Enter Interactive is a newly launched partnership between games wunderkind Chris Gray and Toronto-based public relations firm Temple Scott Associates.
For the past 15 years, Gray has been creating video games for well-known clients such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sega, Sony, Time Warner and Viacom.
He recently wound down Gray Matter, his independent game development company, to establish Enter and move into the business of creating revenue-generating Web sites.
The company’s own site at (www.enter.ca) showcases some of the techniques it is using to develop sites for its clients.
Q. Why the move from games developer to creating transactional Web sites?
A. I think virtually every company and brand is now represented on the Web, yet most of the companies out there only have what I call a Web presence. The information is pretty rudimentary – slow graphics, the sites tend to tell you the company story but not much more.
The design of the site – the words, the text, animation, motion, interactivity – these can be used to convey the values of an organization, its branding and strategies.
With that in mind we felt the time was right to get into the Web design business and help companies that had at present a rudimentary, boring site that wasn’t strategic, and to help companies invest in sites that are really going to entice customers and bring them closer to the company, and really convey their branding.
Q. Is one of your goals the creation of sites that generate transactions?
A. If we get someone’s time, we have a piece of their wallet. That’s really the idea. We want to take innovative technologies and professional communications and combine those to create powerful revenue-generating sites that attract customers, and retain them.
Q. What is it about your game expertise that is going to help people sell widgets on the Web?
A. Game development really teaches you how to get the best out of the least – how to send a lot of information, graphic information in particular, down a small pipeline or wire. Instead of a one-shot deal where you play a game and never come back, the whole challenge to designing games is to create something that’s enticing and really sucks you in, and keeps you coming back.
Q. What’s the role of entertainment on transactional Web sites?
A. We really think that entertainment is at the core of building Web site loyalty, or one of the key strategic components. We think free branded games and interactive and entertaining experiences are really important as a new marketing strategy for business.
They can drive brand identity and sales. We are also focusing on interactivity, so even if you’re going to buy a book, there are a lot of companies or brands that would benefit from a more interactive experience on the Web.
Q. Is this similar to store-front retailers trying to add value and make shopping more of an experience with events in-store, such as book stores with coffee bars?
A. These can all be treated as extensions of where we want to go with the entertainment and interactivity – using some of these techniques to reach the broadest possible audience. That means people might buy a book now, but in the future we think they’re going to be buying a much wider variety of consumer goods.
It’s a lot more fun than just a static catalogue. There are fantastic opportunities to create a more exciting experience and make it a more personalized, individualized experience.
Q. What is different about a revenue-generating site? What are its attributes and what is missing from present Web sites that Enter will bring to the marketplace?
A. Our sites have to be, well we’ve got some buzz words – they’re quick, they’re hot, they’re deep, and you have to get time to get the wallet. That means we integrate interactivity, design, professional marketing communications – and we strongly believe in entertainment. The sites have to be fast, so we have to use compression techniques, some of which we honed in the video game industry. We have to deliver more using less memory. That means no waiting around, no wasting time.
An example of this is our Great Canadian Knucklehead Knockout, which is on the Enter site. We’re just using that as an example why someone would return to your site. It’s fun and it brings you back.
