Do you like a good love story packed with action and frivolous adventure? Then surf on over to ADiamondisForever and see what you’re missing.
ADiamondIsForever is one of two marketing websites sponsored by the Diamond Trading Company. The site is also one half of their annual holiday season marketing campaign. The other half is a television commercial depicting a man stuck at the snowed-in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The tag line of that commercial asks the viewer, “What would you do for love?” and then it directs us to ADiamondIsForever.
If you have fifteen uninterrupted minutes between your boss’s office patrols, and if you want to see the potential of a Rich Internet Application, and if you have a broadband connection, then proceed to the Internet. If the answer is “no” to any of these questions, you probably will not regret surfing past this site. That is not to say that ADiamondIsForever is uninteresting. The site designers have worked hard to combine the classic dramatic elements of Film and old time Radio Theatre (modernized here using cell phones), with contemporary, on-demand, Internet technology to weave a rich, interactive web streaming experience.
It begins with a map of the American upper Midwest region. Geographical context is added when Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago, IL are circled and highlighted. The adventure continues with a rerun of the TV spot. After that, site surfers are prompted to click on specific parts of the map, in linear order, to follow the hero’s trek. Will he reach his loved one in time to save Christmas?
No need to blow the ending for you. Better to answer the question, “Does the site work?” Yes, and no.
As stated at the top of this review, ADiamondIsForever is one of two marketing websites owned by the Diamond Trading Company. The second site, linked to the end of this site, is a more traditional site. It offers locations of DTC stores in your area; and even the chance to design your own ring. If the goal of ADiamondIsForever is to hook us long enough to get to the second site, no, the site does not work.
Here’s why: Technically speaking, the site’s story line is constructed linearly. That means one has to watch the whole story unfold from beginning to end. All attempts to interrupt the story and skip forward or backward will result in online audio hallucinations and computer crashes. When a person’s livelihood hinges on their ability to stop and restart a web stream whenever their boss approaches, anything less than full on-demand capability is unacceptable.
Creatively speaking, the premise behind ADiamondisForever is flimsy, the script is thin, and the “movie” is chock full of continuity errors. But hey, at least the Diamond Trading Company can brag that they actually built an actual Rich Internet Application website. That makes ADiamondIsForever a hip, cutting edge site to surf, right?
So is it worth the surf? To paraphrase Michael Keaton’s character Johnny Dangerously, it’s worth a visit–once.
Finally, ADiamondisForever rates a .com Dish! “T”, for teenagers and older. You definitely do not want your kids trying any of the stunts this guy tries.
