Free your instinct
If your goal is to promote a deodorant for men, you can base your concept on two options:
a) the protagonist of your ad is a super sexy guy and all girls run after him (this is Axe, the latest example is the Axe Billions advergame)
b) you focus your campaign on an invincible hero, a stuntmen, who overcomes any challenge (and this is the Rexona way).
In France, Airness has decided to follow the second path, building an online adventure game in which you, the cool guy in the spot, have to face a series of challenges (mini-games) to be eventually free your instinct.
I have contrasting feelings about this website. No doubt it has been well conceived and developed. For example I like the cartoon style of the storytelling, but I can’t help thinking “who cares?”. I mean, you have to play at least five games to reach the end of the experience, which is definitely too much to keep the flow sticky and compelling even if the end prize is a trip to New York.
Let’s be simple, quick (and effective) unless we really have in our hands something creatively unique that consumers will value worth minutes of navigation.
I have to agree with you about the sometimes uselessness of these interactive games that so many major corporations are now featuring on their websites. Interactivity-I’m all for it, but a game that takes 20 minutes to upload that will inevitably freeze your computer isn’t worth it. I was recently researching a website for a major gum brand and they too had a game featured. You could only move your player to the right which meant he was perpetually spiraling all over the place. And I still to this day don’t know what the point of the game was. Simple, quick and effective is right on. People only care about one thing: what’s in it for me?