By Al Morel

Do you remember the scene in the movie “The Christmas Story” when Ralphie finally receives his Little Orphan Annie Decoder in the mail? He bolts into the house, goes to the bathroom to decode the secret message:

“Be sure to drink your Ovaltine. Ovaltine? A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch!”

Obviously all types of media are undergoing radical transformations. Shutdowns and downsizing at traditional media companies is a daily occurrence. Is advertising on the internet susceptible to the same forces? I think so.

Recently I read an article: “Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet” by Eric Clemons, Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

“The problem is not the medium, the problem is the message, and the fact that it is not trusted, not wanted, and not needed,” Eric states.

The bottom line is that nobody wants to be pitched, and the web is no different. If the internet does not find a way to develop more authentic means of interaction rather than obtrusive pop ups and rotating Flash ads, internet advertising will engender the same negative emotional connection that Ralphie had.

PS: My favorite line from the movie is the voiceover as Ralphie strokes the leg lamp…”Only one thing in the world could’ve dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window.”

By Al Morel
Recently, our client American Well, was profiled in an article in the Wall Street Journal: Cough, Cough. Is There a Doctor in the Mouse?

American Well is a company that is a pioneer in online health care. The concept is that patients can contact a physician online and get a great majority of services that they need. Physicians achieve an improved quality of life as they can practice when and where they choose. And health care providers achieve economies that allow them to provide more targeted care and control costs.

OK, here’s our connection: This photo from the WSJ article is from a Flash presentation that we created for American Well. It’s a stretch, I know. We also produced and edited the video for the presentation as well.

Here’s the presentation from the American Site.
Introduction to American Well: Talk to a doctor now.

American Well has been profiled recently in other media as well.
The New York Times Visit the Doctor with a Click of Your Mouse
NECN Doctors Will Make Web Calls in Hawaii

To find out more, check out the American Well Website.

By Al Morel

This past week, I was on the phone with a ‘programming guy’ who is starting up a web development business and he sent me, with great pride, to a site that he had designed. To say that it was horrific, is a gross understatement. It was actually worse than a page that we did for April Fools Day, when we started up two years ago. Take a look here to see it in all its beauty, including rotating and blinking text!

I’m not going to post this website but it got me thinking about what really constitutes good website design. My off the cuff summary:

It is visually appealing;
It gives the sense of professionalism;
It’s easy to figure out what it is and how to use it.

Of course, there is much that makes up good design. Some of it it apparent to all, and some is a mystery to all but one; the eye of the beholder.

By Al Morel

Recently, we carved out a little time here to go through our work folders to analyze the types of tasks that companies hire us for to create Flash. Now that we have over 400 jobs under our belt, it’s instructive to see how companies are using Flash and, more importantly, what they are willing to pay for.

Flash: Ads
Ads for commercial sites such as trade publications, associations, etc. Sometimes these have pretty strict requirements about the size of the file, how many times it can cycle and how it presents if someone does not have Flash enabled.

Flash: Splash & Intro Pages
Sometimes, these pages can be quite annoying, of course, especially if they don’t have some way to “skip intro” or they launch into sounds or music without permission. But, if done tastefully, they can be quite compelling.

Flash: Banners & Headers
These types of assets are generally used for the home page of a site. A great way to join images with text to convey a message.

Flash: Interactive Presentations
An amazing way to tell a story or to teach. These presentations use animated graphics, text, sound and video, and can be highly interactive.

Flash: Custom Video Players
Video players that have special assets and interactive features. Perhaps a movie theater curtain that opens up, or a menu that can take the viewer to different parts of the video.

Flash: Full Site
Many believe that all Flash sites have no SEO capabilities. Not so. We can build a Flash site with XML capabilities for easy editing.

Flash: Games
Interactive games built in Flash for websites. Games can be fun and can be very compelling once a person starts to engage a website.

Flash: Widgets
Components for a website that may include text, graphics and other content, like a news ticker, or a clients testimonial scroll.

Flash: Slideshows
Combinations of photos, graphics and text displayed as a slideshow.

Flash: Menus
Website menu systems built in Flash. Usually a menu system is a fairly static component for a website. This is a perfect application for Flash and can be quite beautiful.

Flash: Interactive catalogues on portable media
Assets presented in an interactive fashion on a CD, DVD, USB stick or other media. What a great way to give a product catalogue to a prospect at a trade show. The products can be presented in a highly entertaining and interactive manner, and an order can be placed with the click of a mouse.

Flash: Presentation video for a trade show
Flash animated presentation for display on screens at trade show. Those big HD screens at trade shows are perfect for Flash’s ability to integrate, animated graphics, sound, video and text.

Flash: Website Background
Flash animation that takes place outside the borders of the website. There is usually space outside of the border of the website that is prime real estate for some subtle animation.

Many times, we are asked to be the invisible subcontractor for our clients, so if you would like to see examples of any of these just ask.