The microsite for Staples’ “The Wall” campaign is truly impressive. For starters, the commercial transported me back in time to the place in which an ancient Chinese emperor and his small band of men take on a massive army of barbarians. The music, visuals, and effects were so “on brand” that I felt compelled to pour a cup of steaming hot Jasmine blossom green tea to complete the transformation to ancient Chinese times. More importantly, the message of the “Easy button” resonates with me. In short, I’m sold on Staples’ differentiating factor– they make things easy. The mechanics of the “Launch the emperor over the wall” advergame are very fluid and straightforward. You can simply point and click instead of having to remember a half dozen command keys as with other advergames.

The Fortune-Cookie page adds the much-needed humor element to an otherwise stoic site. My favorite fortune in this interface was, “He who climbs corporate ladder should not wear kilt.” Viral Send to a Friend pages are embedded into each piece of the microsite. Brilliant.

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I need to beat a dead horse on the search engine optimization front. I understand the need for Flash: it’s a beautiful, interactive site. However, Flash could be incorporated into an HTML site so that it is optimized with at least a text navigation footer and site map. Staples does do a good job with its Sponsored search listings which softens the blow to the lack of search engine optimization in the microsite.

The architecture and layout of the microsite is spot on. I’m drawn to the commercial first, then advergame, fortune-cookie telling, “behind the scenes,” and finally the downloadable desktop application for Staples. This campaign is well put together and incorporates a beautiful balance of viral components throughout the site. With that, I shall sign off and drink my ancient herbal tea.