Heavy Petting #3: Pets or Food?

I'm having a bit of a holiday this week, so updates will be spotty until next monday.

But, I am leaving this here with you...the comments are the best part :)

http://petsorfood.com/



/.chow.\

Heavy Petting #2: Alpo

My hundredth post! Can I get a bow wow?

Dogs trust Alpo. I think it's right up there with dead squirrels.

I was happy to find a few things going on here. But first things first....this gave me a laugh ->

Hot-spots on dog food! Is there no end to the universal usefullness of the hot-spot? It's as if..the hot-spot is the duct tape of the web!

Anyway, Alpo's writing a book called Real Dogs Eat Meat, and they took stories from people about their dogs. Sounds familiar (see last post below). I do think this is perhaps a better execution, as they end up with a tangible product that they can resell back to us. Smart puppy.

A game! I wish I had a "game alert siren". This one is your very basic "memory match" game. However, they have a great payoff - you can download and print out a coupon. Granted the coupon isn't that great, but it's the thought that counts. I think they should beef up the reward and make it a coupon book or something. They're on to something here. I have yet to see a game that offers a reward..most are self-indulgent "hope they waste time on my site" wastes of time.
I'm a gamer and quite addicted to Xbox Live achievement points -- which are used for nothing. I hope we see more of this kind of thinking.

/.chow.\

Heavy Petting #1: Fancy Feast

Every week I think I've ran out of commercially advertised products, and every week I manage to dig up something. I have got to be getting close to the bottom of this barrel.

I'm not sure how interesting Pet Food sites will turn out to be. Judging by what I know of the pet social scene online, I would imagine a lot of manufacturers would be focusing on Twitters/Facebook/Youtube.

Not so much with Fancy Feast, the first product this week.

Fancy Feast lavishes you with large luscious (dare I say fancy?) flashy masthead action. Nothing else, but get a load of that crystal feeding dish. That fucking cat eats better than I do. Although, it does look like it's full of brains.

The Confessions of Love page asks you to submit/write a memory of your cat onto a postcard. It's got the usual things, like picking a background for the card, sending to a friend etc. One thing that caught my eye was this - "Your confessions will appear here on the site and maybe in more surprising places."

A few ideas on where those "surprising places" would be:

1. Part of the Ransom Note you find in place of your cat
2. Carved into a dog
3. Behind the toilet

/.chow.\

Eau De #4: Airness

The last stop in my look into the perfume/cologne arena is, again, in France. And this site is definitely completely in French (unlike last week's false alarm).

The Airness-Attraction Day site is comprised mainly of a interactive video story:

I will warn you, the intro involves a man topless, parkour and a panther. Once you get past that (and feel less vomitey - due to the cheese factor), the video is quite epic at times.

Like most interactive video sites, the movie plays to a certain point and then offers you choices:

I do not speak french, so I have no idea where I kept going, but the elevator scene is nice. I will be honest, there is a part of me that, due to this being french, I was hoping things would take a turn to the ... more expressive? It doesn't, oh well.

The end surprised me. It was a mini-game you play to seduce the girl. This is a true test of a game, can you understand how to play without knowing the language? Took me twice to win ze lady.

Games are the language of love. Or something.

/.chow.\

Eau De #3: Cacharel Scarlett

Two people can keep a secret, if one of them is dead - The Pierces

Or if one of them cannot read French. I'm not 100% completely absolutely sure this is a perfume site, but it does have words like Eau De, and Fragrance. And it's hot in a soft, feminine way, which screams (or rather giggles) perfume to me.

HA. There's an english version to the site. Here I thought I was peeking into the bedroom of a french girl. God, that sounds bad. *cough. Ok.

With no real prompt or introduction, the Scarlett site places you in the middle of a woman/girl's boudoir. While their target is obviously very focused, I couldn't help being a bit drawn in. The tiny dots around the room bring up soft fluid glimpses into this persons (your) life.

Arrows on either side bring all portions of the room into view.

In addition to the bedroom is the "Wall of My Life". It's basically a scrap-booking app, to upload photos (which you can add tape too), or create your own images with the drawing tools. Nowhere in this is there an Ad for the perfume. You do not make a wall that is an ad for this product.

If you happened to have read the last two posts, I swear I didn't set this up. Where the last two sites were self-involved, this one is you-centered. The former made it plain that it was about the brand, the latter about me. When the other sites use CTA's like "Discover" and "Experience", this one embodies both those actions and leaves the rest to you.

/.chow.\

Eau De #2: Davidoff

Yesterday we "experienced". Today we "Discover". It's like there was a deal struck between the copy-writers for these sites. Tomorrow maybe we'll find the "Explore" site.

Today is Davidoff, of such colognes as Cool Water, and Adventure. The Adventure microsite was indeed a discovery for me. I did not expect it. In hindsight, maybe my sarcasm was uncalled for.

The Adventure site is a collection of full-screen video clips that act as the only real content in each section of the site. The History section above is what you see, plus a few words including Exoticism, which I did not know was a word. Another discovery!

The site is full of video clips and just tiny bits of copy. I must admit, it's got a certain charm to it.
I grudgingly admit that I "discovered". There was thought put into this, and it was refreshing to see.

and then I moved on to some of the other Davidoff fragrances. And I found this little number:

This is a "send a postcard" app. The premise is that you send someone you love or secretly admire a postcard....of some douche sitting on a bed in a suit and a bottle of cologne in the foreground.

Couple this type of thing with each fragrance having a prominently displayed "Advertisment" section, wherein lies the commercials or print ads for the product, AND words like modernity...and you begin to think that these fragance companies are self-obssessed, narcissitic cockdonkeys.

But, i've only visited two major sites this week. I'm sure I will be proven wrong with the next site I visit. I'm sure.

/.chow.\

Eau De #1: Calvin Klein

The was a time when the word "experience" meant something online. Now it means you're going to see a few images, and maybe hear a song.

Exhibit A: Experiencing Calvin Klein CKFree

The best thing to do with a large pretty picture is stick a box of content over top of it.

Having a section dedicated to your Ads, and blessing someone with the chance to download the ads for wallpaper sets the right tone.

Now offer me the chance to put my own picture above your ad, while listening to U2, and send the postcard and the song along to my friends.

It's like some creepy guy has slobbered all over my brain, stuck his picture in my pocket, and gave me permission to tell my friends about him.

/.chow.\

Vroom #3: All State and Harley Again

There isn't much going on in Motorcycle land. At least here in America.

Harley has a Choose Your Own adventure video site up in Europe.

Create your Perfect Harley-Davidson Weekend. Tour around little towns in europe, camp, etc. How quaint... There isn't any real product info, and all you see are some quick cut shots of a bike. Maybe there's more at the end ... but like any trip, I usually vere off and head for the local pub and never come back out. cheers.

I will probably not being doing a series on the Insurance industry. Something tells me that it would be another boring week. But All State does have some interesting things going on, coicidentally around motorcycles.

At the All State Garage you can build your dream bike from the ground up. While you're picking parts, they use the time to tell you facts regarding All State insurance. Smart use of the journey.

again, i didn't follow through to the pay-off. it's friday!

/.chow.\