10/15/2010 01:27:06 PM 
There's nothing that makes people in marketing more nervous than handing over control to the consumer. The idea is that they (consumers) are supposed to listen obediently to everything they are told and like good "puppies" act only on that information. Of course, this is complete fantasy, but the mythology and illusion still perpetuate the mind of many a CMO, marketing dept and creative team.
When it comes to the interactive world, this attitude is the kiss of death. If you ask a people in user testing to just sit, watch and obey- they will either ask to see the "skip" button, or leave the room.
It's great to have good content, it's the thing that really matters, but you've got to let users into the sandbox to play and get out of that content exactly what they want. This defines a good user experiences vs. a "non" user experience.
A fantastic example of a great experience comes from conference maestros TED and their freshly minted iPad application. The app allows users to select one of TED's awesome talks based on duration and/or theme, also it can even organize playlists for based on big ideas.
You instantly can see that this solves the convenience and practicality problem right away and also has a nice level of play potential.
TED could have easily just put its videos up on a site
It shows how fat TED has moved from being an aloof, expensive gathering for millionaires to an opinion leading think tank, that provides inspiration for all and this iPad app proves it.
Now all we need is for all those marketing types to give up their fear of handing over control and great user experiences will abound.
Posted by Ed Cotton
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