"Branded widgets are the refrigerator magnets of the digital age" "They hold the message, they're useful, they're cheap," - Richard Garfield

Mr. Garfield's point is a solid one, widgets carry branding and content in an easily distributed package. Many brands love the the large volume of content that can be included in a widget. Other brands love the organic ways widgets can be seeded and distributed through social networks. In either case, the widget retains its branded message while its placements spread virally through the digital community.

Affordable to create, at their core, widgets are small applications that can travel with branded content. The literal forefathers of the digital mashup, widgets are difficult to define precisely because they can take on nearly any shape, size or functionality. VM Foundry typically builds web widgets in Flash and Flex, using AS3 and converts desktop versions using Adobe Air.

What does a widget do?

This MTV Asia video widget serves video and appropriate ad content targeted by the viewer's location. To do this, the widget pulls a feed of content which MTV Asia can update at any time. When you view this widget, it determines your geographic location by ip address and then checks to see what video content is licensed for distribution in your country. Within a fraction of a second a pre-roll ad is applied to your video and you're presented a custom experience. We have worked with MTV Asia to develop graphic and strategic treatments to the various programs they are presenting to sponsors throughout 2008 and we have just started working on a small widget for the Music Revolution show.

This is not all of the widgets we've designed and developed but it is a good cross sampling of 2008.