Grapevine: A New Concept in Inernet Marketing

Today my browsing fingers took me to a site which has an interesting concept or rather concepts. The site is maintained in the style of a blog, with articles mainly written for young and hip female readers.You can find weekly recipes, travel guides or latest fashion tips here. But the highlight of the site will be a web serial involving four young women who are living in Chicago. This web serial is in the form of graphics with voice over. Although I didn't quite like the voices, they are too artificial. It feels as if I am listening to an ad commercial, the pitch is too high and unnatural. But still the concept of a web serial in a blog like site is unique ( as far as I know).
I like the design of the site, it's muted colors and use of soft green color here and there is effect. Though the text color should have been a little more bold. The text is too light, making it bold will make it easier to read.
Another new concept here is the internet marketing through a web serial.The girls hang out at a cafe and boutique. Now what ever they eat, drink or buy at this place is made available to the audience. If one of the characters makes a trip outside Chicago, all things related to her travel, such as airline bookings, car hire, hotel bookings etc, will be available to click and purchase. I think the strategy here is to make the web serial and its characters popular, create a following and then sell the things used by the characters. Not a bad idea,I must say.
web serial