“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”—Leonardo da Vinci

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”—Albert Einstein

“Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.”—Plato

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!”—Henry David Thoreau

Yet, making a brand simple can sometimes be very… complicated. Many brands approach brand strategy with simplicity as a primary goal, only to find that simplifying the message is the most difficult job of all. But such is not the fate of Pure Digital Technologies’ wildly popular, and wildly simple, Flip Video.

In just a year, consumers have snapped up a million Flip Video digital camcorders. In the process Flip Video has positioned itself as a formidable competitor to major camcorder brands like Sony, JVC and Panasonic. Flip’s latest offering, the Flip Mino, looks to continue the brand’s simple dominance. Thus far, it has been getting rave reviews, being called everything from “a must have” (Telegraph U.K.; Aug. 10) to “the future of journalism” (CNET; Oct. 7).

Flip Video has based its line of products on the idea that the majority of consumers want to shoot video without all the bells and whistles. No extra proprietary CD-based software to install. No twisted ropes of multiple cables or adaptors to plug in. A video camera that just… shoots video. A decidedly un-simple task that has all been done with simplicity. Flip Video’s online presence is no exception.

Theflip.com is a perfect website for the product it is designed to represent. The navigation menu is easy to read in bright (but not glaring) color. The menu is also wonderfully straightforward: Home; Products; Where to Buy; Buzz; and Support. The font of the site copy is uncomplicated and just-large-enough. The small amount of included animation is unobtrusive and thankfully non-epileptic.

Compare theflip.com to Sony’s Sonystyle.com video camera homepage or JVC’s Camcorder.jvc.com. The sites of the latter two are actually quite passable. And some of the clutter found on its competitors' sites can be excused as they (the competitors) have the burden of highlighting greater product range and more extras. (Engraving? Really Sony? Is that promo necessary above the fold?). But it is the overall simplicity of the Flip Video philosophy that comes through in the comparison, a simplicity that is carried through perfectly from product to website.