The agency site reborn as YouTube channelIt was inevitable. BooneOakley, an independent shop in Charlotte, N.C., has scrapped its Web site in favor of a YouTube channel. Visitors to BooneOakley.com are redirected to YouTube, where they are greeted by a three-minute clip showing the story of "Billy," a marketing director who hired an agency owned by a holding company, got fired and then got killed by his pissed-off wife. The site has links to work and partner bios, and it uses the YouTube ability to embed links inside videos. It's an interesting approach to build a Web presence directly on a platform rather than a stand-alone destination, but you have to wonder about choosing only video as a way for BooneOakley to tell its story. The news section, for instance, is a video clip about the Obamas using the agency's initials in naming their dog. And while YouTube's "hotspotting" is a clever way to move around to different videos, the navigation is far from straightforward. I kept having to click back to the Billy intro video to get to other parts of the site. |
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June 1, 2009 in Agency web sites, BooneOakley, Morrissey | Permalink |
Comments
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I think its refreshingly bold and shows a willingness to stand apart from the crowd. Agencies are all trying very hard to prove that they have made the commitment to digital in various different ways and this to me is as loud a statement as you can get. I think you picked on very specific and functions and chose to look at it through the eyes of a very traditional user rather than something very experimental and daring. The drawbacks in navigation are hardly what people will remember, the very fact that it is on YouTube will stick in peoples minds and will set the site apart as "different" than just your average everyday destination.
I think its great!
Posted by: Craig Elimeliah | Jun 1, 2009 1:44:56 PM
I dunno, I think this is pretty clever. I like that you can stumble across it on Youtube and not just if you are going to Boone.com or whatever. Shows off their personality too.
Posted by: biped | Jun 1, 2009 1:49:07 PM
I think this is fine...as long as you utilize the Youtube channel as a hub rather then the only destination.
Posted by: Stuart Foster | Jun 1, 2009 2:17:01 PM
I love it. As far as an alternate website, this is a unique and interesting agency execution.
Posted by: Joel | Jun 1, 2009 2:27:03 PM
Rather than commenting on the morbidity of the video or the channel's lack of easy navigation, I'll focus in on the idea. The idea is fresh and presumably cost effective. When it's time to build a Web site, it's easy to drop fresh ink in the expense column and verbalize justifications for blowing tons of money. BooneOakley has found a way to leverage a free source to promote their agency. I don't know how much all this development on YouTube cost, but I'm sure it was much cheaper than having an html guy write code. Big ups to BooneOakley for trying something new.
Posted by: RyanPulkrabek | Jun 1, 2009 2:38:56 PM
The advantages of originality far outweigh the navigation issues.
The site itself is, arguably, their best piece of creative--which is not a criticism on my part at all. It's a very smart move. Congrats BooneOakley.
Posted by: Scott Lackey | Jun 1, 2009 4:30:49 PM
I like it, it's creatief, it's original, it's standing out of the crowd.... and that's exactly the aim what advertising should do, standing out of the crowd :) (in a good way).
This video went pretty viral, when I watched it this morning it had only 11k+ views... I'f seen it pop up in atleast 5 blogs and I blogged it myself :)
I really like the idea!
Posted by: Jelle | Jun 1, 2009 4:39:58 PM
I have a splitting headache.
Posted by: Billy | Jun 1, 2009 9:59:08 PM
I'm with an independent shop in Knoxville, Tenn. We started using YouTube as the home page for our interactive division in late March. But we also embedded a nav that takes visitors to other social nets depending on the information they want - flickr for images of our print work, for instance. Take a look: http://www.tombrasinteractive.com/
Posted by: keepitreal | Jun 1, 2009 10:40:40 PM
Nah dude, you guys just created a youtube channel, like Axe and everyone else. Boone's site is something totally different...original content, humor, and a piano-playing cat for their agency vision. Classic.
Posted by: SeenIt | Jun 2, 2009 12:25:24 AM
1. Pretty good execution.
2. Might be a "first" but it's not particularly clever or original. More of a stunt.
3. They have some great brands, and it's quite possible they've made good ads. It took me a while to be able to find them.
4. They really haven't maximized the value of the YouTube platform. Not sure I would want them marketing a digital brand if their own website doesn't maximize the potential of the platform.
Posted by: Noah Robinson | Jun 2, 2009 2:25:50 AM
Modernista did it first, and Modernista did it better: http://www.modernista.com/
However, I refuse to spell their name with an exclamation point.
Posted by: luke | Jun 2, 2009 1:19:12 PM
Just curious why you didn't embed the video / site like all the other youtube links on this blog...?
Seems like that's the real advantage of the YouTube platform. Well that and the comments and conversation, and the video responses ... and all of the other things that they're getting.
Posted by: Samuel | Jun 2, 2009 2:58:08 PM
Modernista did it first? Implying that they own YouTube is like saying Hathaway owns print. Both of these sites are courageous and cool. Modernista says there site is the view of their agency "through the eyes of the web." Boone oakley's seems to be more about telling their story, which they believe is best done in video format on youtube. I think you have to give props to both agencies.
Posted by: steven | Jun 2, 2009 3:35:40 PM
It's creative, sure. But not very functional.
Who wants a new window for every link? Or dealing with the lag of the video links. Or the lag when trying to skip ahead in a video that hasn't finished downloading. (Which you have to download every time if you create a bookmark)
What about all those companies out there that block YouTube as a corporate time waster?
If I was looking for a website, and ended up in YouTube, I'd figure the link was bad. In todays world, I want my information now.
This is, however, a great way for an ad company to save money, instead of hosting their own videos.. at the cost of their own user friendlyness.
Posted by: Dave | Jun 2, 2009 5:53:12 PM
You're right, 50k views in 5 days would definitely force an upgrade in hosting service. Go Us!
Thanks for the mentions.
BooneOakley, For Those Who Dare to Daring Work.
Posted by: Bill | Jun 2, 2009 9:03:45 PM
Doh!...I hate typos!
Posted by: Bill | Jun 2, 2009 9:05:54 PM
sorta lame comment. super cool site.
Posted by: derek | Jun 2, 2009 11:00:38 PM
It's all good until you get to their work, which is all very traditional and average at best.
Posted by: jake | Jun 3, 2009 8:47:11 AM
Neat idea. But from a user experience point of view, it's a bit narrow. Not everyone wants to watch video. They're essentially forcing people to engage in one particular medium. I think the advantage of a website is that you can provide choice - video, audio, copy, links to social sites and apps, etc.
Love the tone, though. And I love that they had the balls to do it. At the very least, it's fantastic PR.
Posted by: John Graham Mills | Jun 3, 2009 3:06:11 PM
As John Graham Mills says above, some people don't like video. I'm one of those people.
Search engines, they also don't like video. Or people who need to print out information to give to their bosses to explain their agency choice. I appreciate that in the bios section they mention awards they've received, but I'm not going to go back and relisten to it for that information.
As well, I have to think that basing the availability of your entire portfolio on the reliability of another site is a bit scary. It reminds me of Failblog being suspended from Youtube. While this is no Failblog, there is always inherent risk when you're using a free service as a backbone to your own offering.
Still - refreshing idea. I don't think enough people leverage the power of internal navigation in youtube videos and their creativity and personality definitely shines through.
Posted by: Andrea Hill | Jun 9, 2009 1:08:22 AM
Much chat about how engaging the Boone Oakley website is (yes I am jealous how much attention and PR they are getting)- it's right on the button in terms of matching brand identity, target audience and media.
Clearly not a design for everyone, and clearly not an agency for everyone, but then that’s the point....we say there's always an Alternative, and good on Boone Oakley for doing it!
On the point of creating something different we launched our site a year ago and have a unique feature which no one else has, we've got our own biccie booker, try it out and let me know what you all think at www.thealternative.co.uk
Posted by: Thealternative | Jun 11, 2009 7:03:58 AM
