Singing Frogs? What Will They Think of Next?

The NY Times (free subs. required) had a great story today about the resurgence of e-cards. Think, the next generation of Blue Mountain. And wouldn't you know...it's being driven by the growth in broadband and rich media marketing.

These are great Flash executions and can really save your butt if - you're like me - and forget a family member's birthday, and need a quick fix until you can run to the store. Again, this is a great example of content driving the execution. No more pre-1980 Atari looking graphics. And some of these are hilarious.

But as the article discusses, Hallmark.com and its chief competitor AmericanGreetings.com, are not the market leaders. And it's not Wal-Mart either. Look out for the upstart - JacquieLawson.com. JL is a great business case study in its own right.

The next phase will of course be the gradual integration of interactive video and 3D animations. The cooler the card, the more popular it is, the more it's sent, the more you can charge for ads. It's a simple business model. The rich media web just makes the engine work.