Digital Hive

Get back in the closet

Or wardrobe, to be more precise. Adverblog introduced me to a wicked cool new Ikea online experience that demonstrates the functionality of its Pax closet line in a really entertaining way. Remember we're talking about closets, people. I believe closets are below toilet paper and paper clips in consumer interest.

It's basically a series of vignettes of people in their bedrooms or "closet rooms." You give them tasks to do that involve the Pax products in their homes(e.g., putting on a hat or shoes or choosing pants or a dress). You can even use a microphone to make the characters move to your voice.

My favorite vignette features Mexican wrestling looking characters (Kim Snow, are you reading this?).

It does have a surreal, engaging, what's-going-to-happen-next Uniqlock-ish quality to it, but I still like it a lot. As a reminder, here's the Cannes-winning Uniqlo work:

Maybe I like both because I am fans of the products of both. Or maybe it's that positive energy seems to pour forth from both. Having these interactive experiences is kind of like mainlining sunshine in my book. And the world needs that right now, I think.

Two Sites: Tons of Engagement

The fine folks at the California Milk Processor Board (with the help of Goodby Silverstein) are still making me laugh two weeks after a friend sent the link to WhiteGoldisWhiteGold.

The site is gorgeous and deep and funny, and in this super-social, 2.0, fully shareable world - the site has a ton of content ready to share, blog and download. I found it easy to get sucked in by the pseudo-cheesy (okay, cheesy cheesy) band rockumentary vH1 "Where are they now?" feeling. And I'm still exploring the site a video at a time.

You can find White Gold on MySpace, FaceBook and their own YouTube channel. (BTW, what's with the lack of spaces in all those names?) You can "download the album" and after you visit every corner of the site, download the special White Gold remixes. I'm not sure if it is selling any milk, but I notice my cereal in drowning in a sea of white gold instead of its former yogurt. Check out One Gallon Axe, most definitely chill.

TIME WASTING WORTHINESS RANK: 4 out of 4 cats

Putting the Un in Fun

The other thing that wasted a huge amount of time this week provided me with a terrific amount of research into this topic is the Tostitos Nolaf.org site. The site was created by Element 79 with help from Mekanism SF, and it goes to my sweet spot of dark, snarktastic humor. It is a home run for me by virtue of the truly stunning, brilliant and absolutely unhinged improvisation of actor Scott Parkin. Mr. Parkin's performance is so good that I will never be able to attend another orientation or training seminar without falling out of my chair laughing (before a word is spoken.) There should be a new category of awards invented for Mr. Parkin's electrifying performance.

I imagine this is going to move some chips because the link has been emailed or twittered to me a dozen times over the last week. And anyone who shows up to a meeting with a pout on is getting the link from me.

TIME WASTING WORTHINESS RANK: 4 out of 4 cats

Scott Parkin receives the Golden Magno award for genius improvisation.

FaceBook apps are....the new Second Life?

OK so this is a tad scary in light of how frequently we are recommending (and building) FaceBook apps. This post at Three Minds provides some interesting commentary on the reality of what FaceBook apps are accomplishing. In most instances, it ain't much. The posting has provocative and relevant do's and don'ts for doing a FaceBook app - I recommend a thorough reading for all. A good example?

"Possibly the only impressive case study I have run across in the realm of branded apps, Sony decided rebrand the popular Vampires application for the launch of the movie 30 Days of Night. The page trafficked over 11 million visits and the connected sweepstakes received six times the amount of projected entrants."

Don'ts include......
1. Don't start a new version of something that is already popular.
2. Don't overcomplicate the concept or interface.
3. Don't extend a campaign without thinking about the social context.
4. Don't separate your fans, reach them where they already exist.

The posting also reminds us not to forget about FaceBook groups - which can accomplish more for marketers than apps.

Read the whole post here.

Twitter - I'm over it

Check out this great post on Three Minds - sums up what I've always felt about Twitter. Also includes a nifty graphic from David Armano that describes the tech adoption curve from the customer's perspective - there's a lot of wisdom here we all need to reflect on.

This dog is pretty talented

The Oscar for best use of an almost-real canine in a hip hop production goes to this site, which allows you to direct a dog in an engaging session of beatbox. It takes a while to load, it's in Swedish, and it doesn't appear to deliver on a particular insight (except consumers' desire to have fun), but it's entertaining and worth reminding ourselves how much a smile is worth in today's turbulent times - brands everywhere take note!

Credit to Three Minds for surfacing this one.

Handmade is back! Check out Etsy

I'm a huge fan of Etsy, an ecommerce site where everything is handmade. From their about page (which also has a super cool video with the founder explaining his inspiration):

Etsy is an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade. Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers. Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice: Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.

I have a hypothesis about why Etsy is so successful (93,000+ sellers at this point) - people are tired of cookie cutter choices (even at the high end), and want something a little unique. Also, most of the products we have to choose from in stores these days are fairly generic, designed by "professionals" for large faceless audiences and made somewhere off shore. It's kind of refreshing to buy and use a one off made by an actual person. It's also cool to be able to connect with a creative person who does something completely different from what I do.

All the sellers I've dealt with have been enthusiastic and grateful for my business (has that happened to you buying anything lately?), many including special extras with purchase. For me, it's re-introduced a sense of exploration and delight into online shopping, which frankly had become a bit mundane for me of late.

Etsy's UI is renowned for simplicity and engagement. The homepage regularly refreshes with a curated set of items (drawn from the vast number on offer), all coordinated in some way - by theme, color, pattern, etc. Every time I visit the site I'm welcomed in a refreshing new way.

Etsy has recently launched a feature which enables you to dynamically "publish" the items you are considering buying (if you're a buyer) or the items in your online store (if you're a seller) to a personal website, blog, MySpace page, etc.. Here's what's on my shopping list these days (bear in mind the holidays are approaching, people):

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade jflemings.etsy.com

What I like about this is - it's a great way to let buyers integrate other people into their buying (or consideration) process - by showing off and getting feedback to their discerning taste or good shopping luck (hey look what I found!), and integrating their potential purchases into their online "identity." Your friends can comment on what you're shopping for, encourage you to purchase something, etc. Shopping goes from a solitary experience to a shared, community one.

Check out Etsy, I think you'll be a convert.

PS - I learned about a cool "movement" from Etsy, called Buy Handmade. To join you just have to pledge to buy handmade this holiday season and request that others do the same; there are 5,000+ pledges so far. More info also here.

A whole new place to befriend consumers

Thanks to a great post by Bryan Fuhr at Organic (congrats on your cool new gig, Bryan) I discovered a really fun piece of online creative.
(click on the visual to have it for yourself). I'm not sure what the big idea is (if any), I just think it's kind of a cool experience. I can't believe I actually watched an online video with subtitles and enjoyed it.

What's this lovely lady doing with fungus?

Thanks to Organic's Three Minds blog for flagging this fun sitelet called "That's Revolting." Agion markets anti-microbial technologies which make a wide variety of products healthier to touch and use (their tagline is "nature's antimicrobial"), and their new sitelet features Florence Henderson whom of course we all remember fondly as Carol Brady, matriarch of America's first blended suburban clan.

In a fun and engaging way Mrs. Brady (accompanied by a family updated to reflect the changing character of America) helps you realize how exposed your home is to germs. Games challenge you to uncover germs on counters, and you can view special "gross endings" to the webisodes that really push the idea of "revolting" to its limits (you've got to see it to believe it). You even a chance to win a giant microbe.

So why is this interesting? First off, this brand probably has low to no awareness (I've never heard of it). So they need to do something bold to get noticed. (Additional challenge - the brand is a challenge to pronounce (it's pronounced "AGE- e - on")).

Second, the problem their product addresses isn't a fun one to think about, and if they presented it in a purely factual, "medicinal" way people might not be motivated to engage. In the spirit of Active Branding Agion is providing value to consumers by teaching them how exposed they are to bacteria (which their product addresses), but using humor as a spoonful of sugar (apologies, couldn't resist another entertainment reference) to make the message go down.

A few things could work harder. The passalong feature is a tad lame - it's basically just an email that gets sent to your friend driving them to the site. Why no personalized message from Carol Brady? I think it would be pretty cool if there were a video (does anyone remember Dr. Angus' interventions from Burger King?) from Carol excoriating you for having a germ-filled kitchen. Also, couldn't they allow people to contribute their own germ horror stories? Photos of their germy sponges?

Interesting approach, very fun, but I'd like to see if go further.