The 65 Most Annoying things about the Web Today

Using the Web can still be a very annoying experience!

Poor Design

1. Illegible text. I can’t read that, it’s too small. And what on earth is that font called?
2. Busy backgrounds. Oh MySpace, why do you allow users to create profiles like that? My eyes hurt.
3. Obscure links. I’m confused, can I click on that or not? Oh I get it, you don’t want me to view other pages.
4. Flyouts that are too large. Holy crap Yahoo! This is a page within a flyout!
5. Drop-down menu navigation too many levels deep. OK, if I slowly move my mouse this way first… dammit Jim, I’m a doctor not a magician!
6. Complicated navigation. I just want to get to that page, the one over there! Oh I see, you want me to complete the maze first.
7. Abused centerpieces. Aren’t centerpieces supposed to serve as mechanisms for promotion, rather than areas to cram an entire page’s worth of content into itself? Call me an idealist, I guess.
8. Poor navigation labels. Give me a clue and use labels that make sense!
9. Clutter & chaos. With no emphasis or information hierarchy, it’s difficult for me to know what to look at, and what to do next.
10. Ugly WAPs. Many companies treat their WAP sites like a deformed step-child they keep in the basement.
11. Splash screens. Nice, a road block between your user and your home page.

Unfindable Information

1. Dysfunctional site search. (Sigh) Why didn’t this site just use Google?
2. Too many blog categories. Isn’t this what tags were meant for?
3. Contact info. I just want to speak to them on the phone! And when I say “them” i mean a human.
4. Invisible sign in. OK, so I registered, but how do I sign in?
5. Hidden account closure. I guess I’m a member for life now?
6. Unscannable info. I want to quickly know if this article is relevant. But alas, huge paragraphs, long headlines and no subheadings make for an unscannable chunk of data, and an indigestible piece of gristle.

No Content Strategy

1. No focus. Yada, yada, yada. Get to the point, what’s your message and what do you offer?
2. Spelling & grammar. Spelling mistakes are hard to forgive and really hurt credibility.
3. Ineffective product pages: What am I buying? Why should I buy this? Help me understand, and I’ll move down the purchase funnel!
4. Outdated. There’s nothing more thrilling than seeing a blog frozen in time. At some point, a landfill for websites is going to be needed.
5. Small photos. Why would I buy something I cannot see?

Auto-Behavior

1. Auto-playing home page video. Take note ESPN.com: the first thing I do when coming to your site is scramble to find the video pause button. And that’s when I’m surfing from home.
2. Auto browser resizing. And you did that because?
3. Customer service nags. Ironic really. Chat pop-ups appear like genies out of a lamp when I don’t need them.
4. Theme tunes. Got to love that auto-play music, especially when it cycles over and over and over, and over.
5. Auto opt-ins. It seems like an automatic opt-in is a contradiction in terms to me. No I don’t want your newsletter, and if I did, I’d opt-in.

Evil Forms

1. Unreadable captchas. Pure Evil. If I had a brick, why I would…
2. Too many fields. This is utterly exhausting. Oh forget it, I’m going to abandon this form.
3. Cryptic error messaging. OK, so I made a mistake. If you used English, I might be able to fix it.
4. No confirmation. Was I successful or not? I’m looking for anything here, a “thank-you”, a “job well done”, a “good boy”… anything that confirms the form was indeed a submitted form.
5. Too many constraints. I want to add my Canadian zip code, but you’re validating against the US format only!
6. Too small fields. How I’m supposed to enter my street address in that state-sized field?
7. The reset button. Do we really need this? I especially love it when I accidentally press “reset” instead of “submit”. It’s especially satisfying when it’s a long form.

Intrusive Advertising

1. Pop-ups. And that includes those fancy, flashy, moving, hard-to-close ones. Are you serious? This is 2009.
2. Interstitials. Thanks for adding another click and creating a barrier between me and your content! Give me a reason to leave, I dare you.
3. Flyouts via links in content. Oh darn, I didn’t know that was an ad! Thanks for punishing me.
4. Too may Google ads. I know there’s some content around here….
5. Long video pre-rolls. Is this ad ever going to end? Hang on; I forgot what video I clicked on.
6. The bus stop. Home pages that resemble bus stops — flyers, posters, graffiti all shouting at me. Sometimes, I swear I can even smell urine.

Accounts

1. Remembering user names and passwords. Seriously, how many do I need to keep track of? Just give me Facebook connect already!
2. Being forced to register for purchases. I just want to buy it, OK? Forget it, I’m going elsewhere.
3. Forced password reset. I just want to know my password! The one I chose but have forgotten. I know you know.
4. Getting locked out. I get the three-attempts-and-you’re-out idea, but it would be nice to know the rules before hand!
5. Password sent by “snail mail”. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. Should I expect a scroll to be delivered and read by a messenger?

Abuse

1. Spam. We still cannot cure this disease?
2. Viruses. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I’d say the anti-virus companies were creating these. You know, supply and demand and all.
3. Phishing. Particularly sneaky; and definitely a step beyond annoying.
4. Trolls on messageboards/blogs. Oh well, that’s life I guess – art imitating life and all.
5. Fake profiles. Am I following the real Steven Hawking on Twitter? It says here he went bowling last night.
6. Facebook app invitations. For the thousandth time, no I do not want to play Mob Wars, and no I don’t want a “pet in an egg” either.

Technology

1. Explorer 6. I speak for all developers here, if there’s a plug attached, please pull it. RIP Explorer 6.
2. Plug-ins. Not only do I have to download another plug-in, I have to keep these things current!
3. Entire sites built in flash. I don’t get it, why?
4. PDF overuse. Why couldn’t this PDF just be a web page?
5. Dell’s Netbook trackpad. Designed to be web browsing device, Dell’s Mini 10 trackpad has a trillion bells and whistles, but cannot fulfill basic tasks like moving the cursor from point A to point B without going to C first.
6. Small netbook screens. While mobile devices have optimized views for their screens, Netbooks and their 9 and 10 inch screens are caught in a weird place.
7. Inconsistent colors. Optimizing colors and contrast across both Macs and PCs is a designers nightmare.
8. Charging for Wi-Fi. Provide it free of charge, and the patrons will come!

Waiting

1. Slow page load. OK that’s it, I’ve been patient and their 3 seconds are up.
2. Comment approval. I thought, I articulated, I commented, I waited. Nothing. That will teach me to contribute.
3. Black-hole between ordering and shipping. I took me 5 minutes to order this laptop, why isn’t it getting shipped? Should I place my order again? Should I cancel this order? What’s the order status?
4. Twitter is down again. I’m starting to think this is a feature. One akin to a long line outside a trendy night club.
5. Customer service. Since I cannot get a human on the phone, a 24 hour response time to my e-mail is not acceptable. Well look at that, I guess you just quantified the value of my business.
6. Submission timers. I saw this really great article! I know, I’ll post it on Reddit. And there’s another one, I’ll post that on Reddit too. What, I have to wait 10 minutes to post another article? That will teach me to contribute.

Visit Sweden | Dave goes to Skåne

A witty little viral spots for the Visit Sweden tourism website. Targeting a UK audience.

Agency glue London

Animation 12foot6

Samsung | Master the Power of the Angles!

Gap | Born To Fit

The Facebook hub for Gap's "Born to Fit" 1969 premium jeans launch campaign.

The site delves into Gap's 1969 denim collection with a virtual runway and fit spotlight that show 360-degree views of the various jean styles and outfit suggestions, accompanied by commentary from designer Patrick Robinson.

Also featured are videos from Gap models and actors appearing in Gap ads. Users are also invited to upload their photos into a gallery with their own "born to" looks and share their own styles through Polyvore, an online image-mixing app.

See more of the 1969 campaign here.

Full Credits

Agency:

AKQA, San Francisco

Client:

Gap

Agency:

Laird + Partners

Category

Web Film, Website

Apple Tops Landor's 'Breakaway Brands' List

Over the past three years, Apple has both grown its brand the most and stayed true to what it stands for, according to a new ranking by Landor Associates.

Landor, working with AOL's Daily Finance, culled the list of Young & Rubicam Brands' Brand Asset Valuator to find what it calls the "Breakaway Brands of 2009." Landor looked at data over the past three years to determine which brands had the most sustained brand strength over that time.

Apple got the nod for the continued popularity of its iPod and iPhone, said Susan Nelson, executive director of consumer insight at Landor. "They were always differentiated, but not relevant," she said. "The iPod and iPhone made them relevant."

No. 2 on the list, Google, had the advantage of being the most recognizable brand in a growing medium, the Internet. More of a surprise was No. 3, Haagen Dazs. Nelson said that brand had fought a "cheesy [1980s] Dynasty-esque" brand image by releasing products that appeal to the health conscious (like the Five line made of five ingredients) and to gourmands (like its luxe Reserve line). Hallmark, meanwhile, got a shout out for seamlessly transitioning to the digital era. (Both Hallmark and the Super Bowl, which are mentioned in the top 10, are Landor clients.)

Nelson said she is just starting to see the impact of the recession, but the brands that have fared best are those with a value orientation or ones that anticipated the end of what she calls "the age of consumption."

Caples Awards

The only direct marketing awards show judged solely on creativity. The only direct marketing awards show judged solely by more than 80 top-level creative directors. The only direct marketing awards show to enter if you're only going to enter one.

Entry deadline: Monday, september 28.

Download your entry kit here:
Caples Awards

The Grid:::line by line

August 10, 2009 issue The cellular industry is one of the most competitive brand environments in the world, and South Africa is no exception. Vodacom fights tooth and nail to protect and grow market share against its closest competitor, MTN, and a couple of other market players. Advertising may be the most visible part of Vodacom’s marketing efforts to build its brand, but product development and innovation is where customers get to experience the magic.

A case in point is a brand experience where real and virtual worlds intersect, called The Grid. A mobile social network that allows users to chat with friends, locate them on a map and share media, The Grid is a first for the African continent. Part Facebook, part Flickr, and a dash of Twitter combined with a GPS-type navigation system, The Grid allows customers to share their lives in a mobile location-based matrix with all of their friends. The application is all about socializing on the go. If users want to have a cup of coffee with a friend, all they need do is log into The Grid to see which friends are nearby and tag the location of a nearby coffee shop. Then they send a coffee invitation with directions to tempt their mate to pop on over. If the coffee drinking duo wants more friends to join them, they can log in again and type up a blog, message or record a quick video and invite everyone who’s free and happens to be nearby. Because The Grid displays the user’s approximate position on a street map, everyone can easily see where friends are and what they are doing where. Users from any network can join in because the independent and network-neutral application was developed to showcase innovative new technologies to all South Africans. “There are several areas where users get significant value when interacting with The Grid,” says Vincent Maher, portfolio manager for social media at Vodacom. “The service enables low-cost and real-time conversations, as well as an opportunity to meet new people and interact with them via mobile phones. Then users can create the mobile equivalent of a blog by combining multimedia elements and maps to show where the content was created. The Grid is a highly social environment, and what we are seeing is that people love to share their experiences and contribute to creating a social map of their experiences across all walks of life in South Africa.” The Grid is offered as a free or value-added service to users, who only pay for the data usage from their mobile phone to access the service. “Right now people are using The Grid to meet and interact with friends and new people, and to share their experiences through photos and stories about the things they do in their day-to-day lives. The service is busy most of the day, but usage peaks in the evenings when people are home from work and relaxing,” Maher says. The winner of the New Telecommunications Service at the Comms MEA Awards—held to recognize outstanding performance in the Middle East and African telecommunications sector—The Grid’s branding plays a significant role in promoting the larger Vodacom brand as a technological mover and shaker. Not only does it underscore innovation as a key brand value, but it does so in a way that is completely experiential. What’s more, it is changing the way marketing is delivered by offering a new paradigm for brand messaging. “The Grid demonstrates how the physical and digital can be meshed to create a more compelling and relevant marketing message,” Maher says. “By tying location to the delivery of messages it means small businesses finally have a viable digital platform to advertise on, and this means that bigger brands can leverage multiple locations simultaneously to interact with their customers in an interesting, innovative way. There are a lot of very interesting ways that brands can leverage The Grid to integrate digital and mobile campaigns with the physical world. The revenue model has been developed in such a way that deeper integration can be done to encourage users to go to specific places as part of a promotion. Another element of the model is the ability to deliver location-targeted advertising, which makes the content of the ads more relevant. At the heart of The Grid is the digital marketing “holy grail”—the viral effect. “Usage is driven partly by viral growth as users invite their friends to join and partly by innovative media integrations,” Maher says. The more friends users have on The Grid, the more they can get out of the service and the more they can do with it. “The stickiness is directly connected to how many friends a user has and the quality of conversations. The ability to meet new people without revealing your mobile number is also very appealing and, as users become more advanced, they start to use the features like the street maps and content uploads,” he says. To launch the new service, Vodacom commissioned the world’s first geo-tagged documentary for mobile phones, which centered on the issue of youth culture in South Africa’s biggest urban township, Soweto. Called Mobikasi (literally translated this meansmobile township), the mobile documentary utilizes The Grid’s location-based service capabilities to tag real-life physical locations and link them to relevant content in the movie. When users look at the film, they can explore Sowetan youth culture on their mobile phones from anywhere in South Africa through The Grid’s map interface, or by physically touring the famous township and watching documentary clips on their phones at the locations where they were shot. Mobikasi features people, music, fashion, social issues and places of interest and is unique in that it is not linear in nature. Rather, Mobikasi splits the content up into 25 one-minute inserts, and each is geo-tagged to the location where it was shot. This means that viewers can now explore Soweto’s vibrant youth culture by virtually “traveling” through a mobile street map of the township and stopping off at points of interest to enjoy the short video clips about each destination. The mobile documentary has proved so successful that a second season of Mobikasi is on its way and will take place in other townships around South Africa. In short, The Grid is a smart social networking solution with a branding strategy and message that targets a continent where mobile connections are more pervasive than television, the radio or the Internet.

Where’s Tropic-Ana? Bring Her Back

We grew up and were always pals with Tropic-Ana. She not only graced the packages of Tropicana, but she was on the outside of the bright orange CSX freight trains that ran from Palmetto/Bradenton Florida to packaging plants up north.

Yes, she was topless, but somehow it was covered over by a nice sort of necklace that always stayed positioned PERFECTLY.

She was gradually phased out, somewhere in the 1990s

WorkSafeBC: Raise Your Hand

Raise Your Hand aims to create a youth movement around workers rights, utilizing themes of '60s and '70s rock and roll, youth empowerment and social activism. The anchors for the campaign are the website RaiseYourHand.com and an original song that serves as the campaign's anthem. Campaign teams have been setting up Raise Your Hand tents at youth-focused events around British Columbia. Brand ambassadors play the anthem, take photos of attendees to create customized buttons, and encourage people to record karaoke versions of the song, which are used as mashup-style videos posted to YouTube. All from Wasserman + Partners, Vancouver

Client: WorkSafeBC

Agency: Wasserman + Partners, Vancouver

Creatives:

Liam Greenlaw (Creative Director)

Terry Lin (Art Director)

Allen Forbes (Copywriter)

Claire Khan (Agency Producer)

Country: Canada

Other Credits:

Vice President and Managing Director: Pauline Hadley-Beauregard
Broadcast Producer: Kylie Leathem
Digital Producer: Liv Hung
Developer: Engine Digital
Media Planner: Antonella Frustaci
Brand Activation Team: Oliver Flaser, Anne Buch, Rachel Legge
Production Company: Craven Studios, Vancouver
Director: Liam Greenlaw
Director of Photography: Ian Kerr
Editor and company: Don Macdonell, JMB Post Production, Vancouver
Audio Post-Production Company: Davor Valuma, Wayne Kozak Audio Productions

The best User generated content

JK Wedding Entrance Dance



A Year of Lex

Louis Vuitton: Art, Fashion and Architecture

Louis Vuitton partners with artist Camille Scherrer to present the new "Louis Vuitton : Art. Fashion and Architecture" book. Discover the animated movie created by the talented young artist and witness the book come to life.

For more information, log on www.louisvuitton.com.
(Music : Darko Fitzgerald)

Wrigleys Gum:::Not just reality

Wrigley’s 5 Gum is a premium sugar-free stick gum that delivers a long-lasting flavour and a sensory experience with each flavour. So the ‘Rain’ flavour was a tingling spearmint, ‘Cobalt’ was a cooling peppermint, and ‘Elixir’ was a mouthwatering berry. There were also flavours that transformed halfway through chewing, so ‘Solstice’ started off feeling warm before turning cool and ‘Zing’ went from sour to sweet. This range of gums had a very strong visual identity and the brand message “rediscover your senses”. This was a gum which made a statement beyond just making your breath smell nicer after you’ve eaten onions.

The brand has launched a wide range of marketing activity, including a series of very strong TV ads, playing heavily on the sensory experience of the gum and appealing to teens and young adults. It also had a strategy to partner with cutting edge fashion brands, musicians, putting on a series of events featuring interactive artworks and hot DJs.

One of the most intriguing elements to the campaign was an augmented reality DJ application. The brand created “The 5 Mixer”, which allows people to mix together club music via Augmented Reality markers. Users print off four symbols from their computer, cut them out and position them in front of their webcam. There are 3 main markers that are linked to different tracks and a master marker that links them all together. Budding gum DJs can select between techno, electro and hip-hop music and then move the 3 markers away from the master marker at different angles and distances to change the volume and effects for each track. If one of the 3 track markers is moved towards the master, that track gets louder. Covering the symbol turns that track off completely and spinning the marker produces different sounds.

Unlike real mixing, it is impossible not to beat-match the tracks, but the results are varied and pleasing – especially for the wannabe DJs found inside most teenagers. Having mixed their track, users can upload their demo and have it rated by their peers. They can also share their mixing mastery with their friends on Facebook and other social networking sites.

BRAND:Wrigleys Gum

BRAND OWNER:The Wrigley Company

CATEGORY:Confectionery/ Snacks

REGION:France

DATE:Aug 2009 - Sep 2009

AGENCY:Exposure

MEDIA CHANNEL

Sleeping with the enemy: "Clients"

For advertising agencies may be the worst competition ever is emerging: The Clients...

Toyota just announced that they are launching two new marketing companies: one to "handle marketing within Japan" and another company to "carry out and assist global marketing." The new companies will "handle advertising, sales promotion and global marketing strategy" and "focus on marketing issues globally and help create a unified message." and bring in Toyota's more than $1 billion global advertising account in-house.

In addition, Hyundai also brought its advertising in-house ending its business with U.S. shop Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and transitioning creative duties to the agency called Innocean, owned and controlled by Hyundai's founding family.

There you have it! Another deadly threat for agencies.

Foster's speaks Australian again in new ads

Foster's isreturning to its classic "How to speak Australian" ad campaign for the U.S. market.

Adweek says the campaign, by Digitas in Chicago, "targets 25-34-year-old males ... but should also appeal to older consumers who remember the brand from the 1980s and '90s."

Created by Digitas in Chicago, the new 15-second commercials, like the original well-remembered ads, present humorously Australian definitions of various words. Each spot opens with a neon sign shaped like the continent and ends with the music of a didgeridoo and the "Australian for beer" tag over a visual of a hand slamming down the brand's frosted oversized can.

In one spot, a man in the outback gives incomprehensible driving directions as a voiceover explains the concept of GPS. In another ad defining the country's take on "Bailout," a man orders a beer at a bar without the money to pay for it, but the bartender gives it to him on the house.

"We're returning to TV largely because we want to reconnect with our target consumer and motivate the trade to activate the brand," said Doug Kooyman, Foster's brand director at MillerCoors in Milwaukee. "We've tried other tactics in the past, primarily point of sale and some online activity, but we have found that this vehicle, these 15-second spots, resonate with our consumers."

The campaign targets 25-34-year-old males, said Kooyman, but should also appeal to older consumers who remember the brand from the 1980s and '90s.

Foster's introduced "How to speak Australian" in a 1994 campaign from Agnotti, Thomas, Hedge, and continued running advertising with variations on that theme for more than a decade. In 2006, Foster's shifted to a Web-only strategy with a campaign from Ogilvy & Mather that invited consumers to "Crack open a friendly." Most recently, the brand had been advertised with an online and print campaign from StrawberryFrog tagged, "Be enormous."

However, despite the brand's attempts to offer consumers a different perspective on the Australian beer, people still associate it with the "How to speak Australian" slogan, said Kooyman. A new Web site carrying the revived theme will debut in a few weeks, he added.

The first thing we're trying to accomplish is to update and reinvigorate an iconic TV campaign. 'How to speak Australian' owns a place in the cultural vernacular and we want to reclaim that," said David Mitchell, svp, executive creative director at Digitas, Chicago. The shop late last year added Icehouse, Mickey's and Foster's to its existing MillerCoors business, which also includes serving as lead digital shop on Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft.

"We've been off the air for five years," Mitchell added. "This campaign was so simple and forceful in establishing the brand. It's a way to really quickly establish that the brand is here and in the game."

The campaign is the Chicago agency's first foray beyond DRTV production. Digitas produced 13 Foster's commercials directed by Clay Weiner of Biscuit Filmworks. Foster's said it plans to air some this year and some next.

Foster's spent $2.4 million in measured media in 2008 and $300,000 through June 2009, per Nielsen.

The campaign, which is scheduled to run nationally through October, will be supported with increased ad spending, said Kooyman. Spots will run on Web venues such as Hulu and ABC's site for Lost.

MC Media in Chicago handles planning and buying.

Coca-Cola:::creating shorter links

Check out Coca-Cola's URL shortening service: http://cokeurl.com/

Sedar::: the worst advert in the history of history. Ever.

This brand is famous with such practice

they do ads for the sake of ads......
no insights
no context...just Lebanese girls with boobs and large ass........

Pasta de Waraku: Art, culture & landscape

Pasta De Waraku, a restaurant group run in Indonesia by Ismaya Group, is promoting its menu of Japanese style pasta with a series of jigsaw puzzles combining Japanese and Italian imagery. “Savour both worlds” is the tag line, associated with Art, Culture and Landscape.

Credits

Savour both worlds.

Advertising Agency: Bates141, Jakarta, Indonesia
Creative Director: Hendra Lesmono
Art Director: Andreas Junus
Copywriter: Iyan Susanto
Photographer: Stock Photo and Handri Karya
3D artist: Geppetto Animation
Published: June 2009

George Lois: Selling a Nazi Car in a Jewish town

Arabic ad agencies see things the same!!!

Another (Arabic) ad agency just been busted for copy cat ideas

Original

http://advertiser-in-arabia.blogspot.com/2009/08/dudeism.html

Less original

http://advertiser-in-arabia.blogspot.com/2009/07/melodyaflam-3araby-om-el-agnaby.html

The Big Lebowski??? Rocky ??? & the spell of Willy Wonka

Brand:VW

Agency: DDB

Agency – DDB London
Creatives – Graeme Hall/ Hunter Somerville
Agency Producer – Sarah Browell
Production Company: Moxie Pictures
Director: Seth Gordon
Producer: Dawn Laren
USA Producer: Mary Rohlich
DOP - Bradford Whitaker
Additional Camera: Bootsy Holler
Editor - Luis Lopez
Music – Michael Wandmacher
Post – Framestore
Sound – Elmo Webber