Commercial Sites
1st edition — by Patrick McNeil — Oct. 8, 2006
The Site Type
By commercial sties I am referring to sites which are basically commercials for a specific product, or set of products. Often times these sites are not meant to actually result in an online sale, but rather in an outside action. Such as going to the grocery store and purchasing a specific brand of peanut butter.
The
Altoids
site is a perfect example. The intention is not that you will place an online order for a tin of mints. Rather, they want to make such a great impression on you that when your at the supermarket and you see their little tin at the register you think "hey, those Altoids guys are pretty cool and fun, I want some of that!" It sounds ridiculous, but it is all about getting inside your head and convincing you that they have the best product, even if it happens in round about ways.
Clearly many of these sites have enormous budgets, but I suppose even the high rollers need some inspiration! Not to mention the fact that much can be learned from these high end sites in terms of product presentation. Even at a lower budget there is no reason some of the ways that products have been effectively presented can't be borrowed and adapted. You new web application put together on a zero budget needs to be marketed effectively if it is to succeed. These types of sites provide great insight into the minds of knowledgeable advertisers.
Sample Usage
