would never have seen that money. While it was what we all thought was the right outcome did it only happen because of blogmail? The reality is that with this new age of digital media and unprecedented access to publishing tools this type of thing will be seen again and a again. Just last week Comcast Must Die! came roaring to life fronted by the uber advertising critic from Advertising Age Bob Garfield. He has an intro to the site that reads "You are no longer just an angry, mistreated customer. Nor, I hope, are you just part of an e-mob. But you are a revolutionary, wresting control from the oligarchs, and claiming it for the consumer. Your power is enormous. Use it wisely."

It is a slippery slope of when and how companies accommodate consumers who can leverage digital media to effect brands and products. Should they always do it? Can they afford not to?

Filippa Smedhagen Sund

You can never under estimate the power of simplicity and the site for German make-up artist Filippa Smedhagen Sund is a perfect example. The interface boils down to the fact that there is no interface as you drag the screen to move between photo groupings. The photos are arranged into the three tiers of work and the end of one tier moves seamlessly into the next tier. I also like the subtle touch of the title of the photo moving in next to the tier name which gives you just enough information without overwhelming the content.

Get Munked

About a year after the world was overtaken by Elf Yourself, the self voiced avatar returns with MunkYourself.com which is promoting the new 3D Alvin and the Chipmunk movie. You can choose from a moderate selection of heads bodies and background to create your likeness as a chipmunk. The voice section is by far the most robust, entertaining and advanced as you can record your voice with a microphone or over the phone, use pre-recorded audio or text to speech. You can then download the image or audio, add it to your Web site or email it to a friend. All of this is nothing new but there hasn't been a site that has put it all together this well. I don't think it is deep enough in options or cultural resonance to rival the popularity of Simponize Me! but it is fun to play around with.

Apple takes over Microsoft Vista on CNET

It looks like the agency who does Microsoft's online media buying is having a bad holiday because a friend of mine sent me the link to the Windows Vista page on CNET.com which has been taken over by a Apple video ad unit surround session. The ad is a great example of integrated advertising using the characters and humor concept as the TV commercials but with new content and done to take advantage of the two ad units. If you are a fan of the campaign check it out because it is funny own it's own but given the content of the page it is hysterical.

Uniqlo Grid

Flash wiz kid Yugo Nakamura and retailer Uniqlo are at it again as they have just launched an entertaining and collaborative site called Uniqlo Grid.

The is obviously a grid that allows visitors to manipulate their logo in a variety of sizes and colors. You manipulate them by dragging your mouse around a logo to split it up into smaller logos, clicking and drawing a circle around a group will combine them into a larger image and double clicking on a logo will let you can spin it 180 or 360 degrees. This by itself is fun and engaging but you are also doing it conjunction with other users from all over the world so it become a living community created work of art. A bar at the top of the page shows which user is making which moves and where in the world they are from. In a nice tie in to the brick and mortar store, the most fetching designs will eventually be put on display at select Uniqlo boutiques.

The site is an interesting exercise in global collaboration squarely centered around their brand but for me it lacks the sizzle and sheer coding tour de force of their original site launch. I guess that is always going to happen when you try and follow something as impressive as that.

Your reaction to bad design - ReDesignMe.org

As I designer I look at products all the time and think of ways I would have improved the design and usability. RedesignMe! is a new website where you can show, comment, uploaded designs and win prizes for trying to improve poorly designed interfaces of any kind. It is an interesting idea but I am curious to see if this can evolve to be more than an outlet for frustrated designers and into a site that actually cause real change.

Logo Redux

Tis the season to get a new look as Applebee's and Toy R Us follows in the footsteps of Holiday in with new logos and branding. I actually like the new Toys R Us logo as it feels more refined while keeping the spirit of the old mark.

Microsoft's credibility with creatives goes Phizz Pop

There is absolutely no insight in saying that Microsoft has a long uphill road to try and wrestle the loyalties of designers and creative types away from Apple and Adobe. It is one of those things you would think is impossible until you look at what they did with the Xbox and how they now have long time gaming front runner Sony in their rear view mirror.

I liked their first move of introduced Silverlight to give Adobe some well needed competition in the online rich media space but I was curious to see how they would engage the creative community after it's launch. Early last week I receive a postcard for them that had "Phizz Pop - Now agencies have place to call their own" scrolled across it. That simple line made me abandon almost all hope that this was going to be anything but a clumbsy ploy to make me believe Microsoft understands what I do. Let's start by breaking down that headline and the use of "PH" in the fizz like some hideously sappy Disney movie where parents are trying to be cool by saying phat with a 'ph'. That coupled with the line of "Now agencies have place to call their own" that just rings of what you just know will be nothing more than a hollow over promise. Never the less I went to the web site to see if my initial perception would be wrong. Sadly it wasn't. The site houses a thin collection of Silverlight techniques and a gallery filled with sophmoric design work displayed only as screenshots with no working samples or links. It feels like a site that was created in a weekend by a junior designer and not the engaging and challenging experience I had hoped for.

I put the site behind me and moved on down the road but Phizz Pop reared it's head again later that week when I attended the Future of Web Design Conference and Sean Siebel the new User Experience Evangelist from Microsoft took the stage. Like when I read "PhizzPop", seeing his title and how hard it was trying to be creative and cool had me thinking this was going to be as hollow as the site he was there to promote. It was even worse than any of us expected. He used 3 of his 5 minutes to talk about PhizzPop before the big finish where he showed the nearly two year old video 'Microsoft designs the iPod package'. It got no laughs or any reaction from the crowd and it was painful to watch someone fall so flat.

I walk away from these experiences with the hope that Microsoft wakes up to the fact that when you are talking to a group of people who create trends and embrace constant change for a living you need to have something real to say because hollow actions will get you into the history books with Adobe LiveMotion.

Cirque du Jobs

Employment sites are just boring. They are so often an after thought and left to the design skills of the IT or HR department. It's not a surprise that Cirque Du Soleil is trying to attract unique and interesting talent with a unique and interesting employment site. I mean when have you ever seen an employment site with a design that was good enough that they made desktop wallpapers, screensavers and downloadable ad units out of it?

ING Needs To Go

I see a lot of online advertising and there isn't much of it that is doing anything different but the new campaign from financial company ING is an exception with their new campaign called "I Need To Go". ING needed to promote personal checking which isn't a very sexy sell so they decided to try bathroom humor to get the job done. Instead of fart jobs you literally go to the bathroom by choosing what you need to do and then hear from the bathroom attendant why you do not need to pay her. This transitions into the site sliding side to side to allow you to move back and forth between the promotional bathroom site and the bank's site as the attendant is explaining the ING account so you can see what she's talking about. I am conflicted about all of this because it really succeeds at getting and keeping your attention as you try and figure out what is going on. That being said I always crave campaigns that are original in a clever and smart way rather than the easy solution of just being shocking to get attention. You also have to wonder what the conversion will be on something like this that is a close to a bait and switch so you have to think that the probability they would convert a visitor is pretty low. What do you think of this? Genius? A high grade fart joke? Something in between?

Zune Redux

Microsoft has launched their new campaign to support Zue 2.0 called "You Make it You" which is based on the concept that the Zune is brought to life by the content you put in it. The visual design is created with artwork from a handful of graphic artists to create animated worlds based on the players features like music, podcasts, video, radio and pictures. The content for each section is displayed using the same moving tunnel technique we have already seen this year in the new IKEA kitchen site and Infinite OZ through this isn't nearly as interesting as either of those. So in the end the site is just a pale copy of techniques that have been executed much better on other sites with content that just isn't cool or unique enough to justify this site. You would have thought with all their resources Microsoft would have put more of them into actually thinking of a concept to hold their campaign together.

Find your Epsonality

I don't think anyone would ever consider buying a printer very sexy or even that terribly interesting. Espon recently launched a campaign to try and add a little more spice to the process called "Epsonality". It is obvious by the name that this is their spin on an online personality tests as they want to match you to your idea printer.

You arrive at your perfect match by taking a three question test made of questions that work well to ask standard questions in a different and funny way. This humor and production value goes a long way to make the process engaging and quick to complete and get you to the a result and more information.

After spending some time with it I only have two criticisms of the site. First, the strength and the weakness of the site is the use of video to deliver the experience. On my FIOS connection the site sang along and looked great but the problem came when I cranked down my bandwidth it became clear that it needs a better bandwidth sniffer to serve to switch you to a smaller video stream and prevent hick-ups or a non-video alternative. Second, the visual design of the site feels like they married of two different designs design solutions together as the home page switches from the studio set intro video to a very graphic screensaver style with no connection to bind the two together.

These small hick-ups aside the site does a nice ob of creating a compelling experience that will appeal with their broad user base to help them come to an informed decision.

The 2008 Bloggers Choice Awards are up and running again so any votes for this site for Best Marketing Blog to help spread the word and stoke my ego (at least I'm honest) are greatly appreciated.

Sony Rec You

With the introduction o the iPod I never thought I would hear the word Walkman again but this week it came back to life with a new site from Sony called Rec You. The site supports the launch of the new and improved Walkman which can now record TV (I am not sure why you would want that but here we are).

The site lets you generate a digital portrait of yourself which is animated using Motion Portrait technology to it's head while wearing a Walkman. The process is a lot like Simponize Me where you upload a photo of yourself against a white background and the sites does the rest. I tried several photos and was disappointed with the quality of the final product as well as the fact that I could not find any way to send the result to a friend. Since only part of the site is in English i may have simple missed it but it is a huge miss if they left it out. Once you creation is complete you join a tiled wall of other creations which creates a digital chorus of headphone-wearing, Walkman-rocking virtal people. You can watch this viral video on YouTube that was created to show the process and resulting virtual person.

So in the end the site is an interesting diversion though you feel like you have done it all before in one way or another. I am also surprised that the actually product they are promoting takes such a backseat as I think most people will go through the process to see how they look animated and not pay attention the fact that product is supposed to be the source of everyone bobbing along.

Motorola Gondry's Dream

Motorola has launched a new site called Gondry's Dream which is based on a film they commissioned from artist Michel Gondry based the experience of the RAZR2.

The film is interesting with unique visuals and style. After seeing the film though you wish the site would have picked up some of that style since the site experience is generic and doesn't match the energy or distinct feel of the film. For me it falls back into always asking the question as to why all film sites are so generic compared to the creativity they are trying to promote.

TurboChef

I recently finished building a house with my dream kitchen so I have spent more than my fair share of time look through appliance reviews and magazines. During all of this I noticed that the TurboChef brand of ovens had really stepped up their advertising. I have never had any affinity or consideration for the brand since their products usually come in around $8,000 and their product design doesn't go with my interior design style as they look like the child of the Jetsons and the work of Karim Rashid.

My curiosity eventually got the best of me and I went to their site to check out the ovens and found tey had launched a new microsite called theovenreinvented.com. The site is narrated and hosted by Chicago-based executive chef Charlie Trotter who I have always found more than a little pompous so it didn't help my image of the brand. The site is broken into two parts - Explore and Cook. Explore lets you dissect and display the various signature parts of the oven so you can see what it is you are paying for. Cook lets you choose a time period that corresponds to a video of Trotter cooking one of his signature dishes to demonstrate that the oven will cook faster than a normal oven.

So in the end I didn't decide that I wanted to spent 8 times more to get one of these but the site does a good job of showing off the product and making an impression which great design and production value. I am interested to talk to some friends who also like to cook and are in the process of remodeling their kitchens to see if a site like this would really influence their decision on such a high dollar purchase.

Holiday Inn branding checks-out

Holiday Inn and decided to "update" their logo with the new mark shown above. Maybe it is just me but I think this is really stupid since their old mark had tons of history, brand recognition and memories for their guests. They left all that behind for this new one that looks like it should be on a bar of soap or a second rate juice box.