Discussion Question 2

In investigating the Webby nominees and award winners, I saw many cutting-edge examples of internet marketing at its finest, as well as some that could use some tuning up. With regard to the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, I evaluated them based on the perspective of the end-user. In this posting, I am the only end user evaluating them, although many others must have found them extremely appealing to make it to the Webby awards.

For the marketing methods that work, I found that Porsche and Mac are companies that definitely have their marketing methods on track. These companies utilize a marketing approach that captures the attention and interest of the viewer immediately using Flash Players to display their product. In these cases, the marketers introduce us to a breathtaking Porsche 911 and a very captivating, dramatic cosmetic look to spark our interest in the site, which definitely works. They are both very user-oriented and serve a purpose for the consumer, such as “schedule a test drive” or “contact customer service” with a phone number and live chat option, as well as find a store. It is also a breeze to navigate the page with various options for page links.

However, the sites Retail-Me-Not and JoshuaBudich were poorly created and extremely hard to follow, let alone comprehend. The Retail-Me-Not site has not been maintained and had numerous broken links and un-useful, unreliable sources without the ability to edit, such as exists in WikiPedia. In the latter site, the colors mesh together and have labels for the figures, but it is nearly impossible to tell what the graphics are supposed to be. Although the concept of the site is very creative, the execution was done very poorly and I can only hope this was not his intention.

As covered in our class discussions, a marketer has about 3 seconds to get the attention of their target market. These ads displayed this importance since two of them hooked me and got me interested in the site, whereas the other two immediately turned me off and lost my interest. This reflects the necessity of marketers to stay focused on what works for their consumers and to never stop listening to and meeting their needs, as well as stay on top of new trends and innovative ideas.

http://www.porsche.com/all/usa/911/
http://www.maccosmetics.com/
http://www.retailmenot.com/
http://www.joshuabudich.com/SWCollection/