3thoughts on big game ads, 10 word wiki & user behavior

Thought 1. Super advertising success bowl.

Unless you’re a hermit you’re probably aware that the NFL’s Championship Game (Upersay Owlbay, in pig latin – we’re not messing with the NFL’s copyright) happens every January. Unless you’re a diehard fan of the teams competing, you know that the commercials are actually the true attraction for viewers. According to a survey we read, over 50% of “big game” viewers say they enjoy the ads more than the actual game. And anyone with a television or twitter knows there’s always a huge ongoing debate over which company had the nights best commercial. These types of nights are a marketer’s dream. One iconic commercial can launch your brand onto an international national stage (see Apple’s “1984” Ad as the ultimate example).

The McKee Wallwork Cleveland advertising agency has created an annual event called ADBOWL ® focused solely around watching the annual advertising blitz. What started as a small party at their office has grown to a global event. Every year, Adbowl enthusiasts can log in at http://adbowl.com and vote for their favorite commercials.

Thought 2. Ten Word Wiki.

In Matt’s travels around the internet, he quite literally stumbled upon a pretty cool crowd sourced website. It’s called: Ten Word Wiki and it’s been described as an encyclopedia for the ADD generation. It’s purpose is to explain everything in exactly 10 words. No more, no less. 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.

Of course, the purpose of the site is more humorous than factually accurate, but it is an interesting creative exercise to try to capture the essence of something in exactly 10 words. Think about it.

Thought 3. Seriously, Facebook UI changes again?

There’s this hugely popular social networking site called Facebook. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Well, this week Facebook rolled out another new interface design. This is one of several in the past year. The changes are currently only available to partial user group, and like usual have been met with mixed reviews. Generally, it seems as though people are accepting the changes as positive. Of course, this only after the trolls receded back to under the bridge where they belong. Here’s a thought for anyone who wants to change anything. People usually don’t like change. This is so very important to keep in mind when we create 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 them. Just how you’d expect to find the toilet handle in the same place regardless of who’s house you’re at, or the gas and brakes to be the same in your car as they are in your friends.  There are just some things that need common/similar user interfaces. This isn’t to say that all designs or websites need to have the same elements in all the same spaces, but there are important universal user behaviors that you need to kept in mind. Effective UI can and should guide users where they need to be with out them even realizing it. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Make it easy, make it seamless, make it effective. Oh, and making it memorable never hurts either.

Ever been to a website and just couldn’t figure out how to use it? How long did you stay there before you moved on. We’d love to hear your horror stories in the comment section below.