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Archive for the ‘Emerging Media’ Category

Mobile Video & Consumer Connections: The New Era of Engagement

Friday, June 26th, 2009

A few years ago, Simon Gladwell penned “The Tipping Point,” which, as a concept, became a Tipping Point. Mobile video has reached powerhouse status. Smartphone users have the ability to shoot and upload on the fly. And then came the Flip series of camcorders. HD for $200 and a no-hassle uplink to YouTube. Brilliant. Purists finally had an outlet for their creative whims.

And now, with the iPhone 3GS, the rest of us have an excuse to create beautiful content. Typically, mobile video has been thought of as a 15-fps, grainy exercise in frustration. Apple, in typical brilliant fashion, upped the ante, giving their newest incarnation of the annual iPhone hardware the ability to shoot and edit glorious 30-fps video on the fly.

There’s a number of apps that have already hit the market to capitalize on the video features, like Kyte, and uploading services like Posterous. These apps/sites instantly distribute content across multiple social media channels. Twitter and Facebook, being the front-runners in social media, can instantly let followers/friends know that the user is broadcasting new content.

Thanks to these new apps, plus iPhone’s built-in integration with MobileMe and YouTube, online video distribution has skyrocketed over the past few weeks. YouTube is reporting a 400% increase in mobile uploads since the day the iPhone released.

Keep in mind that more than 500,000 iPhone 3GS’ have been sold to date. 28% of the new buyers were leaving their old carrier. 12% were ditching a Blackberry device.

To the non-iPhone user, it might seem silly that the market is pandering to iPhone users! But, to marketers, it makes plenty of sense: iPhone users are evangelists just waiting for an opportunity to share their love for their favorite brands. And now, that opportunity is merely a few taps away.

The smart brand will allow consumers to broadcast. The brilliant brand will enable and empower the consumer to broadcast. Brands need to give their Buying Society the opportunities to get out their phones and begin creating content.

Want to engage with your customers? There’s an app for that!

Tags: Flip, iPhone, iPhone 3GS, Kyte, Posterous
Posted in Apps, Emerging Media, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology, iPhone | 2 Comments »

Twitter Is the New Conversation (Customer Service 2009)

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

Without a doubt, Twitter is pop culture’s sparkling darling right now. The all-too ballyhooed competition between Ashton Kutcher and CNN pushed Twitter into superstardom. The challenge gave people a reason to care—a reason to pick sides. Essentially, it pitted Ashton Kutcher against Larry King.

It should come as little shock, America’s class clown, Mr. Kutcher, @aplusk, won the bet.

From Mashable:

In case you missed it in People, Entertainment Weekly, or on ABC News, it all started when Kutcher (@aplusk) put out a video declaring that he wanted to beat CNN to one million followers. He upped the ante today by tweeting that he’d also donate 10,000 bed nets to help fight malaria if he was first.

CNN responded in the form of a Larry King video, in which the iconic TV host pulls a fairly classic “do you know who I am?” routine. Incidentally, it turns out CNN didn’t actually own the account (@cnnbrk) that is closing in on one million followers until recently reaching a deal with the person that started it.

Here are the videos:

Oddly enough, only about 6% of CNN’s viewers use Twitter. 64% do not, and 30% responded, “What’s Twitter?”

This feels a bit like MySpace circa 2006, does it not?

The importance of Twitter isn’t really put on display by this battle for attention. Twitter is about a real-life connection with the people and brands that influence our world.

Oprah, @oprah, made her first post (with the help of Twitter’s golden boy, Ashton) on live TV.

Shaq, @THE_REAL_SHAQ, has become one of the most colorful and influential celebrities to tweet. He broadcasts live and unedited, misspelled words and all: “Sittn in a police management class, I will b a sheriff , put yo hands up”.

I recently read a very interesting article about seven ways to approach Twitter. One can be 1) themselves, 2) a personal brand, 3) a corporate brand, 4) a fictional character or dead historical person, 5) a literature, 6) a robot, or 7) a blend. I’ll spare a description of that—jump over here if you want to learn more.

From a marketing perspective, the brands that do it right give people a look behind the veil of the corporate machine. CEO’s who tweet humanize a brand. Brands who tweet create instant customer connections.

Two great examples of this are Sweet Leaf Tea in Austin, TX and Zappos in Henderson, NV.

Sweet Leaf Tea makes ready-to-drink organic teas and lemonades. Their founder, Clayton Christopher (@SweetLeafCEO), updates this Twitter page daily, commonly with TwitPics (a free service for attaching pics to a tweet). He recently posted about the MS150 bike ride from Houston to Austin, including a few tweets from his BlackBerry.

Zappos (@Zappos_Service) uses their account to keep customer service on the up-and-up. @BUKSHUN tweeted, less than an hour before this was written, “Just ordered 5 pairs of shoes from ZAPPOS, shhhhhh don’t tell the wife… At least not yet! Gotta love them Classics..” Within minutes, @Zappos_Service responded, “@BUKSHUN We’ll keep it on the low down for you. Enjoy the new shoes!”

What a great touch!

How are you connecting with your customers? Customer service is no longer answering calls from angry customers—it starts far, far earlier than that. Social media has empowered consumers like never before. It’s up to brands to be a part of that conversation.

For brands just learning how to tweet, check out this amazing article about the practice of retweeting, which, in essence, is how content becomes viral on Twitter. Click and learn.

Go ahead and join our conversation. Follow us @blindsociety. And follow Mashable (@Mashable), our favorite social media newssource and the inspiration behind many of our posts, And, as always, subscribe to the RSS feed below.

Tags: Ashton Kutcher, CNN, Larry King, Mashable, Oprah, Shaquille O'Neal, Sweet Leaf Tea, Twitter, Zappos
Posted in Buzz & Viral, Emerging Media, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter | 4 Comments »

Augmented Reality Is Intense

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

At Blind, we are immersed in the unique and mind-blowing world of nontraditional day in and day out. So it’s rare that I see a tactic that absolutely pwns me. (Yes, pwns, n00bs.) This crazy augmented reality technology is just insane, though.

I first saw it via MINI:

And then GE:

And here’s a glimpse at what could be the future of toys…

What can brands take from this? Pardon the cliché, but the line between the online and offline worlds is getting blurred.

It’s no longer about the one-way shouting match from a 30-second spot to a viewer who just wants, more than anything, to watch 30 Rock. TiVo FTW!

It’s no longer about the one-way shouting match between the radio and the driver who just wants, more than anything, to hear that catchy Kid Cudi tune. iPod FTW!

Brands must engage and delight their consumers. They must connect with them. They must take them in and let them explore and delight in their brand, be it MP3 players or running shoes or laundry detergent. Every brand has its believers. Find yours and start a conversation with them. And then surprise the heebie-jeebies out of ‘em with some cool augmented reality tactics.

Tags: Augmented Reality, baseball cards, Emerging Media, GE, General Electric, MINI Cooper, Nontraditional, Topps
Posted in Augmented Reality, Emerging Media | No Comments »

March Madness: Coming to an iPhone Near You

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

March Madness on the iPhone

I hate March Madness. It’s my favorite time of year. And I freakin’ hate it.

There are a sundry of options in which bracketeers can participate. To the winner go the spoils and glorious bragging rights.

Each year, I consult the insights of Bracketologists, as well as my obsessive DirecTV-subscribing friends. I separate the good from the bad, dissecting each team’s AP rank and strength of schedule and daily calorie intake (okay, maybe not). I compare home versus away records. I try to figure out why Tyler Hansbrough is so good despite the fact that he looks like the reincarnation of Christian Laettner. I wonder, is Hansbrough’s career arch is going to follow the exact same NBA sputter-out?

I print five sets of brackets. I fill them out, including one featuring nothing but improbable underdogs winning through the Final Four, so when the next George Mason University goes on a veritable tear, I can proudly announce, “I called that!”

After days of deliberation and agony, I chicken out and submit my most modest bracket, which puts mostly #1 seeds going deep. (Yes, I did have all 4 #1 seeds in the Final Four last year.)

And then the madness—er, Madness—begins. In high school, I would skip class to watch the opening rounds, glued to the TV in the student lounge. My teachers didn’t care—they would often skip class, too. Educational system FTW!

But that was a crude time, the ’90s. Technology was limited to brick-like cell phones and infuriatingly slow 28.8 baud modems. Streaming audio was out of the question, let alone streaming video.

As I grew up, so did my technology. Games were broadcast on specialty channels, and they were streamed online, in all of their pixilated, 320×320, lagging 10fps glory.

Then, in 2008, games were streamed beautifully on Joost. How do you top that? Enter MobiTV, with one of the most ambitious apps to date: March Madness on Demand. Games will be streamed on the iPhone! The only downfall is the need of a WiFi connection. (3G, anybody?)

Cell phone video has been a nearly dormant platform at best, with about 5% of all users accessing video during a given month. But, with 4.3 million iPhones roaming around, and the always entertaining office pool, this app could give mobile video a significant boost.

Via Brandweek: …The March Madness on Demand app will also provide users with a variety of tournament related content, include updated scores and brackets, along with game and team previews from CBSSports.com. During games viewers can also access live box scores and statistics through an overlay placement — without interrupting the live video feed.

What could be better? The Onion News Network weighs in:

NCAA Expands March Madness To Include 4,096 Teams

“Look out for Eckert—they have a full roster and they’re having practices!” LOL!

iPhone apps are a terrific way to connect a very on-demand generation with your brand. MINI has their own app. Nike has their own app. Shoot, even Nintendo’s Zelda has its own app: the Ocarina.

That app is just silly. Back to the matter at hand.

So why do I hate March Madness? Because, after I carefully craft my brackets, my mother beats me by 12 points because she picked the schools based on uniform color and whether or not I have a cousin who lives nearby. Blërg.

What next?

Check out some more cool iPhone apps.
Mashable posted 19 great ways to get involved with March Madness, though the post is nearly a year old.
Fill out your brackets @ Yahoo! Pick ‘Em. And play against your friendly neighborhood blogger: me. Join the Sun Devils FTW! group. (I’m reppin’ our home town heroes.)
Get excited for the iPhone 3.0 OS, set to drop on March 17.

Posted in Emerging Media, Streaming Video, iPhone | 1 Comment »

Minority Report 2009: Interactive Ads

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

The scene is so memorable: Tom Cruise hustling about a mall in Minority Report. All around him, targeted, interactive ads speak to him.

After obtaining the eye of one Mr. Yakamoto, and entering a Gap store, the interactive employee incorrectly/correctly identifies Mr. Yakamoto and asks him about his previous purchase.

Ahhh, the future is brilliant, is it not?! Hoverboards and jetpacks and Jetson’s-style walkways. Yes!

Discluding the “magic carpet” walkways in airports, none of those technologies have seen their mainstream debut. But the marvelous interactivity from Minority Report is on its way.

We have yet to reach the actual Minority Report-style adverts, but interactivity has seen tremendous boosts lately.

Consider Ford’s interactive poster o’er in Germany. An actor views mall-goers through a tiny video camera. He reacts to, and interacts with, these unsuspecting participants. It is “active ambient” advertising, if you will.

MINI took outdoor advertising to an interactive place by linking participants in “The Club” with RFID key chains. In a sense, users opted-in to this interactivity.

And Mark Ecko created this serious bus stop time-passer: an interactive billboard that connects to Bluetooth-enabled cell phones (which, if your phone is anything past the black-on-yellow models, is likely your phone), allowing the connected individual to tag the billboard.

On Curtis J. Morley listed some ways that advertisers can currently target ads interactively:

Cell phones - It has a unique number, it is with us constantly and the French are using cell phones to do location advertising currently.

Key Fob - Most employees will carry around an electronic key card that allows them into a building these have personal identifiers on them such as name and company.

PDA - My PDA has Bluetooth, IR, and Wifi and much personal information.

Gaming Device - PSP among others have wireless capabilities. Why not send a simple signal out to the advertising terminal as a kid walks into target to display a companion game or upgrade for the game that is currently being played?

Credit Cards - Newer cards are containing RFID and can be scan rathered than slid.

Medical Devices - Medical devices are being tagged with personal identifiers in case of theft.

Medical ID tags - A simple scan of a necklace or wrist bracelet with a small amount of OCR and the person is easily identified.

Cars - GM and OnStar, Honda, Infiniti etc… all have a GPS device within the car. This data can be read and matched with DMV records at any time.

GPS Devices

Facial Recognition software - The creepy big brother devices that I saw at ComDEX. The camera took a picture of me and from that point on any time I was even close to booth the camera locked onto me and displayed my name and info.

Retinal scanners -already at use in some airports

Watches - Fossil, among others, are now carrying a bluetooth line of watches.

Pets - Most pets are now carrying an identification chip inside of them that could easily be used to change an interactive poster into an advertisement of dog food or the latest in neutering.

New technologies are in beta testing that will allow interactive ads to correctly identify a person’s gender, age (in a range), and possibly even ethnicity.

A single billboard could have targeted ads for a razor (for men), a fragrance (for women), and a video game (for teens).

Not only can end-users experience a highly-targeted, relevant experience, but advertisers can resell the same space several times, all the while collecting intense amounts of data: what types of people are stopping, and for how long. (And that’s just the start…)

To borrow (and then maliciously repackage for my own selfish purposes) Hoover’s new Platinum-series model slogan: Data hounds rejoice.

The “Big Brother” connotations are there. Are you perturbed or excited by the dawning of this new level of interactivity?

Posted in Emerging Media, Technology | 1 Comment »

The Tale of the Fail Whale

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Everybody but who’s anybody is talking about it: every baggy-panted tween and every power tie/power suit CEO. I have a Facebook page. I have a Twitter account (which is underutilized, I must admit). I even belong to a few Ning networks. What’s a marketer to make of all this noise? Where are the hard numbers and ROI stats?

Ick.

Gen Ys aren’t moved by hard numbers and data. And only God can save your brand if you approach your marketing as such

Mashable, a social networking news site, recently posted a 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan. Here is their list, including examples.

1. Blogs (Johnson & Johnson, Delta Air Lines)
2. Bookmarking/Tagging (Adobe, Kodak)
3. Brand monitoring (Dell, MINI)
4. Content aggregation (Alltop, EMC)
5. Crowdsourcing/Voting (Oracle, Starbucks)
6. Discussion boards and forums (IBM, Mountain Dew)
7. Events and meetups (Molson, Pampers)
8. Mashups (Fidelity Investments, Nike)
9. Microblogging (method, Whole Foods)
10. Online video (Eukanuba, Home Depot)
11. Organization and staffing (Ford, Pepsi)
12. Outreach programs (Nokia, Yum Brands)
13. Photosharing (Rubbermaid, UK Government)
14. Podcasting (Ericsson, McDonalds)
15. Presentation sharing (CapGemini, Daimler AG)
16. Public Relations - social media releases (Avon, Intel)
17. Ratings and reviews (Loblaws, TurboTax)
18. Social networks: applications, fan pages, groups, and personalities (British Airways, Saturn)
19. Sponsorships (Coca-Cola, Whirlpool)
20. Virtual worlds (National Geographic, Toyota)
21. Widgets (Southwest Airlines, Target)
22. Wikis (Second Life, T-Mobile Sidekick)

The beauty of social marketing is that it’s completely customizable. Pick one or two or twenty. And go. Give your fans content. Make contests. Give them the down-low. Tease them with videos. Start conversations with them. Ask questions. Answer questions.

A great example of a strong social media usage are the efforts of NBC’s “Late Night” with Jimmy Fallon campaign. In prepping for Fallon’s takeover of “Late Night,” they have been building hype primarily via a vlog (video blog). He announced his house band, The Roots—a severe, welcome, departure from the norm—on the site only days ago.

At the bottom of his vlog are 18 (count ‘em—18!) different social media outlets, ranging from the usual suspects (MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube) to several niche entities, like MyYearbook, imeem, and Last.fm.

NBC is simply giving fans a chance to connect and share the NEW “Late Night” brand. It’s not astrophysics, it’s common sense.

Twitter, the foremost microblogging site, has an incidentally famous “system error” screen. When too many people tweet (post), which causes an overload, an inconspicuous illustration of a whale, being hoisted from the water by birds, appears. This terms has organically been branded the “Fail Whale.” It has become synonymous with failing—at anything.

So don’t be a Fail Whale. Get in. Get gritty. Try something. Tweet. Blog. Post videos. Write down your thoughts. It doesn’t have to be sharply refined, it just has to BE.

Be honest and transparent and authentic, and you will be a major part of your consumers’ lives. And that is certainly no Fail Whale.

Posted in Buzz & Viral, Emerging Media | No Comments »

Welcome to the Engagement Era

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Our boys @ Google have done it again: analytics for Flash! According to Mashable, “The explosion of Flash content like widgets has created several complex problems, like how to index it in search engines, how to make it work on mobile, and how to track it.”

The second problem, mobile, is being addressed. Adobe has already demonstrated its latest release, Flash Player 10, “running on Nokia’s Symbian operating system, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and Google’s Android. Real Flash, not Flash Lite. That leaves the Blackberry and iPhone platforms as the major holdouts in the Flash-free zone.” (ZDNet)

The first problem, now has an answer. And what does this mean for marketers? More authenticity, honest, and accountibility! “Advertisers can now (in theory) pay for actual engagement, because it can be accurately measured.” (Mashable)

Sprout Builder is an interesting tool for developers. Now, users who publish widgets and other Flash apps using Sprout can track metrics such as time spent, what links and objects users click within an app, and goal tracking – all from within the same Google Analytics account as their website.

Yes. Ma’am. Yes.

If we can answer the third problem, indexing for search engines, then the creative world as we know it will change instantly. And who better than Adobe to change the game?

Posted in Emerging Media, Technology | No Comments »

Connected.

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

My people are a very connected people. We are ~~24/7~~ 25/8 uplinked and downloading. We make pronouns into verbs, and verbs into daily routines.

We google on our ~~Crackberry~~ iPhone.

We tivo on our Tivo. (And hulu on Hulu.)

We tweet on Twitter.

We facebook on Facebook. (And sometimes, we still myspace on MySpace.)

We don’t like commercials. We don’t like billboards. We don’t want you, Mr. or Mrs. Big Brand, invading our lives, unless we say it’s okay. Then, and only then, may you engage us. And don’t talk to us ONLY when you want to sell us something. We have but precious little money, and we’ll spend it how WE see fit (on 007 tickets and the new Kaiser Chiefs album).

So if you want to earn the right to engage us, be relevant, be witty, and be self-effacing. We know that you’re not the greatest thing since sliced bread.*

(*That statement does not apply to Mini Coopers. Or the Puma Speed Cat. Or pre-LA Galaxy David Beckham.)

Speak to me when I want to be spoken to. If your timing is serendipitous enough, we’ll do the heavy lifting for you. We’ll write blogs and post videos. We’ll make our friends your friends.

Example: Apple on Vista. (This ad actually landed right on cnet.com’s Vista page. Whoever landed Apple this media buy gets a gold star.)

The message is humorous, and placement is impeccable. The result? It got blogged about and passed along countless times. The viral nature of the ad far outweighs the media spend.

Don’t be a dolt. Be innovative. Don’t talk at me, talk with me.

George Carlin may have passed away (and have been severely far removed from the ultra-connected genNEXT consumers), but he had it right:

We all have to tools to let you in or shut you out. We are the new gatekeepers. Play nice, or we won’t play at all.

(The preceding was just some random musings, morphed into a manifesto, on a quiet Thursday afternoon.)

Posted in Buzz & Viral, Emerging Media, Generation Next | No Comments »

Video Games Put Traditional to Shame

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

The King, Video Game Mogul?

When brands engage consumers uniquely, and in an appropriate setting, everybody wins. The amount of visual spam that graces billboards and magazines and television is overstimulating, and almost as unwelcome. When brands connect in meaningful ways, the results are exactly the opposite.

For years, in-game advertising was frowned upon. The demographic, marketers argued, was full of “lost boys.” Ever so slowly, brands have become integrally interwoven into game plots and environments.

The most highly-recalled brands included Coke, Nike, Burger King, and Axe. Among these brands, Burger King showed sublime amounts of innovation, including the King in several video games, NFL Street and Need for Speed foremost among the hottest titles.

Whereas most direct response ads tout a 1% buy rate, Nielsen found that 11% of gamers purchased a brand featured in-game; 19% talked about it after seeing an ad; 10 percent recommended the product.

Said Brian Gries, vp-marketing at Burger King, “Burger King’s goal is always to engage gamers in the BK brand through a medium they love. Throughout, it’s been about knowing the target audience [young adult males] and finding relevant ways to reach them through great consumer experiences.”

So what’s the takeaway? Seeing as over 1/3 of all users Engage consumers where they’re at, with what they love, and they’ll show you the love back.

Don’t be noise—be relevant.

It’s good to be the King.

Posted in Buzz & Viral, Emerging Media, Generation Next | No Comments »

Grand Theft Auto IV To Eclipse Halo 3 Without All The Hype, Hoopla & Co-Sponsorships ?

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

The much anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV is out today. I’m not going to lie… Like a little boy on Christmas, I am rushing out today after work to snag a copy before they all fly off the shelves. The anticipation since the December release date push-back has been unbearable at times but I am sure it will prove worth the wait.

Despite the fact that there aren’t any Burger King tie-ins, special flavors of Mountain Dew, commercials directed by Peter Jackson, or even an action figure. Consumer reports are already stating that first weeks game sales will exceed 9 million copies. At $60 a game that is $ 540 Million in it’s first week. Last year’s record breaking release of Halo 3 hit a measly $300 Million in first week sales.

The months leading up to the game’s release has been considerably less mass marketed than last year’s over-the-top “Halo 3” debut. Yet “GTA IV” is expected to be the most lucrative launch in entertainment history. The success is accredited to Rockstar Games keeping their marketing initiatives on the down-low. By Rockstar maintaining their dedication to controlling the message at all times they were able to be seen and perceived exactly the way they set out to be. That is why, outside of the official trailers they released — people haven’t seen any gameplay footage in advance of ’GTA IV’ shipping. That successfully built a ton of hype and online buzz in the gaming community.

Rockstar vice president Dan Houser told The Associated Press that the infamous game developer was being overly protective for one very important reason… “We want people to be really excited and not know everything by the time they play the game,” said Houser. “Of course, we want them to understand what they’re buying, but we want there to be surprises along the way.”

Now go buy the game – see you on Xbox Live.

Posted in Buzz & Viral, Emerging Media | No Comments »

Build Your Own TUBE

Monday, April 28th, 2008

Unless you’ve been living under a large rock for the last few years you are very familiar with the popular Google owned site - YouTube. StartYourTube.com is a new player that has just emerged online. Just like Ning enables users to build their own custom social networking sites for free - StartYourTube allows users to create their own custom video sharing sites totally free and it takes just 2 minutes.

The site is currently promoting monthly cash giveaways of $500 to the Top Tubers.

Posted in Emerging Media, Technology | No Comments »

Innovative Illuminated Product Packaging

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

NXT is a new line of men’s care products aimed at the 18-24 year old market. To call consumer attention to the line, the products will glow on the shelves -inviting customers to pick them up. Every 15 seconds, a LED light in the bottom of the container flares on, stays illuminated for a few seconds, then fades out. Different colored lights signify different ingredients in the product itself.

Interestingly - Target, Wal-Mart and CVS have all elected to carry the products without any supporting ad spending.

Posted in Emerging Media, Environmental, Technology | No Comments »

Branding The Sky - Interactive Shopping Bags

Monday, December 10th, 2007

A Dutch design firm has recently patented a new way of ensuring marketers that their brands will soar to new heights. Enter the Shopping Kite – custom printed plastic bags that transform into real flying kites.

What a cool way to extend the brand experience beyond point of purchase.

Posted in Emerging Media | No Comments »

Interactive Wallscape Incorporates QR Code Into Design

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007

QR Code Wallscape London

This little bit of genius was just installed in downtown London to promote the DVD release of 28 Weeks Later. To many it probably looks like a larger than life crazy maze thing with a URL, however to those in the know it is much more.

The poster is actually a giant QR code. A QR code acts like a Three-Dimensional barcode and modern smart phones have the capability of decoding them. QR codes have the ability of encrypting both text and images which are then revealed by mobile devices.

This poster actually says in plain text “It’s back on DVD September 10th” which is a little disappointing considering the context of the movie… I was hoping for an image of a flesh eating zombie.

None the less, the application of this unique technology is still really fascinating and it will be exciting to watch where this pops up next.

Posted in Emerging Media, Environmental, Technology | 1 Comment »

Window Shopping Gets Interactive

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

Ralph Lauren has found a way to command a premium from window shoppers 24 hours a day.

People that might have walked right passed the store are now being greeted with the opportunity to explore the store’s wares by touching a wide screen monitor embedded into the store window at the company’s London store.

Models in Ralph Lauren outfits are projected onto a 78 inch touch foil screen that has been applied directly to the glass. Shoppers browse through the inventory, make their selections, and are then contacted by e-mail or phone the next day to securely enter their payment information and arrange for shipping.

Will be interesting to see where else this technology pops up in the near future.