I received an email yesterday with a subject line that read, “AI websites that design themselves…check it out!”

“Wow,” I thought, “a website can design itself now?!” Clearly, my interest was peaked. I followed the link and landed on The Grid website.

What I saw in front of me was so simple…2 lines of text, 1 counter bar and 1 call-to-action provoking my desire for visual comprehension. So I clicked it (naturally!)…and I was blown away.

Within the first 10 seconds of the video, I felt a connection. This brand understood what a website truly means to a creator, to a business owner, to someone with something to say.

By the 35 second mark they empathized with the biggest challenges business owners and busy professionals face on a day-to-day basis…where will I find the time and where will I get the resources?

After 1:30 I could visually see how the product was meant to work and how some of the features may help me respond to the challenges above.

At 1:40, I was ready to sign up.

And the funny thing is, I knew nothing about it. I didn’t know the price, I didn’t know the technical specs and I certainly didn’t have any customer reviews to impact my decision since it hasn’t even been released yet!

I, like the 38,541 people before me, hadn’t:

• seen a stitch of alternate marketing collateral about The Grid,
• heard a single favourable review or criticism of the product, nor
• conducted any further research on the brand or product

All I had done was watch a single video…but it didn’t matter. I felt connected to the brand and their product, I forwarded the video to my network and I was ready to sign up.

Now, some of the information, such as price, features, release date, etc., are available on the site, but the bottom line is, there’s no substantial evidence that the product will perform and exactly how it will work. And yet despite this glaring lack of substantial proof, viewers are connecting and they’re doing so rapidly. In fact, in the less than 24 hours between watching the video and writing this post, over 200 new founding members have already signed up, adding to the nearly $4 million dollars worth of subscriptions they’ve pre-sold.

That, my friends, is the immense power video has in connecting a brand with their audience.

Now, I know you’re dying to watch it so please check it out and see if you connected and felt compelled to become a founding member: