- Unless you are a hermit with no television, no radio and no internet, you are aware that the NFL Championship Game (Upersay Owlbay, in pig latin – we’re not messing with the NFL’s copyright) was this last weekend. You also probably know that all the commercials shown during the game are a star attraction for viewers. In fact, 51% of viewers say they enjoy the ads more than the actual game. There’s often huge debate and even media coverage about what company put out the best commercial. It’s a marketer’s dream. One iconic commercial can launch your brand onto the national stage (see Apple’s “1984” Ad as the ultimate example).
The McKee Wallwork Cleveland advertising agency has created an annual event called ADBOWL ® around the popularity of watching the annual advertising blitz. What started as a small party at their office has grown to a national event. People can log in at http://adbowl.com and vote for their favorite commercials during and after the event. This year their vote has the Snickers Betty White Commercial in the top position.
Do you agree? What was your favorite? View all the commercials here.
- Matt found a new toy this week and he’d like to share it with you. It’s a website called: Ten Word Wiki. It is self-described as an Encyclopedia for the ADD generation. It’s purpose is to explain everything in exactly 10 words.Here are some choice examples we would like to share with you:
- Graphic designer – Anyone with a personal computer who can use microsoft paint
- advertising – Form of mind control used by companies to get money.
- computers – helpful machines that cause devolution of humanity and ultimate dystopia
- Microsoft – Rich nerds crash your computer with their buggy operating system.
Now, of course, this is a lot of humorous rather than factually accurate definition. But it is an interesting creative exercise. See if you can capture the essence of something in only 10 words. Think about it.
- There’s this hugely popular social networking site called Facebook. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Well, this week Facebook rolled out a new interface design. This is one of several in the past year. The changes are currently only available to partial user group, and have been met with mixed reviews. Generally though, it seems as though people are accepting the changes as positive. Of course, this only after they calmed down from a “Where-the-heck-is-the-status update filter” hissy fit. People don’t like change once they’ve gotten used to something. This is very important to keep in mind when creating any interface design – revised or brand new. Internet users want to find things where they expect to find them, regardless of where we (the site designers/builders) want to put it. This isn’t to say that all sites have to have the same things in all the exact same spaces, but it is a very important behavior that needs to be kept in mind. Effective design can guide users where they need to be with out them even realizing it. This is the goal of any interface – make it easy, make it seamless, make it effective.
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