Sony has been pushing a tagline “Everything is better in 3D” to help market their line of 3D Televisions. That begged me to ask the question “Is it really?”

3D movies were a novelty just a couple years ago. Valentines Day was laughable, and other early attempts proved to be nothing more than novel. Fast forward to a little movie called “Avatar”, where James Cameron managed to bring 3D media to the top of the consumer’s mind. Now more and more movies are being made in 3D (Alice in Wonderland, Saw 7, Dreamwork’s Shrek 4, etc). People are willing to pay more for 3D movie experience.

This helped pave the way for the race to get 3D content in people’s living room. Samsung, Sony, LG, et al have been pushing their 3DTV sets on the consumer market, touting it as the next big thing in television. After a slow start, getting 3D content to your living room is happening as it is slowly, and I do mean slooooowly, being rolled out to the masses in the form of ESPN3D & other 3D TV networks & broadcasts. Content publishers are backing the TV set makers 3D TVs. Now the issue for the consumer is “should I upgrade”? Enter Marketers.

What better way to reach the people most likely to purchase your new product than blast an entire tech review site. Sony pulled off a front page takeover of CNET.com better than any takeover I’ve seen in recent memory (Note: I can’t even recall what other company’s takeover ads I’ve seen, which reinforces how strong Sony’s message connected to me). For those who check out CNET.com quite often for all things electronics, I’m sure you’re used to the adver- takeovers that happen on their site. If you’re unfamiliar with these, it’s when marketers & advertisers pay a site to run an ad on the front page that “takes over the website”.

Front page takeovers are bought to target the website’s target demographic – in CNET’s case that would tech enthusiasts, early adopters, and those in the research/comparative phase of the purchase cycle. While most of these takeovers may seem like an annoyance to web surfers, usually greeted with a click on the “X” to close the ad early, I was lucky enough to stumble upon an ad that stirred up the creative juices upstairs.

Their ad starts a few seconds after the CNET site loads. The site splits in half and reveals an image that looks re-imagines CNET home page as a 3D room as opposed to a flat surface.

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I love how the left nav bar leans up against the left wall. The way top nav links are now cubes high above the content. How the story links became blocks that are stacked upon one another. And the awesome reinterpretation of the CNET logo, once a bland circle, as a sphere that hangs from the ceiling of this mock room. Finally, on the bottom right hand wide where one normally encounters a 300×250 MPU ad, Sony’s Television stares at you with the words “Everything is better in 3D”.

After seeing this mockup of what a 3D website could look like, I think Sony may be right. Imagine your favorite website in 3D. How would it look? What features would you want to see?

Related: Samsung released a viral video a few months ago pushing 3D content. The video goes over several classic paintings, such as the Mona Lisa, and shows you what seeing them in 3D would be like. You’ll see them in a whole new (comical) way. The video is no longer on Youtube, but can be found here: http://www.marketoloji.com/2010/06/05/samsung-3d-viral-videosu/.