I think one of the brands that uses interactive in a really wise way lately is Comcast. The awareness they've gotten since their 2005 fantastic Comcastic (not online anymore?) and other pieces like Tripleslanguage has made the brand being known even in places where Comcast services are not available, so i'm always kind of expectant what they will be releasing next.

These days, and again done by Goodby Silverstein and Partners, working together with Nexus Productions and Unit9, there is a new campaign called Dream Big. Presenting a fantastic website using a look-alike of isometric view Sims-style games, you can join the so-called Comcast Town, choose a neighborhood and then build your own space, using the capabilities of the Triple Play feature (tv, phone, internet) and inserting the product in a really smart way inside the experience.

Also i liked very much the way in which user interacts with others in the website and also through social networks like Facebook making a good use of Facebook Connect to get users logged onto the site, and doing it in a way that really makes it not so disruptive as i once wrote.

I won't extend very much, just visit the site and discover it because it's worth a good time spent on it. I found that there's also some TV commercials:

I think they forgot that Comcast lives in Philly.

Posted by: Mark Schoneveld at March 11, 2009 07:53 PM

Agree. A must visit site, but more as an example of micro-site as a dead end unto itself. It has beautiful and responsive interface but why would I spend time there? The only thing I can do is redecorate a single room. Or go visit other rooms to see how they are decorated. There's no where to go and nothing else to do. The only way I interact with the site is by buying overpriced virtual furniture. Even then I can't even put the laptop on the desk. All the rich links take you off the micro-site to fancast and other places. It's an interesting example of a theoretical strategy.

Posted by: chris walsh at March 12, 2009 06:33 AM

I have to agree with Chris. I felt the site lacking - I had no idea what comcast's objectives were in developing this. If they were simply, 'entertain a potential or existing customer for 3 minutes', they nailed it. Otherwise, big miss. I reviewed this and a similary allstate initiative if your interested in reading.
http://madcowan.blogspot.com/2009/03/build-your-own-space-how-two-marketers.html

Posted by: paul at March 16, 2009 07:03 PM

worthless

Posted by: max at March 21, 2009 01:40 AM

I think that it's pretty ingenious, actually. They've taken placement advertising from the movies and TV and moved it to online. That's a pretty good idea. How many people will take the time to play with the site is anybody's guess; it could be a nice downtime thing...

Posted by: Angela Neilman-Smith at March 25, 2009 02:47 PM

Great review, Paul. You had some great points and insight that really helped me with a paper I'm writing. Thanks.

Posted by: ambradley at April 20, 2009 11:48 PM