Blog posts and videos are excellent content marketing tools, but some brand choose to take the entertainment a step further with branded, interactive sites.
Brands and organizations have more tools than ever to create dazzlement in consumers’ imaginations. Dedicated promotional/informational websites show off those tools to deep degrees. Full-page seamless video, cinematographic cuts worthy of Kubrick, and typographic detailing that ices the visual cake—all that’s missing is popcorn.
FX
Storytelling is, of course, the guts of a marketing message these days, and this page for the FX network’s The Bastard Executioner, “… a blood-soaked medieval epic about a warrior-turned-executioner on his path to ultimate vengeance” has all the elements. Vivid visuals and an episode and character guide whisk you to another world.
Land Rover
Even a venerable old brand like Land Rover can turn a new page. Check out its Vanishing Game site, which uses a rich narrative voiceover, strong graphical elements and clever in-story links to check out their cars — doing all by deeply enmeshing you in a well-told tale.
A bit player like Google can get into the act as well. Look at what they’ve done presenting Inside Abbey Road, where you can test your skills on recording studio equipment, hear (and see) sessions of famed musicians who recorded there, and select pop-ups of famous figures associated with the studio. (I guess we could mention the Beatles here somewhere.)
Rainforest Protector
Social causes might do more to move their supporters if they all designed sites like the Rainforest Protector page. Stunning (and topographically intriguing) visuals sweep you through the forests, giving you openings to visit rainforest villages, look at native cultures and see the animals and foliage. And, of course, to request that you become a protector.
The New York Times
Speaking of social issues and reporting, the New York Times’ work with the melting ice sheets is a tour de force of website immersion (pun mostly intended). Greenland Is Melting Away is an engulfing wash of visuals and text that outlines with cool power and engrossing dynamic mapping what is happening in the Arctic environment. Wow.
