Nobody here can deny that it is a visually impressive site and as with anything in life, first impressions count. Any piece of design/website/advert that makes you go 'wow' as soon as you see it means that it has you engaged and can therefore convey its message with an engaged viewer.
Take a look at any microsites for new cars, such as the Focus ST one mentioned earlier, they are visually impressive, makes you want to look at it more, it makes it seem like less of a chore than watching adverts, but thats basically what it still is.
As a company that specialises in this form of design, this website showcases that extremely well, so to say its pointless is well, wrong.
YES websites such as google or bbc news are well put together, succint and informative...but bugger me they're boring to look at.