Novelty or the Next Generation of Web Design?

Modernista, a Boston-based indie ad shop, has taken a “Web 2.0” approach to creating its website. According to the Adage.com article, “Modernista Makes a Break with the Past,” published on March 31:

Upon punching in the URL, a small navigation bar appears, redirecting visitors to a host of the best-in-class Web 2.0 services. Click on the agency's "about" section, and you're taken to its Wikipedia entry; "work" displays a TV reel via YouTube, print examples via Flickr and web executions on Del.icio.us. Agency news is delivered through Google News, and a "contact" section lets users get in touch via AIM or Skype.

Simultaneously celebrated as brilliant marketing and criticized as lazy craftsmanship, modernista.com has shaken up the webosphere by merging the idea of self-promotion with user-generated content. Initially, Wikipedia.com, which hosts the site’s “homepage,” pulled the listing. It was later restored after Modernista made it clear that they would not control the content of the page. However, the fate of this experiment is still unclear. A banner posted on the top of Modernista’s webpage reads:

The website for this company obscures our logo with their own, and may lead the viewer to believe that Wikipedia serves as their homepage provider. This is not correct. Wikipedia has no affiliation with Modernista and has requested that Modernista cease this use of our website.

Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia written from a neutral point of view and does not endorse nor condemn Modernista, but is opposed to being used as a promotional mechanism in this manner for any third party.

Is this from Wikipedia or from a Wikipedia user (the spelling mistake in the second paragraph might indicate the later)? Wikivandalism is an issue that Modernista clearly faces by absconding control of its digital content to Wikipedia's 75,000 active contributors. The jury is still out on the most important question: Will this attract new clients to the agency? Though companies may be intrigued by Modernista's forward-thinking approach to digital internet, they might have concerns about what this means to the management of their own brand identities. Only time will tell if this is a gimmick or if it marks the next-generation of “Web 2.0” website design. Either way, it clearly demonstrates how one user can galvanize the disparate tools available on the web to their own advantage.

Link to article: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126064
Link to website: http://www.modernista.com/7/index.php