If you're interested in beers (marketing) there's the new Asahi UK website to check out. It has been launched recently and it actually still misses some contents that will be activated over the next few days. The site is illustration-based and quite stylish, and it presents the kind of content beer brands/cool brands are expected to propose: music, events and lifestyle.

The design of the site is very nice, but the experience in the end is not as promising as it looks at first sight. Interactivity is missing and also the content lacks a touch of originality (but the music in the lounge room is quite cool). Of course, since the site has just gone live, I understand it's too early to judge... (but they've presented the launch of NMA, so...)

Maybe I'm just not a big fan of "soft launches"... there's so much to out there to see, that if you launch something new you must be sure that the first visitors will fall in love immediately with your work.

Unfortunately I feel that there isn't much room for second dates in the online world.

To look promising but not exciting is no longer enough to appeal consumers and generate regular visits, especially when you position yourself as a lifestyle brand, and you aim at delivering your lifestyle message through content such as guides to cool places and music. What do you think?

I completely agree on the soft launch tactic not being enough. The site is nice, but imho not of the international standard.

Posted by: Julius at June 29, 2007 12:13 AM

Partially agree with you on the soft launch thing, but as devils advocate, a site that grows over time rather than punches out in one big bang has much greater longevity. The option of mailable updates in the form of newsletters means the user doesn't miss these additions and is still part of the experience long after they've visited the site.

As for a lack of interactivity, I may have missed something but here goes:

HOMEPAGE
Clickable signage to access competitions
Clickable bottle to access info
Dog wags tail on mouseover, barks on click and then accesses info panel
Pergoda chimes and tassles sway on mouseover, and boing noise emits on click, which then displays info
Sun accesses info panel
Creature waggles ears on mouseover, disappears behind building and pops up as monster
Car sounds horn on click (pointless but such a good toot toot!)
Crane flaps wings on mouseover and takes you through to Lounge on click
Lounge sign bzzzz's on mousover and flashes pink. Takes you through to Lounge on click

BOUNCER SCENE
Girl talks to you and asks you to fill in a clipboard which pops up
Bouncer's eyes follow mouse
Scene can be skipped once logged in by clicking on door, which then opens

LOUNGE
Fully functional music player
DJ's hands scratch decks (with noise) on click
Number pad on keyboard also plays scratches
Clickable pics to access competitions
Clickable pic to access gallery
Buttons on TV screen activate videos
Crane flaps wings on mouseover and takes you through to downloads including an origami crane
Exit sign bzzz's on mouseover and flashes pink. Takes you back to homepage

Not bad considering...

And not meeting the international standard? Grolsch green light site looks damn fine - but apart from a dodgy minigame it's standard corporate line throughout. Oh and you can click on the bike bell (lol nice touch)!

PS. sorry about the non formatting but hey it reiterates a point and a half (speshully at this time of nite ;P )

Posted by: james Easley at July 1, 2007 01:23 AM

Creative but very strange. It looks like Asahi Beer is targeting youth.

They hit a road block when they require you to register to enter the lounge which is a big no no in the WWW.

Personally I like the beer myself.

Posted by: Coffee Buck at July 7, 2007 05:31 AM