ANALYSIS OF THREE TRAVEL AND LEISURE WEB SITES
Many people now use the Web to help them plan their vacations and develop ideas for leisure activities. Many also use the Web itself to provide leisure activities through online games and chat. This research considers three Web sites that offer travel and leisure services and activitiesùsodaplay.com, gowithcea.com and gorpaway.comùand evaluates their marketing strategy.
Soda Creative is a London-based company that uses sodaplay.com to promote its creative services in the intellectual property design field. Soda Creative works with companies such as Pfizer and Microsoft to develop promotional itemsùincluding toys and educational piecesùthat are innovative and unique. Sodaplay was created and maintained by Soda Creative to provide a free, online leisure activity to users of the Internet ("Play," 2005).
Sodaplay supports the company's branding effort by reinforcing the company's commitment to innovation and creativity. Using Sodaplay, users create abstract models that they can animate and experiment with in order to provide locomotion, sound and other enhancements. Sodaplay not only promotes creative play for users, but also supports Soda Creative's image as a company with a unique orientation and one that can foster creative solutions to design problems. Sodaplay is available at no charge, and a community has developed around Sodaplay designers that Soda Creative also supports ("Sodaplay," 2005).
Distribution for Sodaplay remains Web-based, although a downloadable version is being developed and made availableùagain at no charge. Sodaplay provides an example of a company that uses promotional activities that require a possibly significant level of investmentùin this case the development and maintenance of the Soda Constructor productùto gain awards and prestige and to promote the company's image and commitment to its marketing orientation in t
...