JohnnyDarter.com is combining the exciting photos of a men's magazine (like Maxim) with the convenience of an online store (like eBay). They don't actually sell anything. Instead, the site 'advertises' the things that women are already selling somewhere else on the internet, e.g. eBay, Craiglist, etc. Johnny Darter features photos of beautiful women and the items they are trying to sell. The idea, here, is to get noticed.
Photo from Flickr.
Implications - As a way of stating the obvious, people know that sexuality helps to sell just about anything, and if anyone knows this for certain, it's Maxim. JohnnyDarter.com is the perfect mix between what viewers of Maxim have come to love with the discreetness of online technology.
Maxim Meets eBay
JohnnyDarter.com
Trend Themes
1. Online Advertisements - JohnnyDarter.com's approach of featuring beautiful women alongside items being sold by others opens up opportunities for online advertisements to be done in a less intrusive and more appealing manner.
2. Cross-platform Promotion - The concept of JohnnyDarter.com bridging the gap between Maxim-styled visuals and eBay-like convenience suggests that there will be a trend towards cross-platform promotion to attract wider audiences.
3. Sex Appeal Marketing - JohnnyDarter.com's strategy of using sexy photographs of women to make sales approaches sex appeal marketing from a different angle and offers opportunities for businesses to adopt this technique with a new twist.
Industry Implications
1. E-commerce - By allowing users to advertise their items for sale on other e-commerce platforms, JohnnyDarter.com provides an opportunity for the e-commerce industry to explore alternative advertising methods.
2. Marketing and Advertising - JohnnyDarter.com's approach proves that a combination of Maxim-style photos and online convenience can make for an effective and discreet marketing strategy, which could make this approach more common in the marketing and advertising industry.
3. Publishing - JohnnyDarter.com's use of Maxim-style photography provides a potential new revenue stream for the publishing industry as this approach may be used to attract a wider audience through the use of eye-catching, sexual visuals.