I attended a fantastic presentation by Steven Heller hosted by the Art Directors Club of Metro Washington DC on Friday night and he explained that Brand is a fetish… it is when people don’t just identify with something but embrace it. This concept fascinates me especially when it falls in the realm of an a-typical product. People get totally juiced up and excited over so many things; there are mini-cooper meet-up groups and people who are obsessed with Harry Potter, but I am fascinated when a group of enthusiasts rally around something meant to be functional.. often dry, and usually transparent… like a web browser. Firefox has organically grown an enormous group of brand loyalists using guerrilla marketing and online tactics that go far beyond anything that their competitors are doing. From that they have defied odds and currently maintain a healthy stronghold on a substantial percentage (36.3% in December 2007 according to the W3C) of the browser market. How are they doing it?

They are not evil.
Firefox is a project of the non-profit Mozilla foundation:

devotes its resources to promoting openness, innovation and opportunity on the Internet. We do this by supporting the community of Mozilla contributors and by assisting others who are building technologies that benefit users around the world.

They go so far as to spell out exactly what they are all about in their own Manifesto which states their goals and principles. Dude, what is cooler than a manifesto? I mean Pirates and people who start revolutions have manifestos.

The first time I read this document my heart skipped a beat… an organization that believes in all the idealistic wonderful web things I do? OMG How can I not embrace that? An excerpt of three of their principles are as follows:

1. The Internet is an integral part of modern life–a key component in education, communication, collaboration, business, entertainment and society as a whole.
2. The Internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.
3. The Internet should enrich the lives of individual human beings.

Openly stating and documenting all of their non-evil beliefs online in a manifesto makes them hard to dislike… and modern day pirates. Arrrr!

They make a great product & experience (which organically creates word of mouth)

There are lots of great advantages to Firefox, the customization really sets them apart from the other products to the average user. While being open and secure are big pluses, the average joe is going to notice all the fantastic plug-ins they can use to make their browsing experience unique.
As a Web Designer I constantly rely on (and recommend) the Web Developer Extension. My friend, the Catch-up Lady (an avid Firefox user) constantly recommends the All in One Gesture Add-on.

They have fun.

Fun designs, fun T-shirts and fun promotions abound. They don’t take themselves too seriously and that makes using their product that more attractive. They recently held a competition called Operation Firefox where they encouraged their users to use guerrilla tactics to place a 3.5 foot Firefox sticker in a public space. Insane challenges and a manifesto… pirates. Arrr!

They leverage successful online and offline marketing tactics
Spreadfirefox.com houses a complete toolkit that helps people spread the word online through photos, banners, and talking points as well as offline events where Firefox enthusiasts take to the streets. Rather than utilizing traditional marketing tactics Firefox has decided to go this low budget route leveraging and amplifying the word of mouth their product has already created and giving their users to do the same. They take all the work out of it, making it simple and effective.

They look good
Firefox’s logos, buttons, banners, and even T-shirts are all well designed. Its a pleasure to have the Firefox logo sitting in my dock, and their T-shirts are witty and fashionable. Their microsites like Operation Firefox and the Mozilla store all have organic tangible feels to them. Taking something like a browser that exists only in the online space and giving it a very offline feel.

You can still press return to size up the situation , but dying of cholera is much less likely. One of your players may stay behind in Vegas with a cocktail waitress named Starla but no one is going to come down with a case of the measles. Covered wagon? Try a hybrid sedan with a Thule luggage rack. Want to hunt for a bear? Ford the river or take a ferry? No way… how about you enter a snowboarding competition outside of Boulder Colorado.

The Oregon Trail is now the Thule Trail, an online computer game designed by Periscopic to support TDA’s Thule Road Trip advertising campaign. If you are not familiar with Thule they make car racks for anything from kayaks to snowboards. So the challenge here is… make someone want to take a road trip and do outdoorsy stuff… while they are sitting at home hovering over their computer.

The Oregon Trail was popular computer game in the mid to late 80s and rereleased in the early 90s. Asking around almost everyone in my age range (20s) has nearly shrieked with jubilation over the near mention of the game. This demographic would also be those who play extreme sports and have the cash to add a new bicycle rack on top of their SUV. Sprinkle in some post-college humor and relatable road trip scenarios and you have kick-ass rainy Sunday morning entertainment.

From Periscopic’s website:

Developed entirely in Flash, the game makes use of a set of sophisticated XML files to dynamically create a gaming experience that is new each time. Filled with numerous smaller games within the game, players travel over 2000 miles across the USA in search of wacky people, sketchy food and unexpected adventure.

Think you and four friends could spend seven days in a car together? You might want to give this a try first.

I love the idea. A strong concept and humor really carries this design.

I have played the game now 4 times, and damnit… I can’t make it past Vegas. I will probably play it another 3 or 4 times. I am now blogging about it, I will probably e-mail about 5 friends with it.. oh and hell… I will add it to my delicious. BUT where will I compare scores with other competitors… where will I talk back? Wouldn’t it be cool if you could contribute your own personal random scenarios to the game?

This is where some would go on a “web 2.0 is a conversation” rant and ponder the sustainability of this 1.0 interactive marketing tactic on the social web. But I am not. Not because I don’t think it is relevant… its just that my time is better spent right now trying to figure out how to keep Keri from “sticking a small fruit candy up her nostril” around Des Moines and Jim from “rolling around wild flowers and wierding everyone out”. Excuse me I need to make it to the freaking Music Festival on the Thule Trail with a hybrid car-load of modern day slackers.

Want to share Scores? Funny random events from your trip? Feel free to take a screenshot and discuss this game here in the comments. I would love to get this going.

http://www.thuleroadtrip.com/thule_trail/thuleTrail.html

Thanks to Eric for passing this along.

Brand encompasses so much more than just a logo, it involves the entire experience a user/consumer has with a product. Current.tv has built a brand upon a foundation of engaging user-generated content that is beautifully complimented with unique motion graphics .

The fantastic thing about web 2.0 is that it engages the user in a conversation or interaction. This trend has been closely associated with a design style that exploits specific visual elements such as diagonal striped backgrounds, reflections and, “ajax-enhanced” flowing motion. By adopting this web 2.0 “look” that is so closely associated with the web Current.tv is making the bridge visually between web based interaction and broadcast television. Rather than just thinking of Current.tv as a network the viewer subconsciously blurs the lines between the two media types making the cable TV station an extension of the web conversation.

According to MographWiki.net Current.tv’s logo was created by MetaDesign, a studio founded by Erik Spiekerman. Spiekerman is well known for his stunning sanserif typeface FF Meta which I had the lovely production experience of implementing in parking garages at my first design studio job out of college. You never forget your first big design project, even if it is just for a parking garage. Meta Design did all the branding for the Adobe Creative Suite which you also may be familiar with.

In an article on BoardsMag.com from 2005 Logan, a motion graphics studio was tasked with coming up with the initial “animated on-air toolkit including lower thirds, logo bumpers and 15 animated show packages, including logo design for each (pod)”. When Googling Logan I found a very simple site that showcased their portfolio and clients with very little explanation. I mean…who needs body copy when you have work like this?

Since their initial launch Current.tv has continued to produce fantastic motion graphics through their in-house design team. Current.tv has a strong, consistent brand that clearly communicates that they are about the innovation of user generated content on the web and on television. Even if you aren’t a fan of the format, Al Gore, or user-generated content, many designers can appreciate current.tv’s stunning graphics.

To view current.tv’s motion graphics reel click here or visit MographWiki.net.

Technorati Tags: current.tv, metadesign, user-generated content, user-generated television, internet video, FF Meta, Erik Spiekerman, Adobe Creative Suite Branding, Web 2.0 Design, Web 2.0, motiongraphics