The other day a friend of mine brought H&M’s global website to my attention again. Back in 2006 I was one of their consultants until I more or less lost the assignment due to the fact that I told them what the didn’t wanna hear – Your website sucks! Of course I was wrong and they were right. After all, they’ve been awarded time after time at major advertising shows (Thanks to among others to me and the team I worked with back then) so why wouldn’t they know what they are doing.

This is exactly where the problem start for most major brands – at ad awards like Cannes Lions, Eurobest, Clio and others where people with no understanding for how to build an online presence beyond Adobe Flash and cool animations take these monsters to new heights. Back in 2007 I was also a part of building these kind of platforms for major brands but behind closed doors I constantly tried to convince my clients that sticking to these worn out technologies was nothing but stupid.

Let’s take a look at couple of major players and have a quick look at their online presence.

The Online Nike Store

The online store belonging to the worlds leading sports brand. All built in Flash…in 2010

Nike has always been among the first brands to adapt to change. Back in 1999 when I took part in pitching them into Framfab they were even heading the pack.

At first glance it all looks great. The site design is inspired by blogging with that clear and present left hand menu hanging there. But once you start looking deeper it’s a mess. The entire store is built in flash which is just plain stupid. To Nike’s defense I’ll ad that they launched the store in this costume around 2005 when Flash was the hottest thing around. However that’s not the case…since 3 years back. Until a couple of month ago the first page on Nike.com was also dressed in Flash but now they’ve changed that.

Nike.com is filled with fantastic content that people would love to get their hands on. Take Nike+ as an example, a fantastic running community that would have been spread engaged people hundred times more if they’ve built an open platform that allowed the community to truly contribute. However, today the Nike+ site like most of the other sites is locked up deep down in custom made solutions that doesn’t make it easy for people to speed the brand.

The adidas digital presence

As you might know I was working with adidas for a full 8 years. During those years I Creative Directed and took part in launching 59 global digital advertising campaigns for the brand. I also took part in developing their global site and their intranet.

In 2006 we launched the adidas global campaign for the World Cup held in Germany. Around this time I started to raise the question about leaving the flash platform. All results pointed in the direction that Flash, that was and is a wonderful platform when it comes to creating cool rich media sites, didn’t meet any of the demands that the users had. People came looking for products, videos, TVC’s, exclusives and more – but they did not want was to load heavy content, use unique navigation, not being able to bookmark specific pages or share specific content with their friends.

I continued to work with adidas until 2008 but never managed to convince them to leave the flash platform. Instead they listened to another agency that managed to talk them into rebuilding their global website with flash as the main tool. In 2008 they launched the new adidas.com, the same site you’ll see today and it was already in 2008 a step backwards, today it’s more of an artifact that they instead should burn on a disc and give away to Wikimedia as an historic time stamp.

The Rolex Global Brand Site

The Rolex site. I full on Flash site that demands a state of the art computer and broadband connection

Oh god how I loved this full-screen flash site when it was launched in 2007. It was state of the art and even though I started to abandon working with flash sites at the time I still felt that this served Rolex purpose. Now 3 years later I’m on the contrary sure it serves no purpose at all.

The thing with these sites made entirely in flash is the fact that they don’t do anything that cannot be done in HTML and frankly they can’t do some of things you can in HTML 5. The most important thing though is that when you build things in flash you’ve gotta cater for the SEO/SEM manually by customizing the platform.

A Car Site – Volkswagen

Volkswagen has since 2007 been going with flash all over the place. It was a bad decision then and still is.

I just took Volkswagen as an example. Every car brand seems lost in flash and big ass animations when you visit the campaign sites. Kind of strange since all we want is tons of short videos and photos of the cars. After all, we’re supposed to make a decision to buy a 50000$ car based on this information…

The Global H&M Site

The global H&M site all built in flash back in 2006. It takes you 4 minutes on an ok connection to even reach the right information.

I don’t even know where to start. It’s just plain stupid. The H&M site uses flash but in a way so that it could all have been built on HTML4 technology. There’s simply no logical reason at all why this site should work like this. I took part in launching Viktor & Rolf in 2006, Kylie in 2007, Summer of Surf and more for H&M years ago. Back then we had discussions where I told H&M they should throw the entire platform out and get new technology in. That was of course not appreciated and as we ended up being forced into creating flash sites we decided to drop H&M as a client in 2008.

The Microsoft Web Site

These guys got their first page covered in an animated Silverlight banner even thought they announced the wouldn’t continue develop this platform. Say no more… (Updated, just before I was about to press the publish button they actually removed the Silverlight technology from the first page)

Microsoft are strange. They more or less have the same site they had back in 2001 or something. They’re stuck with Verdana and a monster of a site. I bet that somewhere in that big ass company there’s a manager responsible for the site saying things like “It’s just to much information, we just cannot change this site” I say 85% of it is shit. Throw the site away and start off fresh!

So, why does’nt worlds best brands get online communication right? There are of course lots of reasons but I want to share 5 thoughts on the subject.

Old management

This is of course the number one problem. The guys and girls that are running these brands have in most cases been brought up in their business life before the Internet existed. This means they’ve learned how the world of communication works without the now most important component – The Internet. Having these people lead your brand Is like hiring an architect that doesn’t know 3D or CAD. They simply don’t know better.

The Ad Award problem

So, most of the people who manage these brands most likely send their stuff to ad awards. And most ad awards juries in the world are filled with advertising people who don’t give a damn about results. They go for the four F. Flash, Fun, Friends and Finalists. This means Flash as in sound and cool animations that more or less looks like the TVC the jury people love to see. Fun as in games, crazy solutions and humor. Friends as in awarding agencies and foremost people they know from start. Finally finalists as in – if another award show awarded the contribution, something must be right.

Stuck in technology

Most major brands have invested in huge content management systems. Interwoven, Sharepoint, SDL, Polypoly and Episerver among others. These systems were built by consultants aiming to lock you in and they were built for old web thinking. Many editors and many pages. Now when suddenly you wanna change technology or change how your digital presence is built up, these brands have to change their strategy entirely. This turns IT managers and brand managers into people afraid of change since that would mean they threw 1 million Euro on something useless. Thinking like that is of course wrong since were living in uncertain times where you don’t have a clue what’s right or wrong in 3 years apart from the fact that you will probably be wrong. Sticking to open source products and constantly iterating your online presence is the solution.

Wrong consultants

Most web agencies and advertising agencies out there have staffed their companies with people who can do wonders with Flash and .Net based platforms. Then suddenly you’re supposed to have people on your team who can rock PHP, MySql, Ruby, Python, Cassandra, Java, Jquery and other technologies that most IT departments hate on top of that.

Brand managers not understanding technology

Some of you will think I’m plain stupid. A brand manager shouldn’t need to understand technology. But I have different opinion. Personally I’d always prioritize knowledge about technology over knowledge about brands since all brand will be built on technology in the future and the wrong decisions from a digital point of view will have a greater negative impact on the brand compared to non technical decisions. After all, the world is filled with consultants who really know traditional branding while the other breed is hard to find.

Last but not least – CEO’s that just doesnt get it.

I’ve written a long post about these dinosaurs before. Go read it ››

So, if you’re heading a brand or a company. Here are 7 things you should do asap to get your brand moving into the digital future.

1. Never let an advertising agency steer how you do digital communication

Always initiate projects with the digital communication aspects first. It’s not very hard for offline activities to support online when they’re planned. The other way around thought is practically impossible.

2. Leave Flash. Leave Silverlight.

From a user point of view (based on how people really use the Internet) the is nothing, absolutely nothing, that motives the use of these technologies.

3. Change platform from your propriety platform.

The sooner you move all your digital assets to open sourced and MySql based ones such as WordPress, Drupal or others, the better!

4. Make sure you socially integrate the spreading of your content on most major social platforms.

Start by checking up on Brian Solis and JESS3 Conversation Prism. Video, Sound, Events, Documents, Live Streaming, Podcast, Images, Social Networks, Intranets, Extranets, CRM. It’s all to be found there as I wrote about the other day.

5. Provide people with true values

Once people end up on your site they are there for the products. They don’t wanna play around with games and shit. Products and services, that’s what you sell. If they’ve found you, your advertising has done the job – start selling!

6. Search should steer everything you do

Face it. People Google everything so make sure your platform is built to lure the Google robots into bed.

7. Don’t fear loosing your job.

Only fear doing things that doesn’t do any good for your brand. That will most surely get you a new one of you have one of those dinosaur bosses!

Go change now!

I am a Swede. We’re not supposed to say we’re good at something. In fact even when others say we’re good we’re not supposed to say that either. We even have a name for it – ‘Jantelagen‘.

But I’m not like other Swedes and on top of that I’m pretty darn proud about the fact that the readers of Microsoft Advertising and Indikats monthly newsletter have named me Swedens most influential authority within the field of digital communication and innovation. Thank you!

Read it in Swedish or English (Google Translated).

Last week rumors started to surface regarding a new tablet about to be launched by Microsoft. The name was Courier and the rumor was a video containing a demonstration of the user interface. At first I thought it was more of an interface bonanza than an actual usable product.

But today I ran into yet another video, this time putting the Courier more into perspective of how it could be used for real. And let me tell you – I WANT THIS THING NOW!.

Courier User Interface from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Isn’t it amazing. Microsoft has been all about Windows, Office and a whole lot of back end functions. Then suddenly they start putting the dollars behind innovation and new shit that makes you go wow. Slowly they’re turning their brand around. Apple better speed up their development of their rumored tablet or else we’ll turn to Microsoft! The war is on!

One last thing I want you all to note – we’re moving beyond OS and interfaces that are integrated over many platforms to instead having OS and interfaces that are optimized for every gadget. This will be the end of Windows Mobile as we know it.

A great site for finding inspiration is Fubiz. Their tagline ‘Daily Doze of Inspiration’ says it all. This morning when I was preparing for a speech on the ‘DNA of Creativity’ next week at an event arranged by Cap & Design, one of Swedens leading design magazine I stumbled on this wonderful video below from Microsoft.

I think the actual behavior in the video is many years ahead due to the fact that the grown up generation simply won’t learn how to use these interfaces. But it’s a real eye opener what lies ahead and I’m sure my kids won’t have a problem once they’re old enough.

About 2 month ago this video below showing the next generation controls for XBOX360 – The Natal – was uploaded to YouTube. It was first showed at the E3 Expo in L.A.

The question is – can the XBOX 360 Natal really be this good. I mean, look at how it senses small arm movements, hands and feets. If it works like this it might very well be the answer to how young people should stop getting fatter. With WII you can fake the movements but with this one I’ll fall down and die after 60 minutes of skateboard gaming.

Whatever. It really gives us a glimpse of whats around the corner. And since it’s on an XBOX360 I can only imagine the campaign possibilities with XBOX Live in the near future.

(Another interesting thing is the fact that XBOX360 kicks ass but it hasn’t really spilled over on the Microsoft brand yet.)

In november 2007 I spoke at the Daytona Sessions. I was asked to predict 10 things that would have an impact on digital communication in 2012.

Nr 3 was “Advertising will move into the TV sofa again”. The trend forecast was based on the idea that both Microsoft and Apple will in one way or another integrate their operative systems into the TV before 2012. 

The Consumer Electronics Show kicked off yesterday. Opening speaker was Steve Ballmer who took the opportunity to announce that Microsoft will make the beta test version of its new Windows 7 operating system available to the public for download on Friday. Apart from that, Steve kept on coming back to where the future lies for Windows – three focus areas: TV, Computer and Mobile. Mr Ballmer then talked about how Windows would be shaped in the future to fit usage in the TV room.

So, nr 3 is in the bag!

I got word of the news through Swedish IDG.

So the fight continues. I’ve written about Microsoft getting back on Apple a couple of times before. In my first post on the subject I especially commented on the fact that before Microsoft starts to spread the dollars they should take care of their product. Vista just doesn’t do it. According to Gartner only 6% of companies that should have switched to Vista has done so. Apparently Apple thinks the same as they in their latest TVC’s strike down on the fact that Microsoft is throwing money on expensive advertising instead of mending to their product.

Apart from this one they’ve also aired a respons called V Word.

I had a great discussion the other day on this subject with Per Öhlin (MineGoesToEleven).  We talked about what was wrong with the Microsoft strategy and what was right with Apples. We came to the conclusion that Apple has everything to win in a war against the market leader and Microsoft has everything to loose. After all, Apple is still the David and Microsoft the Goliath when it comes to implementations.

Today when that new spot came from Apple I thought to myself – what should Microsoft do to get themselves out of this trouble? That could very well be one of the toughest question to answer so I won’t give it a try, but I’ll start and maybe you can continue?

Here’s 12 steps to get out of the Apple vs Microsoft fight.

1. Act as a market leader – go your own way!

Rise above this little quarrel and face it – Microsoft and Apple don’t compare. There’s no use in picking on them, you’ll only come out of the fight as the big brother who beat up his little sister when it actually was her who hit you in the head with a hammer. If they keep on pinching you in the side, do what a smart old brother would have done – ignore them.

2. Stop using celebrities in your advertising.

People should think you’re spreading money in order to advertise your products – not spreading money on celebrities in order to convince people about your products. (Bill Gates not included – he founded the place)

3. Focus on your own advantages

Apple can not be run on any other computers than their own. Yours can be used on the rest (as well as theirs). Microsoft is the most compatible system in the world.

4. Talk about history, today and tomorrow but make sure you make up for it.

Talk about the greatest step of mankind and how they came about because of Microsoft. Tell people stories. (The other day I wrote about Nasa in space, damn if that wasn’t a PC in the background).

5. Go big.

Yes. Apple is slapping you in the face because of your marketing. Well, don’t listen. You need to go big. Yes BIG! Sponsor spaceships, place servers in the deepest oceans, when you shoot photos, don’t shoot them from the top of Mt Everest, make sure you shoot Mt Everest from a satellite and don’t cover Piccadilly Circus – cover London. BIG!

6. Go smart

But also go smart. Use the Internet in a way no other brand ever seen. 50% of your marketing budget should go straight into digital channels. Make sure you kick peoples ass and definitely make sure it makes sense.

7. Listen to Microsoft Advertising

One of the best movies out there that talks about the shift in communication is your own. Look and learn.

8. Go free

The next version of Vista. Give it away. While you’re at it. Buy Spotify and implement free music into every new Vista installation. Heck – thrown in the office suite too. People can use Google Apps anyway.

9. Redesign

Get rid of everything that resembles Apple’s glossy slick design. Hire Yves Brehar or someone else with that way of thinking. Establish a new universal tone of voice instead of that ‘all american’ imagery and gradients.

10. Rebrand

What does Microsoft stand for? Hell if I knew. This has to be very clear. Right now you’re being hit from every corner and your own staff hasn’t got the ammunition to defend themselves. Is quality a part of your position? Then get rid of all those to-much compressed images on all your sites. Get rid of bad copy. Isn’t it? Then make it part of your position. The other fields you have to find out yourselves.

11. Hire Barack Obamas campaign general

These guys know how to turn a country. Put them on your team and turn a world.

12. Rent a movie about Muhammad Ali

You’re the one. You’re the best. You’re the biggest. Get that self confidence back and start kicking ass.

The champion Muhammad Ali doing things his own way. 

There’s some suggestions. What’s your thoughts? (I gotta get to bed)

Last year in November at Daytona Sessions I was asked to predict 10 things that would change how we use the Internet in 2012. Number 9 was: Microsoft will compete with Google on it’s home turf – search. As an example I brought forward the idea that the buying of Facebook would lead to a future implementation of Live Search in facebook. Smart, an automatic 150 million reach.

Well, today Mashable reports that “Facebook has just rolled out its implementation of Microsoft Live Search, which allows members of the site to search the Web without leaving the social network”

Touche’.

It turns out there’s a plan behind everything. Microsoft launched part two of their Blitzkrieg against Apple. The strategy behind this one is obvious. Apples turned Microsoft into a boring nerd with their Apple vs PC commercials. Microsoft now puts a face on those nerds.

Classic strategy. Choose an enemy. Become David and challenge Goliath. Goliath you say, isn’t that Microsoft? No I say. Since Apple started bullying Microsoft they’ve slowly turned themselves into Goliath. Steve Jobs has basically given Bill Gates the opportunity to strike back from below. What can we expect from Apple now that Microsoft has disarmed the entire Mac vs PC thing. Or have they?

I still lack online activities in this campaign. After all. Microsoft is a PC company. They’re about online presence and they own a good part of Facebook. One things that there should have been something they’ve could have done there since we make up a bit over 100 million Faces.

One thing. The TVC that started the whole Microsoft discussion, the one with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. Was there a plan to do something quirky in order to create a global debate only to pave the road for these commercials. In that case it’s genius. Cause I’m not sure they would have gotten the same attention if these would have been launched without that support.

According to several blogs, blogs, blogs Microsoft is shutting the Bill Gates & Jerry Seinfeild down before we even got to like the guys. I’ve been writing about this campaign before. This latest campaign from the gigantic PC dragon was heading in one direction now they’re turning in another.

New York Times reports Microsoft has decided to get back at Apple. The next step of the campaign, which begins today and carries the theme “Windows. Life without walls,” will move away from the Jerry & Bill direction and instead attack Apple head on. A quite often used strategy from Crispin Porter & Bogusky. The same agency is according my opinion one of the few traditional agencies that really understands online. Something they’ve proven with their work for Volkswagen and Burger King among others. So, I’m looking forward to see how digital channels will be incorporated into this campaign.

Apparently the latest campaign will feature new stars like Eva Longoria, the author Deepak Chopra and the singer Pharrell Williams. But the stars of the show will be ordinary people mixed with employees from Microsoft. Bill Gates will still be featured, but more like a sidekick.

It’s obvious iTunes, MacOsx, Ipods, Macbooks etc has shaken Microsoft as one of the new ads will feature a…eh Apple PC character look alike that says: “Hello, I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.”

As stated before. How this campaign evolves and the debate that follows will be one of the most interesting things to follow this year. And since it’s now obvious that Microsoft will start getting back at Apple’s I’m a PC campaign, the war is on. Where this ends, god (Steve or Bill?) only knows.

Microsoft has released their second episode of Jerry Seinfield & Bill Gates. It’s a 4.32 minute long episode where Jerry & Bill spend time with a ‘real’ family.

The whole thing is very interesting as it’s the most profitable company in the world that is releasing a whole new tone of voice. They will spend a shit loads of money. Their advertising features two of the most famous people in the world. Their product is more spread globally than any other product.

With the help of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Microsoft has obviously not only decided to run a new set of TVC’s. Instead, I’m quite sure now after seeing episode 2 that we’re witnessing a brand revamping of Microsoft. They wanna move from being a technology company to instead become your friend in communication. I even think we might be witnessing the communication activity that paves the road for a Microsoft without a PC based OS (Windows, Vista, NT etc). A bummer that we haven’t seen more online activities in the campaign. But, I hope this might come.

I wrote last week about episode one and how I didn’t like it. That’s still my opinion, but already after seeing episode 2 I think that I might change my mind soon. Jerry & Bill will definitely succeed in building a new tone of voice for the brand.

Another thing that strikes me is the fact that I tried to think of a TVC that I enjoyed the last 6 month. Empty, nada, tomt, nothing… But the Jerry & Bill flick breaks through the ice. Yes, of course, I know. It’s because of Jerry & Bill. But once they’ve gotten my attention I’m open to listen more. And, since I’m an internet and especially a blog addict, there’s no escape. I follow +200 blogs and last week, Google Chrome and Microsoft’s new advertising has been the top 2 subjects globally. Of course I haven’t seen it on TV…who watches advertising on TV, but it’s all over YouTube.

Microsoft will succeed changing their brand and probably come out of this with a new personality. Great work CP+B. However, it’s not enough and this highlights how communication consultants must work today.

If you’re in the business of helping companies to communicate their services and products you also have to be an engineer, usability expert, industrial designer, director, salesman, advertising man, etc etc etc. Of course not all by yourself, but you must strive to have an impact on all these things in order to make a brand the hero they wanna be.

What CP+B should have said when Microsoft invited them to the Pitch was: -Sorry. If you want a communication concept we cant do it. If you wanna know how to succeed we can. Then they should have made Microsoft understand that it’s all about the product. Since information flows freely all over the world it doesn’t really matter what you do unless you have the product to back it up. And Vista, is definitely not that product. (on the other hand, if Microsoft would have called me…I would probably had said WOW)

Microsoft has to start from scratch. And that is their OS, their product portfolio and their online services. Once that is in place, Jerry & Bill might rule.

It appears that Microsoft has finally gotten tired of Apple’s Mac & PC TVC cause this little piece must have cost a fortune.

Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld seems like the perfect match to actually give Apple a good fight. However, I’m sorry to say this new TVC doesn’t deliver. It even makes Microsoft appear more boring than they already appear.

When you hire someone like Jerry Seinfeld to star in your commercial you either end up getting the best advertising in the world or, like in this case, the worst. To feature such a famous star raises the expectations to a level that is hard to match. We all remember how loved Seinfeld was when the TV show was still running. I wonder if the guys that came up with this idea realized that the TVC has to top that, otherwise we all get disappointed, and that disappointment will in the end infect the brand.

Good try though, Try again.