Website Design: Chicago

Looking for really cool website design? Chicago agency Plan B beats the "big boys."

Take a spin around the websites of some of "big names" in the ad industry, and you'll notice something odd: they're boring.

Maybe it's the whole "corporate" thing. Maybe it's an example of the old truism that the hardest thing for any ad agency to sell is itself. But for agencies who claim to be experts at communication, their sites are remarkably uncommunicative, especially in this age of web 2.0 site design, social web marketing and viral marketing. Companies whose sites don't leverage the power of the emerging wave of interactive media risk appearing antiquated and behind the game-and that's death to any agency selling website design.

Chicago plays host to the offices of some of the biggest interactive agencies in the industry. And yet when you look at their sites, and then log on to www.thisisplanb.com, it's clear where the real innovative work is happening.

Web 2.0 Site Design and More

We incorporated the latest in web 2.0 site design and social web marketing tactics, including live Twitter feeds from our staff, real-time video chat right on our home page, and animated multimedia case studies. And we built the whole thing in an immersive Flash environment that encourages visitors to click around and explore.

The result is one of the most engaging and innovative examples of website design a Chicago agency has produced so far. Not to mention a study in viral marketing companies seeking to harness the power of web 2.0 site design should take note of: our site launch resulted in a minor yet significant viral event as our URL became a widely forwarded link. The launch of our video chat went viral, too.

All that from an agency with a fraction of the promotional budget and alleged "creative firepower" of the big-name shops. Funny, no? Kind of makes you wonder what those "big" agencies are charging all those "big" fees for, doesn't it?

So anyway, what does that mean for your business?