"Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?" Well, they can open a movie's website, that's for sure, especially if it's for "The Simpsons Movie." Once down the donut hole, one descends into Springfield in full feature film aspect ratio. The site is very colorful and easy to navigate, and will ultimately be fairly layered as well, though unfortunately right now there's only one Springfield location that's actually live on the site: Moe's Tavern. (The other six options in the menu read Coming Soon. They'd better hurry - the movie premieres on July 27!).
The first thing I did on the site was to create my own Groening-inspired avatar, which worked wonders for my self-image, and later showed up on my visit to Moe's standing at the bar with the regulars (and cleverly below a sign posted "wanted for fake ID"). The site also features games, downloads, galleries and of course, video trailers and teasers of the film itself (which can be easily added to one's MySpace, iPod, or Blog - a no-brainer for the viral contingent of Simpsons loyalists). All in all, this is a site with great promise, as long as it can avoid Bart's habit of underachieving and procrastinating: let's get those other sections live!
-- Jason Scheidt, director of marketing, EyeWonder, Inc.
About 8 weeks ago, with the help of a skilled therapist, I finally accepted the fact that I may never be asked to make a guest appearance on "The Simpsons." And I'm ok with that. Sort of. It wasn't the lost opportunity for my 15 minutes of fame, nor being denied the hundreds, or possibly even thousands of dollars of TV star income that that was hardest to for me accept. It was the fact that I'd never get to see myself as rendered by Simpsons' animators, with bugged eyes, a potbelly and an overbite. Then I stumbled on "The Simpsons Movie" website. The site has all the standard digital diversions to promote the upcoming movie, but the site's killer app is a tool for creating your very own Simpsons character avatar, allowing non-celebs (like me) to create a Springfield-friendly alter ego.
It would seem I am not alone in my overwhelming desire to become a temporary resident of Springfield. Apparently there is huge pool of people eager to know just what they'd look like as Simpsons' guest stars, and they all seem to have found their way to this site to recast themselves in the Simpsons' mold. The avatars seem to be popping up everywhere on the internet where a profile pic is accepted. They are all over Flickr, Facebook and MySpace (especially in the friends section on "The Simspons Movie" MySpace account). A Google search on "Simpsons avatar" returns 2.8 million results. A search on the exact phrase, "my Simpsons avatar" returns 37,900 results…and the site has been live less than a month. What is great about the success of this campaign is that it is not easy to imitate. The campaign is driven by the quality of the Simpsons content and the loyalty of the fan base that content has attracted.
-- Patrick V. Barrett, senior interaction designer, Bazaarvoice
