Inline, Online, Off

Times Square Live Stream: Maybe It’s Maybelline

My friends over at Aerva worked with Russian interactive agency Grape to create this interactive DOOH display that connects Russian fans of Maybelline via Facebook and Vkontakte (Russia’s most popular social network) to a massive live media billboard in the heart of New York City.

It’s not the most innovative use of UGC and digital display but I like the idea of connecting people between cities via billboards, a la portals to our connected lives.

Good grief. Out-of-home displays wafting scent is totally the new scratch-n-sniff. Via thedailywhat this is almost cruel:

Marketing Campaign of the Day: Hot on the heels of McCain’s baked-potato-scented bus stop ads, UK cake maker Mr Kipling has launched an outdoor campaign that takes the appetite-whetting theme to its logical conclusion by dispensing free cake.

That’s right: To promote the company’s new “on the go” cake packaging, London-based creative agency101 and media agency Starcom have teamed up to install 19 free-cake-vending posters at select bus shelters throughout the city.

At least one of the posters will also release a distinct “cake smell,” guaranteeing that public transportation will be that much more of a living hell for people who are watching their weight.

[adage.]

reblogged from thedailywhat

Grocery Shopping's Futures via the Atlantic

From virtual newsstands to record stores, QSR-ordering and grocery shopping, I’ve been following this trend for a while and here’s a good read via theatlantic with some new case studies to add to the collection:

The Grocery Store of the Future?

People do any number of things while waiting on the platform for the next subway or commuter train. Some pre-walk to position themselves at the best station exit for their destination. Some just mindlessly pace. The ones who used to look down the track every few moments for the next train now look at the digital arrival times every few moments instead. Some take pictures of rats.

And, as of earlier this month, some Philadelphians have been able to shop for groceries. The online grocer Peapod introduced virtual storefronts at select SEPTA stations throughout the city. While awaiting a train, users can download the Peapod app, peruse the items in front of them, and scan the barcode of anything they’d like to purchase. The groceries are delivered to their homes later that day.

Philly marks the idea’s American debut, but a number of international cities already have similar services. Woolworths has placed virtual storefronts at the Town Hall Station in Sydney, Australia, and displays from British retailer Tesco were installed last year in South Korea. If three is a trend, you just got trended.

Read more. [Image: Peapod]

reblogged from theatlantic

Girls' Education Campaign Runs Street Ad Only Women Can See

Facial recognition lends itself to campaign targeting that omits whole segments. Very clever and a teensy bit spooky. I would love to see more research/data and results on the accuracy of having databases assert gender.

Interactive projection billboard for BMW

Really fun example of interactive display media with decent awareness metrics to boot via helloyoucreatives

reblogged from helloyoucreatives

Intelligent, Adaptive Billboards… They’re Heeeere

NYC and LA dwellers may notice a new breed of digital ads in spots around their cities this fall that seem to serve up creative based on gender, age, perhaps even the time of day or weather.

Immersive Labs is creating the next generation of video billboards that gather anonymous demographic data about you while you watch. Pass by a digital poster they’ve enhanced, and sensors detect if you’re paying attention. The screen can then adjust the image to one it thinks will be more appealing to you.

Read more in this sweeping article by Singularity Hub about the changes coming to digital out-of-home advertising and the players already dabbling in the space.

Coca-Cola’s Facial Recognition Kiosk

At the Coca-Cola Summer Love 2011 event, Coca-Cola Israel worked with Publicis e-dologic to integrate people’s online experience with their real lives.

DigitalSignageToday goes on to explain, “FaceLook, a real-life posting application based on Face.com facial-recognition technology, enabled Summer Love participants to post comments and pictures to their Facebook page, just by looking at the screen. The kiosk recognized their facies and uploaded to their pages using only their faces as identification.”

See how it worked:

While facial recognition still spooks the heck out of some of us, this shows how something so simple worked perfectly for this demographic and event.

Really Interactive Digital Display

Out-of-home advertising is becoming an exciting place to play with more advanced and interactive digital displays but functional digital displays really connect brands to people.

Thanks to Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Vitamin Water has launched a functional digital display that allows you to juice your device while you wait for the bus.

Read about how it works and some of the snark it’s received via AdFreak.

Digital Ticketing Booth

Self-scan check-outs at grocery, drug, and c-stores have already zapped a few jobs, often leaving one lonely employee to check IDs and help with the inevitable tech or usability glitch. Most movie theaters have touchscreen stands that allow you to retrieve and/or purchase tickets, view showtimes et al. So what’s the next frontier for digital customer service? How about ticketing stands in city centers.

This dazzling 70” High-Bright LED backlit ticketing booth in Las Vegas offers same-day discounted tickets for shows and events the 70” displays allow customers to view the available shows/events and prices.

Digital vending machines, touchscreen wayfinders and ticketing devices will create massive efficiencies across the customer service industry, rapidly replacing fully-staffed counters with self-help screens. Possibly bad news for front line workers but good stuff for content creators, programmers and strategists.

While just being functional is enough right now, soon consumers will expect more information and entertainment from these devices. Removing the human touchpoint — the conversation, the eye contact, regardless of quality — means we should strive to replace that missing interaction with something that makes a customer smile or feel in some way emotionally connected to the experience.

Emotive Billboards

Gotta keep an eye out for this one via AdFreak, the billboard in Manhattan reads:

“Today I’m feeling…” it says. If you download a special app for your iPhone and aim it at the board, you’ll see little emoticons appear, indicating the often-fragile interior state of the otherwise impressive-seeming mass-market communications medium. You can also switch the emoticon, capture the image and send to your friends to tell them how you’re feeling. It’s all very emotional. The board was created by Tronic and sponsored by JWT New York, SPREAD Art, Fuel and Culture magazine.