Revenge of the Microsite
9th September 11
Posted in digital, interactive
Author: Calle Sjoenell, Deputy Chief Creative Officer, BBH NY
These are probably words that will haunt me forever, but I must write a tribute to the microsite, currently going through a Phoenix-like transformation known as the web app.
The microsite was originally created to capture a single minded idea in one destination. So sharp and elegant in its purpose, the concept spread and made everyone visit.
For me, it started with IKEA’s Dream Kitchen, one click and hold and I spun in a whirlwind of kitchen options. Minimal input, maximum output, the product at the dead center of the idea. And it sold truckloads if kitchens.
But as with all great ideas, there where thousands of bad executions, wasting clients’ money with little to show in scale or engagement as a result.
Then, of course, marketers had to make a rule about it. We can only build things where the audience is already hanging out. “Fish where the fish are,” and all that. This is in fact a worse sin: creating a blanket rule that microsites don’t work. It’s like saying investing in Internet companies doesn’t work.
This is why I’m musing over the next marketer and publisher obsession on the Internet: the web app. The functionality of HTML5 and its related technology brings us out of the tyranny of page to page style navigation on the web. We will probably laugh at our text and picture based catalogue websites in a few years, a world where each step took 10-15 seconds of mental processing to solve. The web app brings single minded functionality with new interactive capabilities. Just look at the web app versions of Tweetdeck, NY Times and Angry Birds and you see the potential. Eerily like a microsite.
But we can never forget the cardinal rule of communication that now rules all media channels, even TV.
If you make something great, they will come (or watch). Otherwise, they won’t.
Damn, did I just make a blanket rule?
Long live the microsite.
“Only the Sith deal in absolutes.” (Which is both true and hilariously oxymoronic.)
Excellent point, Saneel. I think many people would agree to a “most but not all” argument in regards to failed microsites. The beauty of the web app trend is the upfront cost to a user is *just* big enough that brands get more immediate – and harsher / truer – feedback where there are failures.
Microsites, web apps, trebuchets, Humvees, gills – all useful if strategized correctly and executed appropriately. All, also, hilarious when not.
Great point about more immediate / harsher feedback. It’s really not about the tech though; it seems more related to the smaller size of the web app landscape.
Oh, and to clarify, this post was written by BBH NY Deputy CCO Calle Sjoenell.
[...] has been said about the once-mighty microsite and its fall from grace, but this little post at BBH Labs hits where everyone misses. But as with all great ideas, there were thousands of bad executions, [...]
Amen brother. I am sad though – I went to the URL in your image hoping for some sort of microsite
I think a major difference (to the better) will also be a REAL measure of entertainment or utility. Microsites got much of their bad rep because they didn’t offer enough to justify breaking it all out of context.
In theory the microsite addresses many of the objectives that our clients ask except for one thing, no one goes to them or goes back to them. They have always been a flash in the pan kind of execution that gets tons of press and activity within the first few weeks of its existence but then fizzles out due to lack of depth or need.
I always believed that microsites should be extensions of the product or the brand they are serving, as a value add to the offering.
The ideal microsite in my opinion should be similar to an App on a mobile device, it should be a utility that makes the product or service better, not just some heavy flash site that serves no other purpose than to convey an abstract message or to aspire to be some kind of cultural phenomenon or a flexing of technology prowess.
Can’t agree more Craig. We just need to be more inventive where these idea live, get marketed and manage expectations on the longevity of them. Just the simple fact that these experiences are reachable from the homepage of the companies product/service in a smart way is a good step forward. Also some of these ideas are fleeting one hit wonders, nothing wrong with that. If they reach the right people turning people into believers then it’s worth it and more.
Calle. Punters do not define the internet by the amount of pages on a URL. To most people online – the whole internet is just a massive load of microsites.
[...] Not to say there’s anything intrinsically wrong with microsites, as Calle Sjonell at BBH argues. But they did become a [...]