Check it out, another sweet site. We love how great this site looks.

Kurt had this to say about his site:

Shannon at Factor 1 was very responsive, and quick to answer questions. We appreciate Factor 1 for delivering a quality product at a great price. They are great people to work with.

thanks Kurt!!!

renchurchcharlotte.com

So recently in the news, there was a chicago cemetery moving old graves, to make room for new ones. This got me really thinking about the business plan of a cemetery. And how it applies to other businesses.

So I had to lay it all out.

• The Family pays a fee for burial services and upkeep. Lets call this $10,000.
• the cemetery does the burial service, and so on.
• The Cemetery management company continues to keep everything green and pretty for ever and ever. or do they?

Here is where I get lost in why anyone would want this responsibility. It costs money to water, and maintain all that grass. To keep things clean and pretty. At some point, the money HAS to run out right?

If the cemetery ran out of plots to sell, at some point, there is no more income coming in. at all. Sure they could have been saving from all the years they sold plots, to pay for future upkeep. but even that has to run out. then what????

Do cemeteries close? go bankrupt?

In looking at other business models, the same process seems evident. Even in factor 1.

• Chrysler offers unlimited milage warranty, for unlimited years.
  They are banking on you selling it before 3 years, as the average new car buyer does. And the warranty is non transferable. But what about that guy who keeps his car 15 years. Could be a pricey fix. but probably not a money pit in the big picture.
• Corsair Ram company offers lifetime warranty as well.
  They bank on the fact that computers dies after a few years. Speed, and technology changes happen so quickly, that the actual life of the product ends long before this ram chip should. So replacements and service should be slim to none.
• Factor 1 (yes, even us) offers lifetime tech support on our website CMS.
  We assume most people only need to be trained a few times, and upkeep is pretty painless most of the time. And we bank on the fact that most sites need a revamp every few years. But sure, we could be in trouble if someone kept it 10 years, and server technology really changed.

Im sure there are others. and while Factor 1 and Chrysler (the last time i will ever put us in the same sentence together) are probably okay, since we have a end of product life cycle at some point. What is the end of life cycle for a cemetery? Does the management company just go under, and the graves go unkept?

Am I the only odd one thinking about this news story from a business side of things?

We are super excited to launch this site. It’s the all new site for our local Maricopa Chamber of Commerce. Factor 1 (specifically I, Matt Adams), have been heavily involved with the chamber marketing board for a number of years now. We have aided in the planning, creation, and execution of several programs, events, and marketing pieces. All aimed at increasing local business exposure.

This new site will tie in all our past work, and goals. We have found that the user experience of a large site is key to the sites success. With the user in mind, we created this site.

It was an amazing site to plan out, and work on. We spent the last few months really refining the user flow, menus, and having fun with great photography.

Terri Kingery, Chamber Director had this to say:

Matt Adams and his staff have done a wonderful job in ensuring the transition process from our old website to our new one was seamless and error free.  Their knowledge of social media and the incorporation of Twitter on our home page has, in my opinion, helped increase our traffic by 30%.  I would recommend them without hesitation to any Chamber, or business looking to redesign their website.

Visit the Chamber website:

MaricopaChamber.com

This is what trying too hard looks like.

the new terrible chevy volt website

So clearly Chevy is trying their hand at social media integration. Lets count up all the “apps” shall we.

1. videos
2. facebook link
3. ohh i can create my chevy account
4. a foum
5. a blog
6. photo feed
7. news
8. polls
9. events
10. twitter tweets
11. and a site share stuff at the bottom

Wow. all on the home page. This site does NOTHING to promote what the volt is, why its cool, or why i should care. Instead it blasts me with its attempts to get me to engage. Unfortunately I dont really want to subscribe to the blog, be their friend on twitter, because I dont yet care about the car, or the site.

For me, the home page is overwhelming, and over the top. I appreciate the video, i think videos are cool. And a blog / news updates are good. The layout and presentation is so far behind the times. We used to see sites like this in the late 90′s.

The volt is a cool car, and should really be impressive for chevy to launch. this site is more in the way of other marketing efforts than anything.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll offer my solution. What are your thoughts? Am I being too harsh here?

Typography plays a large role in any website. Large typography is certainly eye-catching and while you don’t need large type for a big impact, it certainly does the trick. In these sites, typography is used as an art element, catching it’s audience’s attention and focusing it on what’s most important.

do you have a typical boring product? like say a printer. sure it prints in color, and printers are always getting faster / better / fancier. Still, advertising a printer has been semi-boring. HP has always had pretty good luck making a printer cool.

Check this out.

This is actually Student work. Found via my friend across the pond David Airey

Filmed, edited and directed by Matt Robinson and Tom Wrigglesworth.

The two designers are recent graduates from the Design Communication degree course at Kingston University, London, and they’re currently looking for experience within the creative industry.

Good luck in your search, guys. Love the video.

HP – invent on Vimeo via Johnson Banks.

Music © Round Table Knights.

Have you thought of all the ways you can make your product or service sexy?

What do you think of the new Microsoft Zune ad? They say it costs $30,000 to fill an ipod. Check it out.

Do you believe this doom and gloom story? Are you now thinking that an ipod is a bad idea and you should “rent” your music for $15 a month?

Here is my issue. Nothing to do with the apple fanboy in me, but I tend to call shenanigans on any advertising that is unrealistic and confusing (yes, I sit at home and call out these ads for the new windows laptop hunter ads, most ads for beauty products, ads for hyundai saying its better than BMW, etc. Just ask my wife.)

1. most people own cds, already completing some of their library.
2. once you buy a song, you own it. for life. until you delete it or toss out that CD.
3. who really ever fills up an ipod?
4. the people who CAN fill up an ipod, usually “borrow” (read: steal) music.
5. renting with the Zune pass is really throwing $15 a month away. Stop paying, and your music is gone. All of it.

So really, this ad is comparing apples to oranges. well, apples to microsofts if you want to be funny like I do.

This ad is like saying it costs $30,000 to buy a small car, and drive it for 3 years. but instead you can rent one for $350 a month. Ohh wait, that’s a lease. So maybe, just maybe, this Zune ad is genius?

Any thoughts? Does this ad make you want to toss your ipod and use a Zune pass?