asylum 626 is the product

I was recently chatting with a friend of mine who is a digital strategist at AKQA, about how brands need to stop thinking about their websites as print ads that live on the web and more as products with a function. If people hate ads and ignore then, then why would you ever model your $50k+ website after them? So many brands create websites that are completely narcissistic and games that provide little entertainment for the bored. The advergame where you drive the car around has been done, let's please move on.

Goodby, Silverstien & Partners has done it again with client Doritos. They have managed to make a web production which I am too scared to even open in my web browser, Asylum 626. (Here's a post I wrote about last year's fright, Hotel 626.)



It's a clear example of a brand thinking of their web-presence as a product itself, not just a 'web ad.' It's entertainment that is interactive and original and it doesn't shove a product down your throat. In doing this, Doritos is attributing their brand with a higher value, one that reaches beyond 'a yummy snack' or 'a cheap snack.' Doritos is associating itself with scary web productions. It's creating a new tradition, something you will look for each year around Halloween.