Seen in Contagious Magazine
Don’t get us wrong, we have nothing against a ponderous Garrison Keillor narrative, and we can almost stomach Alesha Dixon gyrating in front of a band playing instruments made from parts of a Ford Focus. Almost. (See link below for ref.) However, the relevance (or rather lack-of) car advertising is a pertinent question - after all, this is a large, utility-based purchase which normally costs in excess of $30k, so surely the adverts should tell consumers at least something useful about the actual product itself? As three new web sites launch for three popular small cars, this question is once again thrown into relief - style or substance - informative or irrelevant?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB_At5qfddQ
The first, created by JWT, Brazil, is for the launch of the new South American Ford KA. Visitors to the site are invited to upload and paste a picture of themselves onto the body of a bee, a grasshopper or an ant. This insect can then be used to navigate across the laterally-scrolling web page which looks like a cross between the car’s dash board, a Salvador Dali painting and a Monty Python animation - all surrealist landscapes and bizarre cut-outs. There is even a mini-game section where you can pit your insect against what looks like a kung fu potato in a pillow fight. Amazing.
www.itsclicktime.com/2008/fordka/website/
The second example we’ve come across is that from BSSP, Sausalito, CA - The MINI Carfun Footprint Calculator. We like a ruddy good play-on-words as much as the next B2B intelligence-briefing publication, however the site itself left us a little perplexed. Using results from two separate surveys - one on customer enjoyment and one on green capabilities, this website will calculate how fun AND eco-friendly your car is. Presumably, this intends to steal some of the limelight away from manufacturers such as Honda, who's eco-credentials are not necessarily matched by their sex-appeal. However, what exactly does the Carfun Calculator tell us? That a Mini convertible is cuter than a Honda Civic? You don't say guys.
Imagine our glee therefore when we stumbled across truthaboutsmart.co.uk - the new UK web site for the Smart Fortwo city car. Created by Agency Republic, London, the site is led by a very friendly, yet informative narrative - imagine that favourite teacher from school who could always tell you that you were being a complete thicko without making you feel stupid... However, this website does rely firmly on users getting things wrong - more specifically, by subscribing to the misconceptions about the Smart Fortwo. These are challenged in a series of five films which tackle everything from interior space to crash safety and fuel consumption. After explaining the vehicle's capability in each, a multiple-choice question is then posed. Users are expected to underestimate the Fortwo and are therefore pleasantly surprised to find out that you can fit a tumble dryer in the boot or travel from London to Scotland on one tank of petrol...
Perhaps we’re being a little harsh on the other two, but as obvious as it may sound, consumers visit vehicle web sites to find out more about the vehicles - not to pander to the irrelevant flash-enabled musings of a creative team. We live in an age where prospective buyers are forced to look beyond cute and and consider the environmental impact of their new vehicle as well as how safe and affordable it is. For this reason, we put Smart straight to the top of the Contagious class...
