Back in January I wrote about the re-design of ESPN.com and how a large driving force in the re-design was allow for more unique advertising opportunities as they had just made a major move to end their relationships with all their ad networks and declined any new offers. The latest brand to use these new opportunities that are now available from this move is Apple who have launched a new iPod Touch ad to take advantage of the start of the NCAA tournament. It is similar to the iPod Touch TV commercials where multiple sets of hands play multiple games on the iPod Touch and they are superimposed over each other in rapid succession. The interesting twist here is that as the hands move in and out of the ad they break, rearrange, move and remove the main navigation of the site. It is a cool effect but it was done in an intelligent way so that if you aren't interested in the ad and just want to get into the site when you roll over the navigation area the actual navigation will jump in front of the ad so you can us it like you normally would. I'm not sure how long it is going to be up there so check it out while you can.

Labels: Design and user experience, Exceptional creative, Integrated advertising, Online advertising review

The SciFi channel has now rebranded themselves to the SyFy channel which obviously is pronounced phonetically the same as SciFi. They feel that by changing their name to Syfy will "broaden perceptions and embraces a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction". So the rebrand was changing the old name to a new name that sounds exactly like the old name? This is one of those branding decisions that makes me feel like I will have a job in this industry for a long, long time.

Labels: Branding

Last night developers got their hands on the new iPhone 3.0 operating system and screenshots are starting to leak out. The best account of all the new functionality can be found here. Highlights include the long overdue addition of cut and paste, voice memos, mail search, parental controls and a complete overhaul of the camera interface.

If this is the final list of functionality then there isn't much here I am excited about. Most of this seems to be fixing long standing problems so the new OS is just bringing the phone up to snuff and not doing anything very innovative. This may be one of those times where Apple will be a victim of itself as we have come to expect something ground breaking and nerdgasm worthy from every press conference and software release. Maybe they have been spending their time working on the iPhone 2.0 which is rumored to be release this summer when Steve Jobs is slated to return to the company. Only time will tell.

The latest brand to throw themselves onto the iPhone bandwagon is Dockers but they are doing it with the first iPhone specific "shakable," motion-sensitive ad and not an iPhone application. The ad stars Dufon who is an urban street dancer from the Seattle dance group "Circle of Fire," and the ad works where users have to shake their phone at certain points to make Dufon dance in his Dockers kakis. The ad will appear in the iPhone games "iBasketball," "iGolf" and "iBowl" and the lifestyle application iTV where it will appear between the various levels of game play.

I like this ad because it is an interesting creative execution and an interesting media buy with it running on just this one mobile platform. As I have written about before, the most successful iPhone applications use the features of the phone and this sticks to that same thinking but does it in a inside of an application instead of as a stand alone. I also think this could lead to a whole new avenue in online advertising as working on a platform like the iPhone will let us create deeper and much more unique experiences than we could create in traditional online advertising.

Labels: Design and user experience, Digital culture, Exceptional experiences, iPhone

So by now you all have probably seen that today Facebook once again overhauled the information architecture and some of the design element of their site like your status has not been replaced by 'What's on your mind?" with a 'Share' call to action. So this time instead of me going through and laying out all of my thoughts on the changes I want to hear from you. What do you think of the changes? Is it easier to use? Should they have done it? Throw your thoughts in the comments and I will weigh in after a few days with my thoughts.

Labels: Design and user experience, Exceptional experiences

This is one of those posts that is nothing deeper than I thought the Flash toys that the Amsterdam based agency Cartelle dd were simple, perform well and are really cool. Click here to check them out.

Labels: Design and user experience, Exceptional Flash

During the Superbowl GE launched their new 'Plug into the smart grid' campaign and also launched a supporting web site. The site is very well done with simple but very rich and detailed 3D animations to illustrate the content. But far and away the coolest part of the site is called 'Augmented Reality' where you print out a solar panel marker, hold it up in front of your web cam and it generates a digital 3D hologram you can manipulate my moving the paper around. I have seen technology like this in video games like Eye of Judgement for the PS3 which used card to spawn the digital holograms but this is the first time I have seen it in a branded form. I like it because it is a very cool technology but it is done with a purpose and it is done for a brand where it's use makes sense. GE and this campaign are about innovation and imagination, here the use of this technology supports both of those brand attributes. If anyone has any links to other uses of this technology post them in the comments because I would be interested to see how it is done, who is doing it and if there are any better examples.

Labels: Design and user experience, Digital culture, Exceptional creative, Exceptional experiences, Exceptional Flash, Great resource, Site review, Unique interface design, Viral