Entries Tagged 'TV' ↓

Weeks after I posted about Pearle’s miserable attempt at social media, I revisited their site assuming they would certainly have added something to it by now. I guess I am too optimistic. Either their agency clearly doesn’t get it, or Pearle has hampered them from doing what looked like a great idea.

This morning I saw an intriguing ad on television. An elderly gentleman related things he had seen as a result of his age: “I have seen an American flag with 45 stars.” He later says his name and that he is 102 years old. The ad ends with a link to pearlevision.com/ihaveseen. Sounded like it could be a fascinating testimonial site, so I checked it out. The site has the same lush B&W photography that the TV spot has.

That’s where it falls apart. A stream of attractive people (with glasses) cycles through. There are no controls, only a single link that sends one to Pearle Vision’s main site. That couldn’t be all of it, I thought. Moving my mouse over the slideshow of beautiful myopics, I noticed an occasional play button, so I chose one. It was the elderly man I had seen in the TV spot. Flanking either side of the video were previous and next buttons. Next sends one to another video, this one of an opthamologist. Previous send you back to the slideshow. That’s the entire site. No other testimonials.

What an utter waste of time. No upload link. No call to add your own story. Pearle’s agency really dropped the ball on what could have been a great concept. Maybe the site will evolve, but who’s going to wait around to see? No client or agency should cave in to releasing a site before there is content to support it. Users simply won’t return to see it through.

Shark Week used to be something we all looked forward to each year on the Discovery Channel. A few years ago, the Discovery Channel abandoned science programming in favor of catering to America’s unending supply of white trash with appalling programs like Monster House, Monster Garage, American Chopper, etc. Shame. Even Shark Week had become a joke, with shark shows on for only a few hours at night.

This year they came to their senses and took Shark Week very seriously. Not only is the shark programming constant, they released a killer Web 2.0 game called Shark Runners. I am hooked. You man a ship and your task is to hire a crew and search for Great Whites to monitor. You can see your friends’ ships if your know their screen names. Here’s the cool part: the sharks in this game are controlled by real Great Whites off the coast of California! They have RFID tags in their fins to track their movements.

Right now, I am studying Lucy (pictured), a 4.3 meter female with a short temper. She’s already attacked one of my crew members who was hospitalized. Big fun.