http://bit.ly/bFhZHb

I've watched the Google Chrome Features video a few times to make sure I wasn't rushing to judgment. But no, I can stand by my impression that the campaign misses and misses by a mile. I had seen the "making of" the campaign video prior to the campaign itself. And I was intrigued. You can tell really smart cool people worked on it. And you can tell a tremendous amount of effort went into it.. weeks of setting up, a crew of ten's..at least....and who knows how many millions of dollars. But I wonder if the people involved didn't get so self absorbed as to lose perspective on how to really "sell" Chrome.

With a very saturated browser market, and knowing how difficult it can be to get people to switch browsers ...exporting bookmarks, learning a new way of webbing (my term), just getting people to change (when we all know everyone prefers the path of least resistance and changing something you use everyday for no good reason will meet with a lot of resistance), I am surprised they didn't go for something a bit less intellectual, and a lot more tangible.

The brief said "this should be something you've never seen before" so it's interesting that they chose to explain Chrome's features with the most elementary examples...as they say they wanted it to seem " like going back to school". Looking at the key features and expressing them through simple elements, such as knitting and ink, doesn't make me think I'll be experiencing something new and better. In fact, speed as shown through a projectile, security as shown through burst balloons, omnibox through mercury (I still have no idea what that is), seem confusing and unsophisticated, not enticing and exciting.

And what's with the harpist....i just keep thinking it feels more like going backwards than moving into a better and brighter future.

Oh well, I give them props for trying, but in the end, I doubt it will achieve their goal of inspiring very comfortable Firefox and Safari users from giving Chrome a try.

Heather