Site Review
By Christine Gordon, atnewyork.com, Thursday, July 27, 2000

The Site: It was George S. Patton who said "Americans love a winner," or at least that's what George C. Scott said in the movie version that chronicled the five star general's life. The editor and CEO of failuremag.com, Jason Zasky thinks its time to plug into America's collective unconscious by showing the flip side of success.

Whether it's a jab at Edward Kennedy in a piece about his car's plunge off a bridge in Chappaquiddick or an overview of the Arab loss at the Battle of Tours in 732 A.D. the magazine has taken a similar path as the one walked by Rotten.com. The plan, package interesting content that smacks of failed attempts, embarrassing moments and historical fiascos and do it in a cultured, analytical way that ponders the whys and what ifs.

The goal is to turn an outfit whose Web site was bootstrapped on about $100,000, into an advertiser's dream where failuremag's target audience, 20- to 40-year-old males, clicks through the site for a daily fix and a possible blueprint to avoid similar failings/trap doors in their own lives. Already, the company is selling its own clothing line by using a tried (and not so well-tested) model of playing retailer along with content provider.

I wonder if they know anyone at iVillage. The women's portal hasn't had much luck as a retailer; it sold its iBaby division several weeks ago to become a pure advertising/content play. Whether the mugs and hats at failure.com sell remains to be seen.

The Design: How imaginative can a designer be with about $100,000 in the bank? While dreaming never cost anything, we may never know what the design team could have accomplished with a bigger cash wad. But the site's not that bad. The red and yellow color scheme appeals, and the front page is easy to navigate. Someone at the company is certainly a master of the obvious. In the bottom right corner of the front page a "coming soon" pitch pops-up next week's offerings which spindle into the background and out of sight as a new pitch replaces the first. This is a great, simple idea that gives a preview of upcoming attractions. One suggestion, expand the main page to fill-in the space that advertises the company's logo, which is water-marked in a wide, right hand column. How much would that cost?

The Content: Smart and savvy describes the content, which is less brazen than Rotten's, but filled with lots of historical tidbits bits that should keep competitive-minded winners of the world salivating for more. For instance, while Rotten reports that on this day in 1996 "overfed Security Guard Richard Jewell" was a suspect in the Atlanta's Olympic Park bombing they wrote "He didn't do it, and numerous news organizations end up paying him large undisclosed sums. The FBI uses the event as an excuse to lobby for further clampdowns on civil liberties."

Failuremag.com is a bit more conservative with its phrasing of historical events. Here's an example: "July 27, 1974: The House Judiciary Committee offered the first of three articles of impeachment against Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States. Less than two weeks later, Nixon would become the first president to resign from office."

I'm begging for more. What was Nixon wearing, was he sweating profusely? Well, that's a given. But I need a little more. However, the lack of detail is made up for in large, big picture pieces such as the story on the Battle of Tours, which points out the historical twist the world took when the Franks' defeated the Arabs. My analysis: we would have had HMO's 200 years ago.

The Skinny: The company has eight employees and six freelance writers poking into categories that include art and entertainment, business, science and technology, history, and sports. No surprise, too, that a romance column is in the works to snag lonely hearts who've failed at love. Gee, can't think of anyone in that target group. I wonder if Patton would bookmark the site. I sure have.


This review appeared on atnewyork.com, Thursday, July 27, 2000
Copyright © 2000 At New York.com