Shape of things to come?
I’ve lately found myself flipping through mags full to the brim with ads…. and even have to scan furiously for the news/information/thoughts/comments that I really want to get to. Damn them. But at same time.. i can also sympathise with them.
Static print ads have it tough.
At most you have a space the size of two A4 pages to do your best to capture the attention, time and effort of readers to STOP, READ and utilise the minimalest of effort to COMPREHEND what the ad is about. And then there is the matter of whether readers even want to BOTHER to be informed about the product/service that the ad is shouting about. There sometimes has to be marketing support in the form of Editorial deviating from duties to step in and intervene with advertorials to fully complement an advertisement.
It takes nothing short of a miracle to actually influence a reader to make a buying decision. I think it takes an even bigger miracle for ads to create a brand affinity with readers.
With the multitude of brands coming at you from within the pages of a 100 plus page magazine…. the messages just get lost sometimes. What may be worse is if the mag becomes in danger of losing its own identity.
So when there is a chance for a brand to make an impression on the world wide web… the possibilities are endless. The tools, technology and medium are wide ranging (even though web users havent reached full potential numbers yet)- now there is really a chance to engage visitors. Take your pick of video, sound, animation and so on and so forth.
Choice of technology or even HOW a company decides to put its presence on the web, in a way speaks volumes about the brand.
Would you expect anything short of flash animations from a high-tech company? Or even less than two colours on the website of a fun consumer brand? Then theres the many ways that the website lets you explore it, sounds-wise, clickable buttons-wise, information-wise so on and so forth.
There is also willingness to interact with visitors, ease-of-use, and unfortunately…even loading speeds, which gives you an idea about a company’s brand philosophy/image……. one such which I thought was a very good example of gelling jeans products and the jeans-wearing community together was a Truth or Dare website which was executed quite impeccably. (www.truthbooth.com)
By all rights I shouldnt even have been there (was helping out some nice folks) … but an interesting URL name, the huge mock-up of a payphone along with the lure of creating audio, video or just plain text to be shared with members of me peer group or at least jeans wearing community, kept me around longer than usual.
Of course the winner of the most daring/compelling truth would be voted by the community and stand to win a pair of nice Levi’s. An effective competition mechanics which created a group of people with common things/loves as well as let them also decide who amongst them would emerge winner. This wouldnt have been so successful if not for the creative design concept (payphone) and allure of participation. But i particularly loved that I didnt have to wait so long for page to load and be part of the experience.
Just look at what can be achieved with technology!!
Certain parties in the industry recognise the opportunites of online advertising/promotions/marketing and invite creative professionals to be all that they can be at
www.asiainteractiveawards.com
After winners are announced on August 3rd…you just may be looking at the shape of the web to come..
