Studio Exploration-the Woo Agency

A few months ago my wife and I were contacted by the Woo Agency to discuss using some photographs from our photography business, OH MY DOG! Photography, for an ad campaign they were going to pitch for a large veterinary hospital organization. We had not heard of Woo, so we instantly went to their website and were pleasantly surprised. Woo has an impressive client list containing Intel, Samsung, Good Guys, DISH Network, Lucky Brand Jeans and many more. The Woo Agency has an excellent site that consistently communicates their purpose by using different elements, including Flash, to create a fun and entertaining site that makes you want to learn more about their company and what they do.


It all starts on their splash page when you are greeted with the simple, yet striking Chinese dragon symbol that accompanies the agencies namesake throughout the site. Upon entering the site you are greeted by a landscape which contains little Chinese styled scenes and boats, of which when clicked, will navigate you through the site. Of course, for simplicity they have provided a list at the bottom of the page that does the same thing(good design). Each section of the site is loaded with little Chinese themed cliches. You can start by learning a little something about the mysterious Mr. Woo in the Why Woo section of the site and find all of the different ways the agency will try to "woo" you to covet their services. You can follow their theme all the way to to contact page where they inform you that they are looking for "a few enlightened souls to ad to the feng shui of Woo.....including Flash developers.

The Woo Agency uses Flash and interactive elements on their site in very simple but effective ways. Every different section of their site has some sort of movement or sound that keeps your eyes and ears open to what can happen next. Check out 'The Tao of Woo' section of the site. Notice how the pages of the book create the feel that you're turning the pages. What a cool way to emphasize the philosophies of the company. Be sure to go to the Woo Work section to see some of the projects the company has done. They seem to be doing a lot of work with interactive media and advertising in the cell phone industry.

By keeping the site fun and entertaining, the Woo Agency makes it easy for visitors of their site stick around and explore the different areas of the site. Animating the boats, trees, dogs and little people on the home page just makes you want to mouse around and find out it there is anything you've missed. The silly Woo puns and terminology give you the feeling that the people at Woo like to have a good time and do not take themselves too seriously. I am especially fond of the Chinese Zodiac on the menu, in the Woo Hoo! area of the site. However fun and creative, the functionality and purpose of each little gimmick let's their visitors know that they mean business.

It was very timely that the Woo Agency contacted us when they did. My wife and I had been arguing with one of our friends, who is an SEO specialist. Our friend was chastising us for having a website that uses a lot of Flash and telling us that we would need to redesign our whole site to satisfy the needs of the search engines. Then came the Woo Agency, with their fun and functional Flash site and their impressive list of customers. Creativity and good design will woo the masses eventually.