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it's 2007, and time for me to flirt with blogging in a different way. no more pointless droning [vow to only drone with excellent points], particularly when the meat [or soy] of the post is the multimedia content. which in this case, it isn't.
for a blog ostensibly about sharing, it's fair to say that i'm not exactly leading by example. until now, i was emailing this crap to friends...and trying to reserve the blog for my own multimedia projects. we all know how that's working. so...this effort is their amnesty. no more clogged inboxes with hilarious/harrowing videos.
the meat: check out how group94 [an obscenely talented, award-winning web design firm out of Belgium] turns a failed promise into a opportunity. sometime last year, they asserted that they would launch a new website of their own on [or by] January 11th. this plan wasn't realized, but instead of just letting the date pass quietly, they emailed their entire subscriber base to actually remind them of the failed promise. bold, yes, but they turned a pretty neat trick in the process. like a comedian who proves his/her talent through self-deprecation, group94 just accomplished the following:
- they put a human face on their company, which is a particularly good idea when that face is attractive and it's voice genuine/personable, as is the case with the maligned Project Manager, Tamara Schauvliege,
- they made me laugh - group94 seems like a fun place to work, or work with,
- they implied that their site always takes a back seat to YOUR site, by listing & linking to four other client sites they've been working on,
- they demonstrated the power & value of the moving image as a storytelling device, and their chops at delivering it in interesting ways [the full browser view was great, and the overlaid lines felt like more of a design touch than the more likely effort to distract from grain when delivering flash video at that resolution].
personally, my two favourite touches are the beginning, where her bosses seem to almost force her into the chair [as if it's a hostage video], and the part where her follow-up promise on when the new site will finally launched is bleeped out. but beyond simply seeing an engaging video & laudable communications tactic, i'd suggest you take the opportunity to check out some of their work. it dazzles.
