Random Culture

Beautiful Sites: Adobe Cards

Adobe has launched a new website at: www.adobecards.com to promote Creative Suite 3. The site starts with a single card, and as you move the scrollbar to the right, advances through a beautiful animation sequence. The site was created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

The Never Ending Web Page: Orange UK

Orange UK has launched a new website, created by Poke London. According to Ian Tait, one of the founding partners of Poke (who also writes a great blog), it's a "never ending web page." The site can be found at: www.goodthingsshouldneverend.co.uk. It may appear at first that there's not much there, but dig around a bit, and you'll find lots of things to click on.

Arcade Fire: Interactive Music Video

I don't know what to call this other than an "interactive music video", but it's amazing. The site, built for the Arcade Fire for the song "Neon Bible", allows visitors to interact while the song is playing. But the site guides the user as well as allowing interaction, and the possibilities of what you can do change in conjunction with changes in the song. This is a must see... no word on who created the site.

Halo 3: Believe

A new site has been launched to promote Halo 3, which will be released later this month. It's a great interactive experience that focuses on a fictional "diorama" memorial created in the future to commemorate the war between humans and aliens. The site includes video and some interesting ways to navigate.

Visit Halo 3: Believe, here.

No word on who created the site, but I'm betting that some resourceful readers have the answer!

Creating Flash Advertising

A co-worker of mine, Jason Fincanon, has just published a book that I feel is worth recommending. It's entitled "Creating Flash Advertising", and definitely stands out among existing Flash books. Why? Because it's targeted at advertising folks, and specifically addresses the types of things we're interested in, like Flash ad units, microsites, using video and more. Sure, I'm biased because I work with Jason, but he's filled a niche that wasn't being addressed, which is why you should totally buy it.

Good Site Friday

Couldn't just post one good site this Friday... there were more than a few worth mentioning.

Universe: By Jonathan Harris for Daylife: Great site that allows you to discover current news like you're traveling through the universe.

Twittervision: Nice mashup between Google Maps and Twitter... yes, you can stare at it for a long time, and there seems to be a ton of activity in Japan.

CozmoTV: Interesting site that allows users to create "channels" that pull video from sites such as YouTube and MySpace videos. I like the aggregation angle.

Wieden + Kennedy Redesign

After several years with the same minimal, stark website, Wieden + Kennedy has launched a new redesigned site. As you can see, it's quite a drastic change. Definitely not your average agency site.

Mini: Hammer & Coop

Mini has launched a new website, Hammer and Coop. It's basically a parody of shows like Starsky and Hutch, mixed with a bit of Knight Rider influences. Definitely worth checking out. I also noticed that the actor who played "Ogre" in Revenge of the Nerds also appears... 80s anyone?

Link via Adverblog.

Wrangler Europe

Wrangler has launched a good-looking new site in Europe. Check it out at eu.wrangler.com. No word on who designed the site.

Converse Russia Site

This is an amazing site for Converse in Russia. Sure, you might not be able to understand what the heck is going on, but this is quite a unique site that's fun to explore. Definitely worth checking out.

Designed by the folks at Red Keds Studio in Moscow.

On Toyota's Mind

Toyota has launched an interesting new multi-lingual brand site, called "On Toyota's Mind." The site is mostly about things like innovation and the environment. Definitely worth checking out. Designed and built by  Swedish interactive design firm North Kingdom.

Comcast: Fear.net

On Monday, Comcast launched a great new site, Fear.net. It's a community site for fans of horror movies, featuring news, a horror movie database, game and downloads. The best part about the site, however, is that they're offering visitors the ability to view several full-length horror films directly on the website. New films are featured each month.

In addition, the site is well designed, and features some great flash. I'm impressed that this is a Comcast site, since it stands alone as a great community site serving horror movie fans. It should be noted that this is a cross-media effort, since the movies are available on the website, as well as Comcast On Demand and via mobile as well.

Link via Jupiter Analyst Todd Chanko.

Wendy's: Bureau for Better Value

Wendy's has launched a new microsite, The Bureau for Better Value, to showcase their value menu. The site includes some nice video and flash integration. As a part of this campaign, the Bureau for Better Value has also created an account on YouTube, with a number of videos they've uploaded to support the campaign. You can access all the YouTube videos here, and I've pulled out a couple of them for you to watch below.

Link via AdJab

New Demetri Martin Website

Comedian Demetri Martin has launched a new website. You may know him from his "trendspotting" segment on the Daily Show. The site has some great content, including video. Oddly enough, is sponsored by Windows Vista... go figure.

Link via Zach Klein.

Audi R8 Website

Audi has unveiled the new R8, and has released a great microsite to spread the word. It features some nice video and flash integration. Definitely worth checking out. No word on who created the site.

Link via Signal vs. Noise.

Flashforward Winners

Flashforward, which is happening right now in Austin, has announced the winners of the 16th Flashforward Film Festival. You can view a complete list at the Flashforward blog.

Here are couple highlights of some great work from the winners. Some you may be familiar with, and other you may not:

Online Application: Orange UK "Online Phone Trainer"

People's Choice: Comcast "The Fan"

Commerce: Reisenthel Accessories

New Playstation 3 EU Site

Sony has launched a new site for the Playstation 3 in the European Union. Despite the horrible new tagline for the PS3, "This is Living", the site is very interactive, and features interesting navigation. Definitely worth checking out.

Nokia 6131

Nokia has launched a great site in Ireland for the 6131. It's very clean, but with some fun interaction. The soundtrack might start to get on your nerves after a few minutes, but it's worth a look.

Ghost Rider Website

Check out the website Sony Pictures created for the upcoming comic book adaptation movie, Ghost Rider. Good integration of video and flash, and there's even a fairly entertaining flash game.

Flash 10th Anniversary Website

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Flash, Adobe has launched a website that charts the history and future of the application. You can check out some of the more notable websites that have been created with flash, product improvements over the years, and much more.

Publicis Net Redesign

Publicis Net, in France, has launched a great redesign of their site. Check out the site, and you'll also find a blog for the agency, BadBadBlog. Although I'm a little perplexed by their choice of name, I think it's great to see more agencies blogging.

New Diesel Site: Diesel Heaven

Diesel has launched a new section of their site, called "Diesel Heaven." It's got some nice video/flash integration, and I have to say, it's straight up strange. Who knew heaven had a VIP door?

Beautiful: Hope Garden

Hope Garden is a beautiful site from BSD Medical, a cancer treatment company in Salt Lake City, Utah. The site offers a way for those fighting cancer, or loved ones to "plant" virtual flowers and leave messages. Plant your own flower or look through those already in the "garden."

No word on who built this for them. Anyone know?

Update: Paul Mayne writes in to let us know that BSD's ad agency is Richter7, and he confesses to building it.

MGM Grand Website

Great website for the MGM Grand. Make sure you check out the "Maximum Vegas" section. It's got great integration of video and flash.

New Nike Air Site

Nike has launched a really nice looking new site for Nike Air. It's good because it's beautiful, although you might get bored pretty quickly.

I hear that Big Spaceship was involved in creating this one.

Great Site for New Volvo C30

Volvo has just introduced a new low-cost compact 2-door car, the C30. As a part of this campaign, they've launched a nice website that takes the "sneak peek" metaphor literally. No word on who created the site.

Link via 37Signals.

The Vodaphone Journey

Vodaphone has launched a great looking site integrating video and flash. It's built really well, easy to use, and even though I was in the "high bandwidth" experience, it loaded very fast for me. See it for yourself at: Vodafonejourney.com.

Update: Llamamelola.com points out this site was created by North Kingdom.

Travelers In Synch

Travelers Insurance has launched a great site: Travelersinsynch.com. What, an insurance company with a good site... that's crazy. One of the particularly great sections, pictured above, is their "In-Synch Challenge", which features some great 3D and flash that teaches companies about minimizing risk in the workplace. The subject might be boring, but the design and interactivity is excellent. Thanks to Robert for the heads up!

Orbit Gum: Get A Call From Snoop Dogg

Orbit Gum has teamed up with Snoop Dogg and created a great promotional website: Orbit Gum: Goodcleanfeeling.com. On the site, visitors can enter a phone number to receive a call from Snoop, or a number of other prerecorded voice message. The site's really well designed, with great use of flash and video. One of the neat aspects of the site is a password protected area that can only be accessed by people who get a password from the call. It's a nice touch.

I can testify for how engaging this type of phone feature is. We used it several years ago on a website in support of Home Depot's ESPN College Gameday sponsorship. Visitors to the site could receive or send a call from Lee Corso, one of the hosts. It was the most popular feature on the site. If you're interested in the technology, check out eStara, they provide it.

Thanks to Robert for the heads up!

Motorola Q Website

Motorola has launched a great new site for the Motorola Q device. Lots of 3D and video, and tons of interactivity. So much interactivity, in fact, that you might have a hard time keeping the interface still enough to click on what you want to... but we'll forgive them. It looks amazing.

2006 BMW 3 Series Microsite

BMW has launched a great microsite for the 2006 BMW 3 Series. The site looks great, utilizing lots of 3D renderings of the car, and also has a ton of video content. Beyond that, I was really impressed by the sound used throughout the site.

No word on who created this site for them. Anyone know?

WAMU: TrappedBanker.com

Washington Mutual has launched a great site to accompany their ad campaign featuring old, greedy bankers. Visit TrappedBanker.com to check it out. It's very well done, integrating video shot specifically for the site that allows you to ask the "trapped" bankers questions, even learn more about a few of them. If you don't ask them questions, they get impatient and yell at you.

Link via AdLand.

Wow. TacoBell.com Redesigns!

I never thought I would say this, but the Taco Bell site looks great! Redesigned by KNI.

Also, check out a new microsite for Taco Bell, Dress the Sauce.

Nokia Viral: Pjotro

"Pjotro - The man with the musical suit" is a new viral site promoting the new Nokia N91, a portable music focused device. The website centers around Pjotro, a man who's built a suit that creates music as he dances. You customize his dance moves to get different sounds.

The site's really well done, and fun to explore.

Link via Adverblog.

T-Mobile World Cup Site

T-Mobile in the UK has launched a site for their 2006 FIFA World Cup sponsorship. It's a well done site that includes all the normal sponsorship items, like registration for contests, games and more. Of course, it also contains a number of mobile features, including sign up for alerts and mobile content based on UK clubs. Visit the site here.

Great Site: Brainfood

I ran into my friend Eric at a coffee shop this weekend, and he reminded me that his company, Brainfood, had redesigned their website. Brainfood is an interactive shop here in Dallas, and they do some great work.  The new site is a testament to that, full of flash goodness, and they even started some blogs. Check it out at: www.brainfood.com.

Toyota Yaris Site

Toyota has launched a great "digital city guide" site for their new Yaris, that includes some pretty cool video. You can check it out at: toyota.com/yaris. The site also has MP3 downloads, buddy icons and several "guides" to download. Created by Hello and Saatchi LA.

New Peroni Site

Peroni has launched a great new website for the beer at: Peroniitaly.com. It's a flash site with some interesting 3D navigation. Part of the site is dedicated to their new advertising campaign as well, including a video and audio podcast. It's worth taking a look.

The Greatest Advergame... Ever

As a promotion for the anime show Samurai 7, IFC has created one of the greatest advergames I've ever seen, Samurai Kittens: www.samuraikittens.com.

Link via Adverblog.

Altoids.com Redesigns!

Altoids has been doing web design right for a while now. Their sites have always been well designed, very interactive and most of all... entertaining. Get ready for more of the same. Altoids.com has been redesigned around a musical/carnival/freakshow kind of theme.

Visit www.altoids.com to see the new site.

The only thing I'm a little disappointed in is the quality of some of the video "characters" on the site. Some of them look pretty low resolution, and in comparison to the photography and design on the rest of the site, this doesn't come off very well.

Link via Adland.

Red Bull: Flugtag Game

Flugtag is defined as "an event in which competitors attempt to fly in homemade flying machines." And oh yeah, it's usually off a pier into the water. This is a real event that Red Bull puts on in various cities.

To promote the event, you can try your luck at Flugtag in a simple but well done flash game created by The Barbarian Group.

Link via Adverblog.

Diesel Jewelery Site

Diesel has launched a new jewelery line, and a new site for the effort: Diesel.com/jewellery. It's certainly a unique site in the jewelery retail space. The site was created by hi-res and Geoff  Lillemon from Oculart.

Does it tell you anything about the jewelery? Not really, but it certainly lets you see the product, and gives you a feel for the style they're going for. Since Diesel really only sells watches online, they don't need to be bogged down with "product information" or a "shopping cart."

Saab AeroX Site

Great use of 3D and flash on this new microsite for Saab's AeroX concept car. This isn't your ordinary Saab, and it's worthy of their new "born from jets" tagline.

BMW + Joshua Davis = Rad

BMW has launched a site for what they're calling the "Z4byJD" project. They comissioned well known digital design superstar Joshua Davis (of Praystation fame), to create a series of limited edition digital prints based on the new BMW Z4 coupe. I think Joshua also built the site, which can be found at: z4byjd.com

On the site, you can view a "making of" movie, download some wallpapers, learn about the new Z4 coupe... and oh yeah, you can actually buy one of the unique prints. But get ready to shell out some dough. It will cost you about $280. So BMW gets to recoup some costs as a part of the campaign!

McDonalds 2.0

McDonalds is trying to change their image. People like me decided to stop eating their food after watching Supersize Me. What better way to change your image than to redesign your drab, static website into an interactive wonderland? That's what McDonalds Australia has done.

The interactivity is nice, but I'm not a big fan of the cheesy stock photos they're using. The hamburglar is much more interesting.

NBC & Visa Olympic Advergames

NBC has their Olympic efforts fully underway. Last night while watching TV, I saw an NBC commercial promoting some online Olympic sports games that looked fun. So I headed over to NBCOlympics.com to check it out. Of course, the homepage is crowded with so much stuff that I had to dig a little to find them.

The games are really sponsored by Visa. I didn't see much NBC branding when I got into the game. There are 3 games: bobsled, snowboard cross and giant slalom. The games look great, but you'd better have some serious bandwidth to load them. You should have IE as well, because these games don't work in Firefox. Argh.

I'm not even going to talk about the blog effort I saw on the NBC Olympics site, because I'm trying to stay positive. Double Argh.

Mini Dominatrix

Crispin Port... who? Mini Canada launches on their homepage a showcase of how the car "dominates" winter conditions. Created by Taxi.

Link via Adverblog.

Ketchup can be Beautiful

The Heinz Sweden site is proof that you don't need a cool product to make a great looking site. Smooth flash and great photography make this site a must see. Created by the folks at Daddy.se.

Lufthansa "Swinging Santa"

It may not be the greatest name... Lufthansa's "Swinging Santa" is a holiday flash game that lets users build a movie of Santa dancing, with a customized series of dance moves and music. Because when I think Lufthansa, I think disco Santa.

Eminem.com Redesign

Whether you're into the music or not, the new Eminem site is worth a look. The navigation is an exploration of interactive flash video, where users find items to learn more.

Thanks for Frances for the heads up.

Starbucks: What Makes Coffee Good

I just posted about Starbucks, I know... but I have to mention them again. This time, it isn't for holiday marketing, but for a great microsite they've launched. What Makes Coffee Good is great site that takes a behind the scenes look at exactly that. The site was created by the oh-so-wonderful Second Story Interactive, who are pretty much legendary for all the award winning work they've done for National Geographic and others.

Link via Adverblog.

Holiday Site for Coke Poland

Coca-Cola has launched a nice little holiday microsite in Poland. It features a number of interesting advergames... and you don't have to be fluent in Polish to figure them out.

Link via Adverblog.

Nothing Stays Lost Forever

Nothing Stays Lost Forever is a sweepstakes with an interesting advergame for the new Sci-Fi Channel show, The Triangle. It's an interesting game worth checking out, particularly for something that's not your average advergame.

Thanks to Luba from Firstborn Multimedia for the link.

Borders Holiday Marketing

You may remember last year, Borders had one of the better holiday marketing sites, the "Giftmixer 3000." This year, they're following suit, launching SeasonofSurprises.com. It's a gift selector as well, but with an eye towards the people you're finding gifts for... their personalities and tastes. The site is well designed with some great illustrations, and is definitely worth checking out. Borders has set the bar once again.

New Hyundai Azera Site

The agency I work for just launched a new site for the Hyundai Azera. It's a new model released to compete with cars such as the Toyota Avalon, Nissan Maxima and the Ford Five Hundred. The Azera beats them all in terms of safety features, interior space and price. It's worth checking out.

Thanks for allowing me a bit of shameless self-promotion.

The Samsung D600 Mystery

Samsung has launched a new site for the D600. It's a great looking site that's got good interactivity as well. Users must solve a mystery, and at the same time learn about the features of the phone. And it looks like a pretty nice phone. Oh yeah, this site is NOT for the faint of bandwidth.

Site by Perfect Fools, out of Stockholm. You may recognize some of their other work.

Honda Element & Friends

The Honda Element and Friends website is a fun interactive experience. Drive a 2006 Honda Element around a map, meeting animals and playing short games. Not sure when this was made, but this is the first time I've seen it, and it's worth a look.

New Ford Focus ST Site

Ford has launched a new site for the Ford Focus ST in Europe. The site is definitely geared towards the broadband user, and not for the faint of fiber.

Saab Animal Vision

This has got to be one of the coolest microsites I've seen in a while. Saab's "Animal Vision" is very simple, but the overall idea is really strong, and the use of video shot uniquely for the site is impressive. Kudos Saab... this is nice.

Vodaphone "Mayfly"

Vodaphone "Live 24 hours" is a good looking site from Vodaphone. The site is in conjunction with their commercial about the short life of the Mayfly, and the lessons we can learn from that. While I think the direct connection to Vodaphone is pretty weak, I found the site entertaining. Users can "create" a mayfly with a personalized message, and I spent some time digging around and reading them.

Black & White 2 Site

Black & White 2 was released at the beginning of October, and somehow I missed this site. It's a great site that reflects the game play by using a hand instead of a mouse arrow. For those of you unfamiliar with the Black & White series of games, dig into the the site to find out more.

Link via AdJab.

Microsoft Good Design?

Wow... It looks like Microsoft actually launched a good looking site. The "going beyond" site is a well designed flash site about where Microsoft has been, and where they're going. While I think it looks nice, that's cheapened a little by cheesy photography and an equally cheesy soundtrack. Still, it's a step up for Microsoft.

Kiwi Online Films

Kiwi has launched a new site for their "Kiwi Express" shoe polish. The site features 3 well animated short films to watch. Cannon, the first film, is available to watch now. Two others will be released in the coming weeks.

I'm biased on this one since the agency I work for designed and built the site. But it's been fun to work on, and the designers and flash guys did a great job on it.

Great Site: Comcastic!

Comcast has launched a new site, Comcastic.com. It's a great flash site, with some fun features, like games and interactive puppets. The connection with Comcast may be a little thin, particularly with the puppets, but the site is engaging.

Specialized: Body Geometry

Specialized has launched a cool microsite for their Body Geometry line of gear. The site features an "invisible" man character that you can interact with. This is a slick, slick site... a must see.