VERY Non-Traditional Advertising
Just found this awesome example of digital marketing: Sortie en Mer (A Trip out to Sea) by Guy Cotten.
If you don’t have time to check out the actual website, check out this screen video cap:
You may think… oh, this is just a video. However, it’s actually an interactive website. By scrolling, you can keep the mariner alive.
But, what’s it all for? Is this just a cool site with interesting, avant garde web development? A PSA about nautical safety? An artistic representation of a drowning death? Well, if you check out the site, you’ll see that it is both a PSA and an advertisement from Guy Cotten, a life jacket company.
My question to you – is this good advertising or bad?
The site uses fear, to some extent, in order to encourage people to buy a product. Is that some sort of marketing terrorism? I don’t know.
It also makes the user get involved. Yes, it looks like a video, but your scrolling abilities (or lack thereof) determine the speed at which the mariner drowns.
Furthermore, the site incorporates flashbacks as the person dies, presumably of a wife, really nailing home the whole pathos effect.
So, is this good advertising? Is it “ethical.” Should we use people’s fears to encourage them to purchase something?
Seriously… what do you think? Leave a comment.
Tags: digital marketing, interactive advertising, PSAs, Web Development