Depth of Character

Last night during some late night pitch ideas over a hot cup of coffee at my desk I had gotten an email that really got me thinking about the role of the web in terms of adding depth and character to any person, brand, movie, product, whatever...

It didn't surprise me that two very hot websites that are circulating the browser wire right now are one for Goldfrapp and one for Gnarls Barkely

These are two bands and just a sliver of the many more that are starting to understand that an online persona is critical in order to maintain a dedicated following. Trent Reznor knows this and that is why he seems to be completely catering to the online crowd. He did something recently that I had applauded and that was to give away music for free online.

Offering free content is the trend these days and giving away content is really what advertising is all about.

So NIN wont sell as many CDs, but their concerts and popularity will skyrocket! Their influential power over popular culture will increase and this will ultimately take them to that next level. The web is vast enough for every band to do this because it is so niche oriented.

At the end of the day its all about cultural dominance and how influential you can make something. The web makes this a very democratic and fair game to play, sure money helps but ultimately creativity is the currency of the web. FINALLY!!! I THINK IM RICH! Get your hands on the Adobe Creative Suite and your now ready to start competing.

The web is a world where the artist is not starving, creativity is the token that opens up the doors to opportunity. Its creativity that drives this world not that filthy paper men wage wars over... Can I pay my rent with a great jpg?

Networks are giving away free shows, movies, exclusive web only content. I was discussing how movies can now add to their depth by offering extended content based on a scan of a persons ticket that they purchased... this list keeps going and going and going. (see I just gave away a FREE idea!)

The depth and value of a website is so powerful. It is the very soul of the "whatever" it is representing and the personality, art, motion, music, video, etc that can be developed is as deep and as powerful as anyone wants to take it.

I saw a new website recently that just BLEW MY MIND! it was a site for a German beverage called Bit (http://www.music-in-a-bottle.de) what this site does is uses your web cam to scan a barcode and unlock features on the site based on the bar code your scanning in. The bottle has the bar code, how genius is this? How crazy is this? How jealous am I that I didnt think of this??? Ok too far... anyways... this internet, it just keeps getting better, new toys everyday!

I must admit though, it still doesn't top a project I did about 3 years ago for a web based Foot Sizing Scanner for FILA - that that was some crazy shit. See it here.