Macromedia has posted this case study on how corporate MINI uses FLASH to generate sales.

 

Heh. Thats awsome Even if miniusa dosent work with FireFox

 

Mine works in Firefox. MINIUSA works in a pop-up window, so you have to let it pop-up the window.
Hit this button (bottom right, in status bar) and tell it to show the popup.

 

That is awsome what a great tool to help us poor consumers get info on a product like the MINI. I used that to build my car and it really helped...



Art

 

I don't understand - why the rolleyes? You don't think it's a great site and tool?

 

Outstanding, well thought out, not just the site we know the site is good but the thinking behind the site, the outline points the site had to address.


Great execise "look see" into marketing structure and what goes into the foundation of selling a brand

 

I wanted a MINI for a long time before I got one. Finally found Miniusa, configured what I wanted and took it to a dealer. I guess there is a lot of stuff that goes into marketing that the consumer doesn't see. That's one fine site imo.

 

Thanks for the link. Not very much info though...I would love to see more behind-the-scenes of miniusa.com development. When it first debuted, it was revolutionary for flash usage and the web in general. My first time there I had no interest in the cars, I was there to appreciate the great flash design! But what truly makes it so great is that it is not about bells and whistles as most flash sites are, but about functionality. No other company offers anything as complex as mini's comfigurator. Yet look how many others have been forced to make their own build-you-own sites...all because of MINI!

 

As a computer geek who used to work for a website company, miniusa is one of the WORST websites ever conceived for a company trying to sell you something. The build your own car part is ok to be Flash, but never should a whole site be Flash. It's slow, locked to 800x600 screen size and overall just a pain the butt to use.

- John

 

Well yes, I will give you the pop-up windows are annoying...just use tables to keep it sized in your current window. It's never been slow for me, especially considering what is being displayed. I don't see how it's a pain at all.

 

The scion site is actually one of the best configurator's I've seen - everytime you click an option (most of them, more being added all the time) the 3D car will move and rotate showing the new part/option - it's not just a paste job like the mini configurator. www.scion.com

 

...very cool.

 

I wish the site had a date on it. This case study has been out for a little bit now.

http://motoringfile.com/2005/04/05/m...media_showcase

 

I tried the Porsche site config and it way more difficult to use than the MINI. The MINI site is full of great content not just swirly things and fancy graphics.