Website Reviews 30 Mar

Gawker
www.gawker.com

When does a trend become a bandwagon? When does a scoop become old news? Answer: in the time it takes the average person to type 140 characters.

Yes, back on planet Twitter it's been a busy old week (and it's only Monday). It seems that Twitter has exploded and it's no longer a novelty to tweet (or twit as someone mistweeted themselves recently, to coin a phrase). Twitter is everywhere. Follow me on Twitter is this years must have accessory for all discerning websites.

Crossing over into mass media is no bad thing - it speaks to the utility value of the medium and the passion people have for it. Like text messaging, I predict this will run and run. It's unlike Mobile TV or Video Calling which are still clunky and expensive and never going to be mass market services, certainly not this year or next. Twitter is the new thing and here to stay. Let me tell you some highlights about my day on Twitter:

• An ex-colleague tweeted a link to a picture of himself following several hours spent in the icy hills over the weekend - not pretty.


• Another ex-colleague posted the following link with the comment - OMFG. I'll leave it to you to work it out, but the picture will give you a clue: London Underground Map (on a shirt). What were they thinking?


• The ever funny Mr Fry posted a picture of himself in a sarong about to enter a temple and a further pic showing sign next to the temple in wonderful Engrish stating the rules for entering the temple.


• There are endless celebrities Twittering and some have been shown to be less online than others, with stories of Tweet-by-proxy, whereby an assistant tweets the details of the star. Gawker on related topics is funny.


• And finally, again from Gawker, the home of all that is bitchy and clever, comes the story of Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team who was fined for slagging referees through Twitter and then used Twitter to post his further thoughts on the matter. I love one of the comments on Gawker: Mark Cuban is the guy I'd most like to punch in the mouth.

I really do love Gawker (and the twin publication Deasdspin) for their persistent pursuit of celebrity car smashes and the crazy members of the public in thrall to the cult of celebrity. But most of all, I love Twitter for bringing all of this stuff directly into my world. What does tomorrow bring?

Website Reviews 27 Mar

Buscando Nubes (Searching for Clouds)
http://www.buscandonubes.com/

This is a great social networking / competition site from Vueling, a Spanish airline. The promotional site is well sign-posted from the main brand site and also linked from other social networking environments. The idea is to take a picture in a city that Vueling flies to (more details of Vueling routes on skyscanner.es) and edit the picture to feature the Vueling "cloud" image. Post the resultant picture to the site and you might win. You can browse other visitor pictures using Google Maps, zooming into a city to see the locations of pictures taken so far. You can also add comments to existing posts.

The promotional site follows the design elements of the main site and is well translated into popular European languages. Originally I thought there were no Vueling flights to or from the UK, as the route map and list of Vueling cities does not include any in the UK, however using their flight search both Gatwick and Heathrow airports appear, so not sure what that's all about. In any event the site is well translated for English visitors and hopefully there are plans to extend their route network further into the UK.

This is a nice execution based on a very simple idea. What I especially like is the restrained tone that Vueling have adopted - there is no pressure selling on the site, it succeeds by being novel and engaging - it doesn't need reversed out "SALE NOW ON" messaging to make a point - it makes a subtle connection with visitors and that most likely has a more lasting (and more positive) impact. The site encourages you to experiment, to play and that might be enough to create some separation in a very crowded market.

I don't have access to the Vueling digital strategy but this is above all a happy experience, it brings a smile to your face and I hope it succeeds. Perhaps the strategy was that simple?

This post is dedicated to my Uncle Alex who died this morning. I think of him with a smile always on his face and a welcome always in his voice and this happy site is a good match.

Website Reviews 25 Mar

Ada Lovelace Day

Apologies for being a day late, but here's a thought for Ada Lovelace Day, thanks to The Guardian. It's a great story and has afforded an opportunity for the press to celebrate the role of women in technology. Personally I think the mere fact of celebrating this tells a story: that there are not enough women working in technology. Successful women in technology is still a noteworthy subject. You don't hear of a "Celebrate men in technology day", probably because it would actually be "Celebrate talking in code whilst wearing a Metallica t-shirt and camouflage trousers day". Personally I've worked with a number of very talented women in technology, from Digital Producers and Copywriters to Project Managers and Engineers. Generally the attention to detail and focus has exceeded that of their male colleagues, myself included. Now, where was I ...

Picking up on an earlier post on the wonder of Twitter (yes, I know many are still undecided, but go with it people, it really is the future), I followed a link from @jearle, a former colleague and a moderately good SysAdmin (OK, a bloody good SysAdmin) offering a link to the following blog N2Teaching. This seems like a fine resource but it does have a slightly odd voice-over "are you a teacher too" or something like that. My view on instant audio or video is that is should "polite-load" - make its presence known but never autoplay - let the user engage. Anyhoo, the article links further to Weather Pixie a neat little site offering weather reports from about a kajillion locations worldwide and serving them up as little characters (see picture). You can customise your Weather Pixie and grab the code to post on your website or blog. Neat. Oh, and built by a woman. Happy Ada Lovelace day everyone.

Website Reviews 17 Mar

St Patrick's Day
For marketers, St Patrick’s Day is an unofficial day of general celebration in a way that St Andrew’s Day, for example, is simply not. And how do marketers celebrate? With an offer! So for today, St Patrick’s Day, let me share with you a few opportunities taken by marketers.

Firstly we have a Cheapflights email announcing discount flights by aerlingus.com. The promotion is a good link – Irish flag carrier airline is an obvious partner. The Cheapflights logo also has a couple of shamrocks added, which is perhaps a touch too much, as the headline offer is probably enough to establish the St Patrick’s Day linkage. The rest of the email has no mention of St Patrick’s Day and it might have been nice to have a deal for Dublin in the Deals section. There is a further mention of aerlingus.com deal but at a different price to the headline banner – which seems odd. Still, nice effort though.

NFL Shop picked up on St Patrick’s Day too but with no obvious linkage. “It’s St Patrick’s Day so that’s another excuse to email you with an offer”, seems to be the approach here. The email opens with a few selected items from the shop and lots of links to the very extensive NFL Shop. It’s certainly a deep discount and a strong call to action but the St Patrick’s Day link is very contrived. I do like the strong subject line though: “St. Patrick's Day Special - Take 30% Off Orders - Today Only”, which I suspect generated very good open rates. On the main site, the theme is carried forward with the same offer leading the landing page. Also noticed that the last purchase I made has been used to inform the selected items in the "shop window" which is simple but effective.

MSN gets in on the act by offering a Who is the Greatest Irishman vote for visitors. It’s labelled “MSN battle” which may just be a touch of hyperbole for such an unscientific and utterly pointless poll. Still, simple works and the call to action is strong enough to encourage people to take part and drive traffic to the next page. Slightly off-putting is the focus on Irishman – as if women are not considered. Or am I reading too much into it? Anyway, on reaching the next page it is a surprise to find the results of the poll so far appearing under the “battle”, in my case Bram Stoker versus Dermot Morgan. It would have been stronger with a cast-your-vote-and-then-see-the-top-ten mechanic.

Skyscanner launched a new top level domain for Ireland, just in time for St Patrick's Day. There's no obvious shamrocking of the site as that would be blatent jumping, bandwagon-wise. Instead this site gives you flight options to Dublin and other Irish cities from anywhere you could posibly be. If there's an airline that flies to or from Ireland, it'll be on the Skyscanner site.

This was a highly selective list but it does show brands getting in on the act with topical content for 17th March. As far as strategy goes, it’s either good timing or simple opportunism - take your pick. Go on, go on, go on.