The 7 Deadly Sins of Digital

27/07/2007

There’s a bunch of things that people who are just getting into digital always seem to propose at some point or another. I guess they’re things that are part of the learning process. Things that a lot of us have done, and hopefully learned from. I’m not suggesting that anyone is stupid for doing any of these things (I’ve done the majority of them at least once). But I’m hopefully going to explain why they’re not good ideas in most cases.

Of course they’re not deadly. And like all ‘rules’ there’s good reasons to break them. But in most instances these things are not good. I’ve left out the new ‘trendy’ things like Google Earth, SecondLife, UGC, etc. I’m saving those for 7 deadly sins of digital 2.0.

In no particular order…

tamagotchi

Tamagotchis

They say: “A game where you have to feed this little character to keep them alive, and you give them stuff, and they do stuff”

You say: “You want to create something based on an obsolete early 90s toy that wasn’t actually any fun? And you’re expecting people who don’t give a toss about your brand of fake-cheese-based snacks to go though a bunch of meaningless interactions for no real reward why?”

Why it seems like a good idea: prolonged engagement, a ‘relationship’, the original tamagotchis had a certain amount of Jap-cool

Why it’s not a good idea: they weren’t actually fun then, they’re still not now, if you’ve created one in the past you’ll find that the involvement rate drops off faster than a D’angostini subscription after issue one’s free binder. And it’s been done lots of times before.

screensaver

Screensavers

They say: “Let’s make a screensaver”

You say: “When was the last time you installed a screensaver? When was the last time you saw a screensaver on someone’s screen?”

Why it seems like a good idea: screensavers were kind of fascinating when we were younger, at the time they were much richer and more visual than most of the web stuff that was around. They were animated, they had flying windows, zooming starfields, even scrolling text! They’re full screen (so they look a bit like a TV). And the idea of something that’s sitting there in the background, hiding, ready to jump up and surprise you when you’re being lazy has some kind of appeal I reckon.

Why it’s not a good idea: screensavers are a product of a byegone era, people don’t like installing stuff, the only time they actually come to life is when you’re not there. And they’re kind of a beacon that says my computer should be off or at least asleep to save power, but I’d rather show off some fancy graphical nonsense.

desktop

Interfaces that look like the tops of desks or tables

They say: “We could make it look like the character’s desk, you can click on a file to read it, if you click on the answering machine you can hear a message… And so on…”

You say: “Oh FFS we can bend space and time and create things that redefine the way that the world works, but you want to use a clumsy metaphor that people are going to have to decompile in order to figure out how to get to a bit of information that in some rare case they might actually want. And it’s not extensible. And besides how many people watch youtube videos of their own adverts in the residue at the bottom of a coffee cup? And it’s not accessible… And so on…”

Why it seems like a good idea: its safe and familiar. Everyone understands atoms and physical things. Lots of people don’t understand navigation, menu structures and information architecture. So it’s easier to ignore them and cling to something comfortable and comforting, like a messy desk.

Why it’s a bad idea: Aside from the stuff above it just is, trust me. Perhaps this imagined conversation between me and Ridley Scott makes it clearer:

Me: Hi Ridley, please will you direct a commercial for me, it’s basically a 60 second spot and it goes like this. We open on the first page of a book. There are words on the page, we need to wait for people to read the words. Then a hand turns the page and we move to scene two. It’s the second page of the book.
Ridley: Silence
Me: It looks like an aged book, there are coffee ring stains on page two.
Ridley: Silence
Me: You still there?

paperclip

Desktop assistants / characters

They say: “You know the Microsoft paperclip, can we…”

You say: “Stop right there sonny, don’t say another word! Nobody likes the paperclip. The only good thing that ever happened to the paperclip was death. Even Bill Gates hates the paperclip.”

Why it seems like a good idea: being helpful is good. Stepping outside of a web-page and having some form of permanence and ongoing relationship makes sense.

Why it’s a bad idea: people don’t like installing things, they want things on their terms, it’s been done a lot and failed a lot no matter what the sales guys for DeskBuddy(tm) tell you.

virus

A virus

They say: “Could we create an actual virus that spreads our message”

You say: “Why not do it in the real world instead – why not just make a branded version of HIV, there’s more people in the offline world that you can infect”

Why it seems like a good idea: massive unstoppable spread of your message.

Why it’s a bad idea: viruses are not a toy, they are really not good, you don’t want your brand to be associated with not good things, unless you work for evilcorp.

viral

A ‘viral’

They say: “We’ve made this film, can you make it a viral”

You say: “I’m just going outside to suck on an exhaust pipe for 30 minutes – if I make it back I’ll stick it on YouTube for you”

Why it seems like a good idea: we’ve all seen ‘viral’ hits, they’re things that everyone has watched, that have been passed around, loved and genuinely become part of the culture of the web. We’ve not all seen the ‘viral’ wasteland, the thousands of clips that sit gathering dust at the bottom of the ‘exploding heads’ category on YouTube. And because most of us only see the good stuff that works we assume it’s easy.

Why it’s a bad idea: because it’s not easy. Now that ‘viral’ has become a dirty nasty industry full of paid for placements and seeding bungs you need to plan for it from the word go. It’s mostly not really about things being viral at all, it’s just about dark media buying.

?

Starting a list of seven things and not counting how many you’ve got.

I’m going to open this one up for submissions, anyone got any ideas for the 7th deadly sin? Best suggestion wins a book from my library. Seriously I’ll send a good book to you if you come up with the best suggestion – plus happy to replace any of my ones that are rubbish…

This entry was posted in Advertising, Web Stuff and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
  • A website that does this and that and that and also this and they're all funny.

    Problem with people who come from billboards and print ads. They always had to choose the best or strongest of their ideas to adorn one billboard. But when they get online every so-so idea becomes a "section" of one website.

    They think they don't have to kill their idols anymore.
    But they do.
  • How about heavy flash intros that take 5 minutes to load? And when you hit the back button it keeps you on the same page. And you can't find the "music off" button? Those are great.
  • LOL. (You have a library - wow.)
  • How about websites that use the 'grab-hold-of-the-corner of-the-page-and-drag-book' idea? If I wanted to read a book, I'd pick up a book - not clumsily try and turn the pages of your digital book! Definitely a case of the first one being cool, the rest being old-hat.
  • Ben
    That is fantastic.

    Scroll bars for text? Or how about "can we make the site a PDF?"

    But my suggestion for the 7th would be the two versions. One for broadband and one for dial up. Or worse, one with flash and one without. That's like designing one Annual Report in 8pt text and one in 20pt just in case people can't read it.

    Design should be accessible and inclusive.
  • Or this one that came about ever since Flash could read dynamic data and has lasted since:

    It's a Flash movie but for it to start you need to put in your name and then you watch the movie and at the end there's your name written somewhere IN THE MOVIE!
  • Anonymous, for we are legion
    Account Director sat in a huge fucking tower in NY: They Say: "Put this TV Ad on the internet now motherfucker!"

    Why it seems like a good idea: Because another cocksucker who's the 'digital guy' in NY told them that YouTube was the shiznit.

    Why it’s a bad idea: Because if you ask me to do that again I'll come to NY, sleep in your doorway to your building, drink special brew, use it as a toilet and ask you for change every time you enter and leave the building while coughing up blood all over your fucking Prada sneakers.
  • Brilliant Iain. The two I would add:

    1. Let's use a house floorplan as our interface. It'll be brilliant. (It's a dumb idea for all the same reasons as the desk doesn't work.)

    2. Blog outreach. I think the vast majority of the time this strategy comes before actually having any clue why bloggers would give a shit about what you're reaching out to them with.
  • Peter
    They say - Can we have a game? With a Lara Croft type superhero. She can have our brand plastered across her tight vest.

    You say - Are you insane? People play games to get away from fucking brands. They're really not interested in having your piss-water (insert name of drinks brand) thrust in front of them by some improbable supervixen. They simply want to smoke weed and jerk off.

    Why it seems like a good idea - Games - they're great for reaching elusive young guys and the games industry's bigger than Hollywood.

    Why it's really not a good idea - The games industry may be bigger than Hollywood, and there's a reason - developing a kick-ass game with a coherent storyline, well realised characters and amazing graphics costs millions. You've only got 20 grand.
  • Nice try peter - you're thinking I'm just going to pick you to save on postage, but you're wrong.

    And Noah, agree on the 'floor plan' thing. But like I said, we've all done them, in fact I think I might have even worked on nakedcomms.com v1.0 :-)
  • Lazy one: "Can you make it Web 2.0?"
  • The absolute worst is an HTML email with an embedded image. I know so many clients asking for this, and they seriously assume people would fall for such a nonsense.
  • Ged
    Widgets, you have blogs that look like Lewis Hamilton's overalls, stop being a cheap skate and buy some banner ads.

    Why it seems like a good idea: SEO - inbound links. Apparent groundswell support

    Why its bad - limited control of brand usage/association,doesnt respect the audience as it increases upload time and it looks messy on the sites
  • Joe
    Presenting the recently finished TV spot as the brief for the digital campaign.
  • "Hi Ridley, please will you direct a commercial for me, it’s basically a 60 second spot and it goes like this. We open on the first page of a book. There are words on the page, we need to wait for people to read the words. Then a hand turns the page and we move to scene two. It’s the second page of the book."

    This is a great metaphor. Thank you.
  • betaBonnie
    The Basic Deadly Sin of Digital.

    They say: Let's do what everyone else is doing that worked.

    You say: It worked because it was an original idea. By the time you get it created and approved, it'll be an old, boring idea.

    Why it seems like a good idea: See #1

    Why it's not a good idea: See #2.
  • PJMacG
    Social Networking / Community -

    They say: We'd like to build a proprietary online social network for consumers that are interested in insurance (or fiber, soap, soft drinks etc. etc.).

    You say: Genius! That's exactly what your consumer needs from the brand. Take a look around, there isn't an existing social network of any scale that serves that topic or need right now...for good reason.

    Why it seems like a good idea: You've heard that social networks are a big deal in rags like Ad Age...why else would Rupert Murdoch have spent nearly $600 million dollars buying MySpace. Gazillions of people are using social networks and supposedly, there's a lot of that good ol' "word-of-mouth" that happens in these social networks.

    Why it's not a good idea: People are pretty good about organizing themselves around topics, ideas and brands that they're passionate about. If there isn't any evidence that there's already some good conversation and momentum happening around your topic it's doubtful that a dumbass branded social network / community is going to do much to change that...and if there is some conversation happening why in the world do you expect that those people would rather "social network" on your site?
  • Brilliant stuff Iain. Someone suggested a screensaver in the office on Friday. I aksed them when was the last time they had installed a screensaver and they said, "Yeah, but the target are into that sort of stuff." Aaaaagh! It's just laziness I think.
  • Awesome, dude.
  • Mike
    Can we put the TV ad on the website? Because people really, really, want to seek out and watch a tiny compressed version of the thing they ignored on telly.
    Loading bars............ because I just love........... hanging around waiting for ages................... while your poorly engineered video concept.................... grinds its gears. "Optimised for a broadband experience". Just go away.
  • MC
    very nice - here is my 2p's worth:

    1. sites that have a door bell type entry
    example 1: http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/
    example 2: http://www.newclubworld.com

    2. client: "we need a microsite..."
    agency: "cool - lets do it in video where the user* can build up a sentence using preshot stuff. we could even let them put their friends name in the middle and send it on .."


    MC


    * people not users
  • Instead of copying link and pasting into existing email/facebook/blog whatever, let's get people to give us their friend's email address by allowing them to forward it on directly from our site!

    Then, we can hassle their friend to sign up to some kind of opt-in so we can spam them with an email camapign that we might brief you on in six months if we've got enough budget.

    Let's make an easy thing difficult and then annoying!

    I'm ashamed to say it, but an error that direct agencies tend to make a lot....
  • Nice one Martin - 'Send to a Friend' was on my original list. Even better when it's done in a flash site where it's impossible to actually get the URL of the bit you're in, so you absolutely have to use Send to a Friend.
  • Explaining the whole site on the homepage.

    You don't put book descriptions on the front cover of books, you just try to make people want to pick the book up. On the web we often try to be too quick, get everything on one page so they don't have to click anywhere and cram it all above the fold so they don't have to scroll...
  • Great post! Better than most business books I've read this summer.

    Regarding the screen savers. Wasn't there a "truth" before that the screen would die or have the content "burned" on the screen forever if you let the computer on and that the screen-savers would prevent that...?
  • drjt
    The obligation to use humo(u)r:


    They say: "This needs to be tongue-in-cheek so people 'relate to it' and buy into our shallow conceit"

    You say: "You are joking? Seriously, you must be"

    Why it seems like a good idea: Humour is universal.

    Why it’s not a good idea: The universe is not exclusively humorous.
  • funny stuff...

    The Myspace Page

    they say: "let's pay rupert an absurd amount of cash to build a page with static content where all our customers can 'be our friends'"

    you say: "Why not spend the money on something original that your customers will find useful or entertaining?"

    why it seems like a good idea: everyone's seen the myspace stats

    why it's not a good idea: everyone's seen the myspace stats about users & habits. (never mind the 29,000 sex offenders)
  • Let's have some really irritating insect noise that really grab their attention - better still if it sounds like a failing hard drive - that will really engage the user.
  • I quote:
    "There’s a bunch of things that people who are just getting into digital always seem to propose at some point or another. I guess they’re things that are part of the learning process."


    Sometimes digital agencies seem to put up a low barrier of knowledge for people 'getting into digital' and starting the learning process.

    Maybe sin #7 should be The Sin that quite often is the cause of the first 6 sins?

    They say: Let's hire someone who's not "infected" by the new media way of thinking. Someone without digital background and experience. Someone who can come up with fresh ideas and not be buckled down by what's possible or not.

    Why it seems like a good idea: New, original, fresh ideas. Ideas you, as a digital person, wouldn't think of.

    Why it's not a good idea: See sins #1 to #6.
  • Great post and great responses. I particularly identify with trying to use shit games to engage your audience. Best one I've heard 'People find Financial Services boring, people love games, so let's make a financial services game.'

    Anyhow, you've all missed cardinal sin 101: 'Welcome to our website' as the main heading on the home page. Of course they're welcome to it and of course it's a website.
  • Charlie
    Why don't we get people to take pictures and upload them to our site or send in their ideas for how our campaign should evolve and then use them to mkake our next ad.
    Why it seems like a good idea: because it encourages people to inetract with our brand and take ownership of its values
    What it's not a good idea: because they're not interested in your brand, they don't care what it's values are and they won't interact - and if they do it'll make a crap ad.
  • Rupert
    I think a new website which includes the features discussed above could do quite well in a retro sort of way. Shouldn't be hard to find a client anyway.
  • Rick Bingham
    what a digital rant, do you feel better now!
  • Iam
    Thet say: Lets invent the wheel...
    Why it seems like a good idea: transport will be much easier.
    Why it’s not a good idea: people are dying driving cars, motorcycles, bicycles, ...
    Blablabla... I understand tamagotchi, paperclip but what decided rest of things are here?
  • Iain H
    They say: Let's have a Myspace or Facebook page!

    Why it seems like a good idea: People will really start to engage with our brand and get closer to our staff.

    Why it's not a good idea: because no-one cares. Who the feck wants to engage with an imaginary character? Or read about insurance on Myspace? Or poke some singing, prancing brand puppet on Facebook?

    If you want imaginary friends, invent them in your own head (and don't try to network them with my imaginary Facebook friends).
  • Saying they want a site on Second Life would have been much too easy, and I've written about that much too much already. So, here's mine:

    They say: "Hey, we should do a blog!"

    You say: "You mean you want to speak openly and honestly with people? You wanna get transparent? You want to give them an open forum for dialogue and discussion? Wow! That's great! Too bad your [pick one] company, brand, product ... [pick one] has, is, will ... [pick one] kill people, pollute the environment, make the world a generally shittier place, isn't very nice, has nothing good to say, lies all the time, does not like giving up control ..... "

    Why it seems like a good idea: Because blogging looks like an easy way to do online PR. And, folks on the board can use the word 'blog.'

    Why it’s not a good idea: Because most brands simply cannot do it. In addition to the reasons above, add conservative corporate counsel, timid PR folks, marketing folk with low vision, angry stockholders, ambulance-chasing lawyers and who knows what else. In the end, it take weeks for most CEOs to post.

    Great post, btw.
    ~G~
  • - starting a blog that has no purpose other than praising the brand
    - clickable menu items that move/rotate on rollover or just move/rotate continuously
  • matter white
    Digital agencies thinking they will steal the ATL dinosaurs' crown/s
  • gismo
    Sites with too many pages and too little content on each, causing the top of page link to sit above the fold.
  • sean
    Did you see the intro to the dare school thing that was doing the rounds last year - they had a similar rant about digital no nos, including the desk metaphor.

    They also had the page turning thingy, which someone above mentioned. Which reminds me of a story I heard last week from some digital dudes currently working at a very famous and well respected ATL agency.

    Basically the offline creatives at said ATL agency had this amazing idea that you could use a metaphor of "turning pages in a book" which they wanted to talk to the digital dudes about. When they were duly told that it was a pretty played out idea, the creative director erupted, shouting that he'd had enough of being told that "he didn't get digital" and they were going to do it whether they liked it or not.

    Which cheered me up immensely, because I'd been worrying about these fuckers going after digital budgets, but they still obviously have no fucking clue what they are doing.
  • James PP
    The thing that amuses me about the DareSchool film (I was their first Technical Director and had the nightmare job of bring them down to earth with the first DareSchool site from a sensible technical perspective - no you can't have zero latency live streaming video with a synchronised phone call. Let me explain this this called the internet to you.)is that they did most of the stuff that annoying actor is ranting on about until recently!! The Martin Parr Walkman site was the 'defacto' desk metaphor that everyone raved about until someone suggested it was uncool. Ditto on Post-its and all that stuff. There is an extreme arrogance about it all that supposes that any clients actually gives a shit what they think on such matters, which i seriously doubt. If I was a brand client and I liked the idea of a top down view of a desk and my digital agency said 'no no that's so uncool and been done' i would say well do it better then and make it more interesting because i like it and i'm paying you to come up with good ideas and a good idea isn't always a new one. It's a good idea done well. The thing that used to me me chuckle at Dare was the amount of creative self-backslapping that used to go on even when an idea was not particularly good or worse when it was completely shit. Hey ho.
  • James - I totally agree that it doesn't have to be a new idea to be good. Otherwise the whole industry would have been fucked years ago.

    But when you know something to be wrong from bitter experience you have to try to make it better. That's not to say reject it out of hand mind you...
  • sean
    Actually, i was ticking off the things they were saying were no-no's that I was pretty sure they'd done as I went along.

    In their defence, I'd say that some of these things were good the first time they were done, and have become shit with overuse. It's certainly not true of all of them though.

    I actually interviewed for that tech director job - but i really didn't like the set up. The first interview i had they told me they had a guy there who had been really loyal and a great support but they didn't think he'd make tech dirctor.

    I asked why he wasn't in the room interviewing if he knew the most about tech in the agency and they told me he wouldn't be happy about someone coming in over him, so they hadn't told him yet. So I asked what they'd do if they hired me and he had a problem with the fact someone had been brought in over him, and they said they'd get rid of him.

    To be honest, I'm sure it makes perfect business sense, and I don't want to single out Dare as an agency that follows this kind of bullshit practise, because most of them do, but I'd heard anough to know I wasn't ineterested in the job. Luckily enough, they didn't want me either :)
  • Comment on Screensavers:
    They say: -"Hey, lets make an interactive screensaver that pulls off various data sources and that you can use as a simple browser and does all kinds of cool stuff!"

    I say: Umm, yeah, well, I don't know about others, but if my screensaver starts that is because I'm not at my computer. I will not be able to interact with anything on my screen. If I'm in front of my computer and haven't moved my mouse for 15 minutes I'm either gone, asleep or dead and interactivity will be wasted on me, and as pointed out, my power save will hit home and shutdown the screen in another 5 minutes after that anyways.

    They say: -"We'd like this 500kb document turned into a web site, but our users don't know how to scroll so it all has to be presented above the 'fold'".

    I say: If your content is so boring your 'users' willingly transplant the part of their brain that contains the natural reaction to scroll interesting content when it disappears off screen, and which they already do on other web sites, word documents and in general on their computer, you should probably reconsider putting it online in that shape in the first place.

    Hmm...that was more a rant or two, but hey, you got me started here. Sorry. :)
  • Music on sites, just plain annoying on all levels, unless Im watching a video I dont want to hear it. It ruins my "User Experience".
  • James PP
    Yes,well don't get Mathias (Dare's first tech manager for 5 years) or me started on Dare's handling of technical staff. Suffice to say, they just don't get it. In fact we have started the Creative Technical Council as part of the IAB in order to stamp out these kind of practices when it comes to hiring and retaining high quality technologists. There are companies, such as Iris, who do value people and it is these companies that will attract and retain the good people. Most decent techies I know are either freelancers or started their own companies now anyway so the agencies that attract and retain good technologists are few and far between. Its a vital area to master as clients become more tech savvy but I feel this could become a whole different thread ;)
  • MC Deli
    "Problem with people who come from billboards and print ads"

    Seconded.

    These people are coincidentally on the list of seven deadly sins for events, retail, PR, sponsorship and broadcast, as well as digital.

    These people also seem to account for 70% of the ad industry. WTF!
  • sean
    So maybe the 7th deadly sin of digital is Dare's handling of technical staff.
  • Danny
    Can we find out more about our visitors by asking them more lifestyle questions when they sign up for an email? We won't use this information in any way that will change the way we speak to them and it's just an extra hurdle to sign-up to something they're not that interested in anyway, but it would seem like a good idea.
  • I've just spend half an hour reading this, thus reducing my work time - which will undoubtedly result in my having to commit a sin.
  • sean
    Probably buggering a goat, knowing you.
  • "Let's put a guy a in a room for one week and people will be able to interact with him through webcam/instant message etc."

    Actually this one has been known to be a deadly sin for so long, and thus hasn't been done for so long, that when Diesel did it last year it was actually a success.

    The deadly sins of today, the succesfull memes of tomorrow!
  • PS to previous comment:

    About 8 years ago I was that guy.
  • The deadliest sin is calling it "Digital".

    It's just communicating with 'stuff', stuff that other people also like to use.

    Incidentally, "Digital" has 7 letters.

    That's a sin for each letter.
  • James PP
    Another deadly sin is using the phrase "Web 2.0" without having a damn clue what it really means. I know a lot of ad agencies and digital ad agencies bandy round that phrase like it conveys some sort of automatic technical convergence understanding and credibility. I can tell you one thing if you asked any of those people to articulate what they actually mean, there will be a pause and then lots of mention of Google Maps and Second Life and 'mashups' sigh...
  • Joe
    Why all the negativity about sins... they're the best bitsarn't they?
  • Can't believe I forgot this one:

    Teasing websites!

    "We'll do a fake *wacko* website that pretends to be real and will have people scratch their heads as to what's it's -actually- for so much they'll come back every day for weeks to find out what product or service we're *really* trying to plug."
  • Ben
    How could we all forget.

    Number 7: The Enter button.
  • I have two more.

    The first is "Can we have a navigation that takes ages to build up and makes sounds and stuff like The Matrix".

    The second is murdering idiots, but I think that's probably just a sin and not really to do with digital.
  • Paul
    Enjoyable read. Interesting that you use the John West Bear ad ( I wrote it by the way) as an example of a succesful viral (at least I assume that's what you meant to use it as) because it was never really intended to be a viral per se. It got posted on just one site (the adcritic site in the good old days - when it was free and anyone could access it) and people just started forwarding it at a phenominal rate. It was a fortunate accident really - at least to a digital retard like me at the time - but I suppose it was one of the first films that showed everyone the potential of a viral if the content is right. I actually think that potential is still true today - but you're right about the market being saturated with crap - just like the rest of the media landscape really
  • Ok, I'm not entirely sure how relevant this is to this particular post, as no client would ask for this. However, I truly think that one of the seven deadly sins of digital is a complete and utter depreciation of the English language. Text messages, blog entries and emails; all guilty of abandoning any English you learned whilst in school, and at the end of the day just plain lazy.

    I'm bored of reading things written by intelligent adults who can't even be bothered to display good use of basic grammar.

    Some good reminders:
    http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/004023.html
  • I’ve just had to pick myself up from the floor laughing while reading your post and it’s comments. How, how true they all are. Bring on the 2.0 list.

    How about
    1)
    “Here’s the poster we paid a lot of money for. Can you make us a website from that?”

    2)
    Client: “We sell clothes and we want to create a virtual changing room where you can enter your waist size and then try on all our clothes in 3D, spin them round and do things like change your toe nail colour.”

    Agency: “Do you have any budget allocated for the project?”

    Client: “Yes! Somewhere in the region of £10k, but we could stretch that to £15K if required.”


    3)
    Putting your nice corporate brochure on your website as a PDF download.
  • dave
    digital designers/creatives who have no training or experience in creative strategy and ad writing coming up with hackneyed badly written and ill thought out ideas, that are born out of trying to use the latest technology and tricks and not out of writing something normal people (not the industry) will find persuasive.

    this leads to all of the deadly sins mentioned.
  • Hey Iain,

    Wow, what a fantastic post. And here's my entry for the 7th Sin:

    They say: Let's do an online contest, people submit their entries and they win

    You say: Ah, that's original. So you now want me to bank on the luck-that-never-shone by not just buying something but wasting my broadband, time, mindspace, going through your flash and html intros, freak out over the millions of participants that your website says already have sent in entries and lose sleep?

    Why it sounds like a good idea: Anything that sounds like it's gonna make people trigger-happy and queue in like they would for rationed food during the post-World War days sounds like a good idea

    Why it's not a good idea: It's simple. People don't want to display their talents publicly unless they choose to do so. They'd rather spend that much time finding a job or a new girlfriend/boyfriend. And the least when ten other brands are trying to invite them to do something - you watch my ads, you watch my POS material, you listen to my sales women, you pay, you buy, you participate. Excuse me, and where the F do you fit into this picture?
  • Great list Iain.

    I think there are a couple of Web 2.0(TM) deadly sins beginning to emerge:
    - Let's do a Facebook app
    - Let's start a corporate blog

    With both of these there are so many bad examples, and very few good.
  • paulk
    I love it! How about...

    (apologies if these have been coverd off already)

    1) 'Personalised' video experiences...upload your photo and marvel at the sight of a badly cropped image of your face moving (out of synch) with the live action.


    2) A Myspace page for your campaign hero! Just to keep everyone guessing as to whether they are real or not.

    3) Video-based "UGC", with a proven track record of being wildy (un)popular in most attmepts to date. Perhaps because there is a site called Youtube, and nobody can be arsed to upload video for a chance to win a signed, limited edition toothbrush.

    4) A branded desktop RSS reader, because there simply aren't enough of them out there already.

    5) A Facebook app, "you know, like Red Bull Roshamble". Well, perhaps this isn't a sin just yet, but chances it will be quite soon.

    6) Mouse trails! Although, that said, I quite like this one: http://nigoro.jp/game/rosecamellia/rosecamellia...

    7) Online polls and "10 Greatest/Worst. Best" ;-)
  • dave
    'Live streaming'

    basically take any crap idea then say you want to stream it live onto a website. suddenly even the most mundane activities seem oddly riveting......

    .......NOT (copywrite Wayne's World 1992)
  • Now how about turning the thing around: what digital types like myself can learn from above-the-liners.

    An example would be digital guys often use the "time spent on website" measurement. While they'd say "if I get my message accross in 5 seconds they don't have to spend more than five seconds". And they'd be right.
  • James PP
    I think while we're about it, there should be some retro ideas that are probably ripe for a comeback now. Those of us (and most of you lot were) who were doing this back in '94 will remember: Page Counters!!!!(34 people have visited my site. In faux-stamper typeface) , Grey #EEEEEE backgrounds with Times New Roman default text and default button styles, This site is best viewed in Microsoft Internet Explorer / Netscape (download from here), Whole web pages created out of big images with hotspots because the 'web designers' didn't know how to use HTML or slice properly. And I think instead of loading bars, which darling are SO
    yesterday - let's go back to yesterday and bring back 80's style loaders. You know the random colour bars that flashed as you loaded a game on your C64 from cassette. Replete with added binary loading sounds. Now that would be different...;-)
  • Great post. One of the biggest problems is jumping on the bandwagon of the latest new media toy, even if it's not right for the brand. So much of working with social media is about what not to do as it is anything else.

    From one client on our recent brand tour came this gem: “We need to be on the blogosphere.”


    @paulk - and don't forget on 2) make sure you try and write it in the ‘lingo’ of today’s kids. They love it when you do that.
  • @Dino - effing nailed it.

    My add: Bury the contact information. People LOVE that.

    Bonus: Any page that is "under construction." May your construction site be closed for lack of a permit.
  • Pop-ups anyone?
  • Bit late on the uptake, but...don't you just hate websites and banners where you have like a digital pen and you can like draw stuff! Because that's way more exciting than writing in the real world. And you can say naughty words like fart.
  • Two suggestions... a skin for winamp, msn or media player (I can't believe I still hear this being suggested by clients).

    A fake person who's quirky and goofy and is really a covert way of getting advertising shoved down people's throats.

    Pardon if either are repeats but 80+ comments is a bit much to go through for quality control for a comment.
  • 3D Space as a navigation tool.

    Them: "Let's have a web site where you're INSIDE the navigation. So, to start the website you have to walk in the front door, and then to learn about each section of the web site you have to walk to a different room of the building. In real time."

    Me: "...."

    Them : "We could have a search feature in the Library!"
  • Dave Burrows
    Nice post Iain, we've all been guilty of these - as someone who's name I can't remember once said 'Experts are people who've made every mistake thats possible" - my entry:

    Broadband as an excuse for bad design/programming

    They say : "Can we have everything on the site moving and animating and put this video in the background and this video in the foreground and maybe make the logo catch fire and animate some alpha masks and play some music at the same time?"

    You say : You canna break the laws of physics captain - why don't we just make the content/interaction model interesting?

    Why it seems like a good idea : Every ad on TV basically saying you get your own T1 line to you desktop for free + a £300 quid computer being the equivalent of a Cray these days = we can do anything!!!

    Why it isn't a good idea : Not everyone has a good broadband connection for starters, and if they do they're probably using it for something else in the background. Thinking your going to get 200k a sec for your site is highly unlikely. Even if you do get the content you need onto the end users computer in a short enough time for them not to have left from boredom, if you try to play it all at once then your going to get a jerky mess (thanks Flash ;) And anyway, it's going to look shit, have some class!
  • I'd have to add high/low bandwidth versions of websites. We've reached over 70% broadband adoption... it's not necessary anymore!

    I might also add using quicktime or windows media files for video. Flash is the future, baby. It has higher market penetration, and ensures that the fewest number of people possible are having to download plugins to view your content.

    I could go on... great topic.
  • Errr, we've got this wicked idea for a homepage takeover on MSN or Yahoo where we want to turn the whole page upside down! Imagine! It'd be wicked! Like, turning the whole advertising industry on its head!
  • Charles
    They say: We want to build a Facebook application

    You say: Ok, what do you want it do to?

    They say: Get people looking at our logo

    You say: I'm off to run a warm bath and open every vein in my body
  • I just spat out my tea reading your post Charles. Hilarious! :-)
  • It isn't that I'm dying to get the last word into this brilliant thread, but still, there is one more thing that have annoyed me quite a bit over the years, and even though the 7th one has been mentioned already, I think this is worth being mentioning for the collection when we look back at this thread in a couple of years:

    Thinking that just because you publish something online (web site, campaign, application or whatever), and that "everyone" in theory CAN see your web site/message/campaign, and confusing that in itself with that everyone actually WILL see it/visit it/download/interact with it.

    I guess "lack of target group understanding" would be the short version of saying it. :)
  • Great feedback from such a simple observation ! it got me thinking and post about my pet peeve.. clip art !
  • Paul
    Nice post Iain, a great read.

    These may be in the comments already, but I don't have enough time to read all 95 :)

    - Flash navigation.

    - Any site where you have to click something before you can read the content of the page. For instance, a light switch that you have to click to "turn on" the page. (This may fit into the book sin anyway).

    - Telling you they want a site to be made accessible after the design and wire frames have been signed-off. (That's from a developer's perspective!)

    - Building a standards compliant front end that get's fubar'd once the back end developer puts it into his crappy .NET application or some other code cruncher that adds about 40 DIV tags to get a line break and in the long run took more time to get all the tweaks sorted than if you had built it from scratch. (Hang-on, I'm just whining about my own gripes now...)
  • I love anything vintage, especially old toys and cars.
  • david
    there should be no rules to forming ideas. some people see value in things that others leave behind...

    limitations are what you shouldn't be doing!
  • I think Nike's are going to the retro look now for the more casual crowd. Their athletic line is ugly, but I like the retro looking ones.
  • Gerry
    Chaps

    I've been contemplating packing my bags for your shores after a few years of ATL in the colonies but after reading this, maybe I need to read more blogs to get up to speed rather than waste my time on a retail press ad.

    You have no ideas what happens down here, things like 'big agencies' creating blogs to be 'web 2.0 savvy' then articficially maintaining traffic by getting all staff to post under assumed aliases on a daily basis. How's that!

    Blogs aren't really blogs these days are they? I just take it to mean a reference to the basic format of the site...an infinite number of articles about the brand rather than a genuine attempt to elicit a response from consumers.

    Still I agree with what James said:
    If I was a brand client and I liked the idea of a top down view of a desk and my digital agency said ‘no no that’s so uncool and been done’ i would say well do it better then and make it more interesting because i like it and i’m paying you to come up with good ideas and a good idea isn’t always a new one. It’s a good idea done well.
  • mario010
    They say:
    Let's make a list,.. like uhhhh,. The Ten Commandments.
    But instead of tellin' folk what to do,.. we tell them what not to do,.. or what shouldn't be done because it's not according to our vision of what should be done.
    Then we leave the tenth out and let other upfallen folk tell the rest of the community what not to do.

    You say:
    Great idea,.. we start an organisation that tells people what to do,. and evryone that does not comply we send to a camp where they can work till they drop. I'll be leading the whole project and get myself a very sleek greasy hairdo and a funny moustache.

    Why it seems like a good idea:
    People always want to tell people what to do! And you get the free greasy hair and a funny hairy cubical thingy right under your nose!

    Why it is a bad idea:
    It's bad Karma and you get to be a worm next lifetime,.. and as we all know,..
    There's just ain't no hair on worms!!


    Why it seems like a good idea
blog comments powered by Disqus