I'll wear condoms when pigs fly
"To own an infotainment website about your product has become the norm," Wilkie says. "Name a brand, from Pop-Tart to Trojan, and you'll find the associated interactive site with more than you ever thought you could know about toaster pastries or condoms."

Take a look at the Trojan website and you can see what Wilkie is talking about.

Set against a city backdrop at the intersection of two streets -- "Protection" and "Pleasure" -- a pig moves from left to right across the screen. But as the pig reaches the middle, he transforms into a man who holds up a sign. The text reads: "Evolve! Use a condom every time."

While the site serves the twin goals of driving sales and teaching consumers about the health and safety benefits of using condoms, it also addresses an equally pressing riddle for the brand: how to put the sex into a product many people see as a nuisance or necessary evil.

The solution is humor, with the male-oriented message imploring guys to grow up, even if their basic instincts are those of, well… pigs.

While the entertainment value of the site delivers something on the level of a smirk or a chuckle (the art is really just a riff on the old and all too familiar "men are pigs" joke), it serves as a clever gateway to all the educational questions a user might have. The humor then serves as that proverbial spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down.

You don't need to overdo it
It's easy to get carried away with the entertainment aspect of infotainment. But according to McGilvray, different brands will want to tone down (or ratchet up) the entertainment factor depending on what they think consumers will want to know.

"Michelin's 'Michelin Man's Better Way Forward – The Road of Tomorrow is Being Created Today' campaign is a true example that less is more in infotainment as long as the brand offers the audience the exact touch points they need to connect to the brand," McGilvray says. "What I love about the campaign is that the calls to action are clear, it's easy to navigate, and it's short and compelling enough that I might forward to a friend."

One virtue of the campaign, according to McGilvray, is that a familiar face -- the Michelin Man -- serves as a trustworthy tour guide who assuages the common fears of those shopping for tires with an educational approach that works to make quality tires synonymous with the brand.

While sales are nice, it's the brand recognition that Wilkie sees as the real value gained from an infotainment site such as Michelin's.

"Many brands are creating deep and vast websites showcasing a product without any real care as to the measurability of the success of the site," Wilkie says. "Success might simply mean the number of visitors. Is anyone buying Michelin tires online as a result of visiting Michelin Man's 'Better Way Forward'? No. But are they getting informed about Michelin in an entertaining way on this site? Absolutely. And when it comes time for tires, they just might remember Michelin."

Michael Estrin is associate editor at iMediaConnection. Read full bio.