A Small Orange has been my webhost for the past year and happily so. Their website and forum are the best I’ve seen from any webhost–everything is simplistic, there’s no unwarranted advertising, and the design sense they have is top notch.

I was surprised when I saw this promo on their website. I think it is very clever in the message it sends across:

First off this is the way that you sell technology: put people in the picture. There is a reason why the iPod silouette commercials were so popular. Everyone could see themselves in the people dancing, being active, and using the product. The shot of a man breakdancing is an excellent way to catch peoples attention in a fun, positive, way.

They also have a great two word slogan that not only does good for supporting the service they are promoting (PHP Interoperability) but for A Small Orange itself. Be Flexible really defines the services that A Small Orange has itself from small $5/mo plans to hosted servers, reseller plans, and lots in between. The placement of the copy is just right since it guides your eyes along the contours of the body of the dancer giving a sense of motion.

In my opinion the message that this ad transmits is that A Small Orange is friendly, fun, easygoing, skillful, and knowledgable. Just like the man in motion A Small Orange can accomplish things that others cannot. Which is true, because they just sold me on how they implement PHP 5. Which I needed to run my ActiveCollab groupware right next to the PHP 4 based Wordpress cms. So this promo works on two levels customer wise: it informs current users and attracts future ones in a pleasant, non-technical way.

Happy Holidays, everyone!