Bank of America and The Morris Code - Essay Example

An essay that critically assesses and analyses the following Flash multimedia website by drawing on some distinguishing features of this project (e.g. metaphors, screen design, video, sound, interactivity). Connecting to high school students is difficult. Getting them interested in finances is almost impossible. To do this, the Bank of America and Organic set out with their banner ad for "The Morris Code," one part of a series of "edutainment" sites designed to provide tips on the banking basics and the set-up of new accounts. (mediapost.com 2009). The Bank of America has introduced a financial awareness campaign which has been formulated to educate and equip the students so that they can be in total control of their finances and may be able to bank with confidence. It is a national effort and it aims to help college aged students, nearly four in every ten of them reported they can use it as a help in managing their money. The Morris Code provides students with tips on how to maneuver college life, which includes the financial matters. These are provided through Webisodes, additional online contents, as well as offline communication pieces. (Bank of America 2009). Most of the students complain about handling their finances, be it school related expenses or general money matters, is their biggest concerns entering the fall semester. Through Morris on Campus campaign, Student Financial Handbook and Student Package banking products, Bank of America is arming students with the right tools to take control of their finances as they prepare for the future. They created an immersive, interactive pop-up book website called “The Morris Code” that forms a basis of a combination of entertaining concepts, through a strategy called ‘edutainment’, threaded with educational content, and offers a new experience that engages parents and prepares them to start a conversation about banking with their teenaged child and provides an easy path towards opening an account with them. The project is designed in multimedia in a way in which it attracts the sect it aims for, namely the college going students. It is a highly colorful web page and with good navigation options. The very look of the home page indicates its cause and the group it is intended for. It is a flash page set up with audio effects, apt for the website. The site has got tabs which lead us to the required information. The first tab being “On The Road” contains video clippings of the various road shows conducted as a part of spreading the awareness. It has videos of how the whole set up is demonstrated in public and how students are made aware of the facilities provided. The video content is impressive both purpose wise and also look wise. Vides in association with pictures, both part of multimedia, can explain clearly than written words. The second tab is called “The Morris Code”. This tab takes us to the home page of the Morris code. Here we can acquire information on any of the banking facility offered under this scheme. It starts of with an audio of a middle aged man saying “ The Morris Code. Its like those unspoken rules you have with your best friends. Except that these rules make you best friends with your money. Check out the code and see what Im talking about. Knowing everything you can about how to manage your money is the only way to play it these days. So please, help yourself to my formula for success: The Morris Code”. (Bank of America). The language used is not of the formal type but the one which college students use in a casual chat. The voice and the sound clarity is apt and with the casual touch, it can entice the intended group. The third tab is named “Morris on Campus”. This tab gives tips on how to survive in college without spending much from your wallet. It has a series of video clippings demonstrating the tips given. All these are downloadable clips. The fourth tab is “The Student Package” tab. This is the most informative area for students. This tab leads to information on the facilities offered to students. It also provides an insight to which facilities come under each package. The fifth tab depicts a wooden plank nailed to the board and is titled “for parents”. This page addresses the parents as to why they should ask their children to bank with them. This is the only tab, which is non-target group centric, however when analyzed from a overall perspective it is key because in many cases student were guided in the financial issues by their parents. It also urges the parents to help by arming them with knowledge they need to become financially independent. It gives the parents a view of how they can help the students more efficiently, and has features where the parents can have a feedback of their ward’s account. Features like message alerts when their balance gets low, or access to view the account, ATM’s where you can deposit cheques without having to spend time at the bank, receipts received has a picture of the cheques on it, for record purpose, are sure to lure many a parent. It can be described as a web site that is attractive, informative and apt to the cause. It has also gained international recognition by bagging the Best Show and the Best Bank Website awards at The WebAwards 2009. One of the important principles of multimedia design is that when developing a narrative, it is useful to incorporate metaphors to help explain your idea and it is quite relevant in the Morse Code website. (multimediacreative.com.au). As the website focuses mainly the students community, in the Home Page itself, clear metaphors are used. For example, when the multimedia file loads, the loading feature is shown as one drawing a stage that about to be opened in a notebook, normally used in schools. The main and distinct metaphor used is the Blackboard on which all the menus are shown. Even in the sub-menus good number of metaphors in the form of visual pictures is shown. For example, in the sub menu of Identity Theft, the metaphor of clowns is used to show how people could assume or rob another person’s identity like a clown. The navigational and narrative structure is quite impressive. The audio of a man speaking in the introduction, is apt to the purpose of the web site. The home page looks very bright, colorful and attractive with good metaphors. The tabs are well spaced and convey very clearly what each tab leads to. The home page shows the links to each feature and is designed such that it pops out of an open note book, another metaphorical aspect. It is featured in a way to suite the taste of teenage students. Expanding on the pop-up book styling of the site, the ad used clever word games and MAD magazine-style cover folding to create awareness for their site. The section of people who are aimed at by this project, are the teenage students and this website has all the aspects as it emphasizes information design, usability, experience that is relevant to the students. Students are sure to go through pages of a website which is more attractive and catching to their eyes than a normal, official website because of its screen design, video, sound, interactivity. “The site is the latest marketing tool developed by the bank to attract teens heading for college and for young adults poised to enter the work force”(bizblog.projo.com 2009). Hence in an attempt to make the website more ‘catchy’, this multimedia project was developed. It is sure to send across the message faster and over a wider area if the web design is readily accepted by the students. It also increases the viewership rate. That is what the bank is ultimately looking forward to. This site being an advertisement to their product, it becomes a success only when the viewership rate is high. And it is directly reflects on their increase in customers. References mediapost.com 2009, Organic, Inc.-Bank of America, viewed on October 31, 2009 http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=112377 multimediacreative.com.au, Multimedia Design 1 - Narrative Design, viewed on October 31, 2009 http://www.multimediacreative.com.au/articles/narratives.htm Bank of America, Back to Campus, Bank of America Introduces Morris, The Wise Upperclassman Financial Awareness Campaign to Help Students Bank with Confidence, viewed on October 31, 2009 http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/index.php?s=43&item=8232 Bank of America, The Morris Code, viewed on October 31, 2009 http://promotions.bankofamerica.com/oncampus/themorriscode/ada/index.html bizblog.projo.com 2009, Bank of America creates student financial planning site, viewed on October 31, 2009 http://bizblog.projo.com/2009/05/bank-of-america-7.html Read More