Cabel just got back from Japan and noticed some major advertising differences. Traveling is one of my favorite ways to find new ideas. The more foreign the more interesting.
Within minutes of riding on the first trains in Japan, I notice a significant change in advertising, from train to television. The trend? No more printed URL’s. The replacement?
Search boxes!1 With recommended search terms!
It makes sense, right? All the good domain names are gone. Getting people to a specific page in a big site is difficult (who’s going to write down anything after the first slash?). And, most tellingly, I see increasingly more users already inadvertently put complete domain names like "gmail" and "netflix" into the Search box of their browsers out of habit — and it doesn’t even register that Google pops up and they have to click to get to their destination.
But, I ask you: could this be done in the USA? Wouldn’t search spammers and/or "optimizers" ruin this within seconds? I did a few tests with major name brands and they’re almost always the top hit on Google (surprisingly, even Panic). But if Nabisco ran a nationwide ad campaign for a hot new product and told users to Google for "Burlap Thins" to learn more, wouldn’t someone sneaky get there before they do?
Despite my questions, this trend seems almost inevitable to me.
cabel.name: Japan: URL’s Are Totally Out
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