Bee Season: Why I Clicked
I start my Internet day at The New York Times. Today something remarkable happened: they put up an ad that was compelling enough that I did not ignore it. In fact I could not ignore it. Therein lies this tale.
I never ever, EVER click on web ads. While I’m not deeply anti-web advertising, I consider them to be a distraction, a necessary evil (for the other suckers who click through) so I enjoy “free” (in some sense) content.
But the ad for Bee Season was different.
To my eye, the ad was visually stunning. As it moved through a few subtle effects, I realized it was for a movie. When it offered up a trailer, I clicked through.
At that point there was a small disappointment: it took a bit more more work to get the trailer rolling than I expected, (instead of rolling the footage as soon as I clicked, I passed through one site and then on to another.
Then I had to make a choice: the trailer (which I’d already chosen…) or a six-minute featurette. I clicked on the trailer, and after a brief pause the mini-movie started.
Like most trailers, now I’m not positive I even need to watch the movie. (What an art form it is to condense a two-hour movie down to three minutes.) But I know I will. Bee Season has interesting story line, great actors, and is a high quality chick flick. Turns out, I owe my wife a ‘girl movie” after dragging her to see History of Violence.
Bee Season stars Richard Gere, Juliette Binoche and Kate Bosworth, plus two new (and young) talents: Flora Cross and Max Minghella.
The reason I have expended these electrons on this nano-important event is to share with you that great ads can add value.
Somebody should search out the creative types who developed the Bee Season web ad and give ‘em props. When you get my attention out of the gazillion ads I see out of the corner of my jaundiced eye and induce me to click through, you be da man.