When I saw this one this morning, I have to admit that it took me by surprise. So I immediately liked it.
Surprises are good, especially if they are slickly done and have some sense of humor.
But than I realised it’s somewhat wrong. [perhaps you should check it out yourself before you continue]
It feels like a funny 30sec advertising idea stretched into a 15min interactive experience. And it’s just not working. (I have no idea if it’s part of an integrated campaign or is it just online)
Myspace profile??? Flickr page??? downloads??? Mobile themes? C’mmon, that feels like ticking a hackneyed web 2.0 checklist.
The spoof/joke is so seriously done and over stretched that I checked with 3 mates in the office - they all simply left the site without any incentive to understand what’s that all about. What’s more, the two completely different art directions of the joke and the product create a disintegrated and confusing experience. And finally, the best video is the “fashion fraud exposed” and it took me quite a while to get there - I bet 95% of visitors don’t even make it half way….
But I was still happy to notice that this work needed a significant budget - not the one usually allocate to digital.
[Update Note] One of the challenges in working in a creative shop (whether interactive, advertising, film or food) is that looking at dozens of works everyday you grow numb and over-judgmental. Your “delight threshold” is quite difficult to charm. Perhaps that’s why I wrote this one recently. And perhaps I should have stayed with my initial delight from this experience and not searching for the nitty-gritty of stuff. It’s beautifully done, It’s funny and surprising - isn’t that enough?
Comments 4
It’s that old devil called subjectivity again…I’m glad you raised this because I was blown away with it. I never bother with advertising online, maybe 3 or 4 clicked follow throughs in the last few years. Yes, I think online advertising mostly sucks and there is so much that can be done…absolutely loads.
This execution lured me in from a tinyurl link on a popbitch email. Again, I never follow them through but I’m interested in the Nokia brand, and the teaser line was enough to arouse my curiousity.
Executionally I found it one of the most polished interactive interfaces I’ve ever come across. Really well thought out touches. No excess, which is crucial, and maybe the killer for me, I found it highly funny.
I was so impressed I wanted to find out who did it and I’ve not found out yet. So if you know. Do let me know I’d appreciate it very much.
Posted 28 Mar 2007 at 7:16 pm ¶Hi Charles,
It’s absolutely slick.
I can’t remember anything as polished as that. Almost over polished if you see what I mean.
It’s over-something which I cannot really articulate.
I think it’s a Swedish agency called FarFar:
http://www.farfar.com/
Posted 29 Mar 2007 at 3:25 pm ¶Brilliant. Thanks for that. I think part of the appeal is that I got into it via a bona fide lead generation, it’s easy to review stuff with a communications head on and not so easy to slip into I’m-engaged-now-delight-me. The more stuff I see and consume the more I want an elevator pitch for everything and this did it for me. I’ll take a look at farfar.com looks like they know an Ealing comedy or two
Posted 29 Mar 2007 at 5:47 pm ¶With the Nokia gang today and talking about this with another fan of the execution mate. Life goes full circle again
Posted 05 Oct 2007 at 8:32 am ¶Post a Comment