"iPad mag" vs. Microsite →
"Wiping the screen" to make a blurry image of a hot car less blurry is a classical gimmick from the era of advertising microsites – "adding a layer of interactivity", so to speak.
It's Monday morning and I'm fussy as hell.
I just stumbled across an article on Apple iPad’s Automotive Infiltration. I guess it makes total sense for the automotive industry to jump on the iPad bandwagon. As much as for many other branches, the device makes sense for sales people in the field, where a stylish thin screen with an easy-to-use touch interface might feel more appropriate than chunky laptop computers. Even bundling a preloaded iPad with a flagship luxury sedan such as the Hyundai Equus sounds plausible – it's quite in proportion and the device offers a great medium to provide an introduction video, the car's user manual, an emergency application or even some kind of upselling/cross-selling content …
But with iPad apps such as the freshly announced Volkswagen "Das" (~385 MB to load), I also see a danger: are these corporate "iPad mags" becoming the new kind of bloated advertising microsite? You know, these monolithic flash explosions that nobody ever actually uses (right after the fascination for the newest flash and motion design tricks has died away)? For me, most of them have always been enhanced print ads with some added animation and interactivity, but not very much value or relevance.
I don't understand why Volkswagen didn't at least build in some kind of car configurator or some other form of integration into the sales process (I always thought conversion rates are quite good for these kind of tools). Or did I overlook something?
