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Modernista! letting others define its identity We are what the digital media universe says we are. Why fight it? Which brings us to Modernista!’s new Web site, which isn’t a site in the classic sense, but a search-engine redirect—you Google them, and the top link takes you back to Google, but with a small red navigation bar in the corner. The bar leads to shop-related articles and information from Wikipedia, Facebook, Google News and Flickr, among other sites. Angela and Brian are suitably impressed, and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s a big, audacious idea—as honest and unfiltered as an ad agency is ever likely to be. As long as the execs at the Boston boutique don’t have any Emperors Club memberships, they’ll be fine. And if Google does catch any peccadilloes, well, just cue up the Flash intro and paste in the boilerplate! UPDATE: To be clear, it works outside of Google, too. If you click on this link to Modernista.com, for example, it brings you back to AdFreak, with the nav bar up top. UPDATE 2: The agency’s Wikipedia page was pulled offline today, apparently for violating the site’s policy in some way. I say: Even more brilliant! It generates more coverage! Then again, I say a lot of things people don’t pay attention to. —Posted by David Gianatasio

March 19, 2008 in Gianatasio | Permalink

Comments

I agree. What a wonderful idea.

Posted by: CKL | Mar 19, 2008 4:10:40 PM

Love it, though a bit wonky on firefox - not all selections trigger a page refresh. So it took me a few minutes to figure out what was or wasn't going on.

Posted by: | Mar 19, 2008 5:16:55 PM

At first I thought the concept was very cool and that Modernista had a lot of balls. After a little more thought it seems more like a big blunder. The site is already taking a negative spin with the Modernista Logo appearing next to Hummer remix video "Bummer" on Youtube (I'm sure GM appreciates that). Modernista uses Wikipedia as their homepage, which has been deleted today since they blatantly broke a fundamental Wikipedia rule. “Though everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia, Wikipedia should not be used for advertising or promotion.” I'm surprised that the blogs and media are embracing Modernista's site when they should be bashing it for a general lack of understanding of the online space.

Posted by: KCiampa | Mar 20, 2008 1:07:45 PM

The basic premise of frames with redirects is fresh and innovative? 1995 called, they want their marketing back. Asshats

Posted by: mciampa | Mar 21, 2008 12:40:14 PM

http://britnista.com/

Posted by: Todd Levy | Mar 22, 2008 10:30:56 AM

HAHA "ASSHATS"

Some others take on it...
http://blog.mycardmywork.com/?p=279

Posted by: Tom OKeefe | Mar 22, 2008 12:19:01 PM

Made already by Jung von Matt. They've taken it one step further though.

Posted by: anonymous | Mar 31, 2008 6:12:30 PM

http://www.ilovenewwork.com/2008/01/18/all-you-need-is-flickr/

Posted by: Tom | Mar 31, 2008 6:31:59 PM

Interesting. Interesting because it is a new way to 'Go Public'...

-- sort of like getting your brand painted by Andy Warhol in real time while everyone is watching. But Andy could paint that's not a good example

Interesting...Also read ART LANGUAGE 'Normal Norm Theory'

Posted by: BRANDCURATING TM | Oct 16, 2009 3:50:39 PM

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