Microsite: I Am an Island

The microsite is dead. There. I said it. Really, it boggles my mind how companies can continue to churn out microsites--the gloryhorse of all digital marketing campaigns (it seems)-- to waste away in solitude amidst the sea of hyper-connectivity that is the condition of today's aggregated social web.

In a culture of crowd aggregation, microsites seem lonely, disconnected...floating islands of Flash desperately crossing its fingers for visitors. Silly microsite, I don't have time for you! What with my social networks and blogs and feeds and media utilities, my attention online is spent. Spent I tell you!

And tell me, when is the last time you purused or spent time on a branded microsite...and do you ever repeatedly visit one for that matter? And why would you?

The microsite brings up two catch-phrase points for me:

Build vs. Join

Viral vs. Vital

Join: In an age of infotainment portability (online and off), aggregated crowds around niche pyschographic preferences, and scarce attention-- what utility does a microsite serve in my online life? And more importantly, how does it enhance my offline life?

Vital: Its cool you could make the chicken dance or make cats rap, but really...does it make me a more engaged or simply more entertained consumer? Again, its not about episodic hype & push messaging...its about the slow boil of useful, vital information that integrates into my online and offline life for sustained brand engagement.