Sales support: Flash 3d, surgical medical media, rich data visualization

Description: Here is part of a sales support email I sent to a knowledge strategy based consultancy, as part of my business development efforts.

It was a followup email with links that we talked about durring the meeting.

link: http://www.edheads.org/activities/
knee/swf/surgery.htm
comments: this is the virtual knee surgery learning media piece. I think it
really works well for the topic, while being friendly yet professional! The fact
that the main virtual surgery is illustration and animation based, actually goes
a long way of presenting a very sensitive topic in a compelling
way...

link: http://www.segway.com/downloads/
flash/model.zip
comments: this is an old example of 3d rendering of a product driven by
interactive user experience ..

link: http://www.stxship.co.kr/
stx_multi/stx_main.htm
comments: have not explored this site fully.. but since part of our
conversations where flythrus etc... here is another interactive 3d environment
in that realm ..

link: http://www.skyscraper.org/
timeformations/animation.html
comments: yet another spatial, and interactive visual system in 3d...


link: http://www.zarinmedia.com/condosearch
comments: This is an RIA that is not in the samples on our site... its
essentially rethinks the standard 'real estate search' paradigm and creates a
more emersive end user experience with it! (you know, they all have drop downs,
and after a few pages, tables and tables of data you have to go thru.. etc..)

link: http://www.zarinmedia.com/super
comments: you might have seen this simple little RIA, however its a great
example of taking a boring subject such a personal finance and turning it into a
branded useful toy.. hits a few points..

link: http://f150.fordvehicles.com/
trucks/f150/index.asp
comments: check out the 360 view.. and some of the other interactive product
presentation techniques... again all in flash.. meaning that youre not brokering
to various types of technology and you can build on the framework for future use
... (ie.. throw video in there to extend message, etc..)

link: http://www.teamone-usa.com/
comments: some fluffy eye candy.. (with not much 3d interactivity) to show that youre 3d will be as good as your rendering and your models... etc... Flash will just be
the authoring tool..

anyways.. I run into TONS of flash based 3Dish representation systems on a regular basis.. etc...let me know if you need more links

Realtime charting data visualization

Link: http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

Description: Here is a java applet based real-time chart processing program that allows you to visually search a large set of statistics based on history of names. Simply type in your name and see when it was the most popular!

My thoughts: Although rich media components in Java can be quite clunky, this is a great iteration of the concept. Essentially its a living graph that responds to your interest and re-arranges itself in real-time in response to your intentions. More of a functional information rendering tool than a marketing exercise, however I'd like to point out the branding opportunities in deploying such a tool, as well as the fact that this exact same framework can translate very well to a variety of industries that have data visualization needs.

Study: Video Key Opportunity for Online Advertisers

Link: http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3481806

Description: Here are some recent stats on effectiveness of the continuing trend in video advertising

My thoughts: Not sure how much of these numbers are trend, and how much will stand the test of time, however the fact that video is getting this sort of response and buzz, makes it an important tool we can use in our online marketing mix.

Marketing centric simple online calculator

Link: http://tide.com/tidecoldwater/
energysavingscalculator.jhtml

Description: This branded, easy to use, Flash calculator will show consumers how much they can potentially save with Tide's new product

My thoughts: I think this is a very clever marketing/branding touch point disguised as a functional calculator to try and "show" or "prove" the advantages of Tide's new detergent technology.
Edited by zarinmedia on Feb 5, 2005 @ 1:58 PM

Interactive video advertising online

Link: http://www.unitedvirtualities.com/demo/
shoshmosis_friends/expandable_banner/

Description: rolling over various regions of a "friends" clip will present user with the item they are wearing or using, click will give option to drive lead to e-commerce

My thoughts: Here's another interesting implementation of video entertainment content, delivered thru flash, in an ecommerce friendly context. People have been talking about this sort of thing in "interactive television" since 1998 but this is the first time I've seen a decently produced version of it for online marketing/consumption.
However I often wonder if these expanding banners in any form are not too intrusive to the user experience to begin with? I guess we'll have to wait and see if they go the way of the popup ad or not.