I know a lot of people/organisations use websites as a marketing tool, but as a web developer, I have an aversion to sites that promote style over substance.

There are many sites that are 'creative' yet not very effective. And some of the most effective sites are very simple and understated.

If you want to catch someone's eye, go to town on a shiny, flashy site. If you want to catch someone's business, make sure you have good content, and remove as many barriers as possible by making your site accessible and compliant with the major standards.

As a web developer, I think the most creative solutions are the ones done within constraints. It's easy to be putatively creative if you have no constraints. It's easy to go nuts on artsy-fancy flash intros, graphics, etc. It becomes a lot harder, and thus requires more *creative solutions* when you actually consider usability, performance, etc. I'd point to Google as an example, how they keep their main search page very clean and fast, while still adding creative new features unobtrusively yet accessible. Yet, they also add some very creative elements like the logo changes for special occasions, they have the customizable homepage, etc. I also like digg.com for the same reasons.

Another interesting reference is Adobe.com. Even their flash page has no flash widgets.