Agreed. My first association is to back when lengthy Flash intros were all the rage. Some of them blew my young mind, but for the ones I remember, I have absolutely no idea whatever site was beyond that intro.swf.
It also reminds me about retail operations increasingly trying to make shopping an "experience", to lure consumers back from online shopping.
I used to be a web developer (still am, sort of) and, while I thought it was stupid and did it grudgingly, I have to admit that this sort of thing beguiled a lot of clients, generated a lot of work and paid a lot of bills.
It also reminds me about retail operations increasingly trying to make shopping an "experience", to lure consumers back from online shopping.