{"id":3347,"date":"2013-11-22T08:30:55","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T13:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.signmedia.ca\/?p=3347"},"modified":"2013-11-22T08:30:55","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T13:30:55","slug":"ambient-interactivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.signmedia.ca\/ambient-interactivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Dynamic Displays: Ambient interactivity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy HypoSurface<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Michael Mascioni
\n <\/b>Once considered a remote outpost of the art world, \u2018ambient interactivity\u2019 has recently emerged as a potent tool for marketing, entertainment and education, with special implications for digital signage displays. Whereas today\u2019s standardized touch-screen kiosks could be referred to as \u2018interactivity in a box,\u2019 the field of ambient interactivity instead involves embedding or building interactive features into the physical environment surrounding the user, affording a more natural, flexible, fluid and dynamic experience.<\/p>\n

Form factors range from interactive furniture, such as multi-touch-sensitive table displays, to kinetic-response spaces. These systems are enabling more expansive user experiences through the application of such technologies as gesture recognition and augmented reality (AR).<\/p>\n

Tabling the evidence
\n <\/b>A growing body of evidence has shown the significant marketing potential of multi-touch interactive tables and countertops in bars, restaurants, hotels and other gathering places. These systems typically allow customers to access an array of information and entertainment content, such as menus, tourist news or games. Their impact on business can be handily tracked, as they also allow customers to order and then pay for various products and services.<\/p>\n

\"Multi-touch-sensitive<\/a>
Multi-touch-sensitive screens are being integrated into tables in stores and restaurants.<\/span> Photo courtesy T1 Visions<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

David Aichele, T1 Visions\u2019 executive vice-president (EVP) of sales and marketing, says installations of his company\u2019s InTouch multi-user, multi-touch-sensitive interactive tables in North America over the past several years have been generating \u201cmore revenue per table\u201d for restaurants and bars than their non-interactive predecessors. In 2009, a study was conducted at an undisclosed restaurant using the interactive tables. As Aichele explains, the findings showed these tables earned 50 per cent higher revenues than the restaurant\u2019s \u2018regular\u2019 tables.<\/p>\n

Indeed, in restaurants that use both InTouch systems and regular tables, the interactive tables usually represent the highest percentage of occupied seats, suggesting customers are drawn to them. At the Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, for example, a \u2018build-your-own-fish\u2019 game\u2014which allowed customers to create an avatar with a touch screen embedded into the sushi bar, then send it onto a large, dual-screen \u2018fish tank\u2019 display\u2014got locals talking and attracted new business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response during the first six months was phenomenal,\u201d says Alan Springate, the restaurant\u2019s owner. \u201cThe touch screens and the game brought cutting-edge technology to our restaurant. We well exceeded our financial projections, due in large part to the \u2018talkability\u2019 factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar results have been achieved elsewhere, too. Dax Patton, director of business operations for Digital Touch Systems, reports the Touch Caf\u00e9 in Chisinau, Moldova, experienced an \u201cover 14 per cent increase in sales\u201d after it used his company\u2019s T3 interactive tables.<\/p>\n

Of course, there can be benefits to organizations beyond increased sales. The Minimally Invasive Spine Institute (MINI) Surgery Center in Dallas, Texas, uses four touch-sensitive counter displays in a waiting room to allow patients to check themselves in. These screens are integrated through practice management software with digital signs throughout the facility\u2019s examination, pre-operation and post-operation rooms, along with medical and surgical information controlled from nursing stations. Together, this technology has increased surgeons\u2019 efficiency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not often surgeons have the opportunity to practise at a facility built with our needs in mind,\u201d says Dr. Michael Rimlawi, co-chair of the centre\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n

\"By<\/a>
By shifting and moving, HypoSurface can display a message or logo, but also react to inputs such as touch.<\/span> Photos courtesy HypoSurface<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shaking up shelves
\n <\/b>In Portugal, YDreams has developed not only multi-touch tables, but also interactive furniture, benches and shelves for marketing campaigns, museum exhibits and other applications. One example was a promotional campaign for J&B Whiskey in Jumbo supermarkets, which used interactive shelves to help the client\u2019s products stand out from the competition. When customers approached, the gesture-sensitive displays reacted with vibrating glass bottles, an elaborate light show and a distinctive musical jingle. The idea was to simulate the sensation of drinking in an entertaining environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy drawing attention to the whiskey products and the brand, it established a significant relationship with consumers,\u201d says Filipe Vasconcellos, spokesperson for YDreams.<\/p>\n

The shelves were shown to enhance the shopping experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey induced impulse purchases, while also gathering customer statistics and providing data for further analysis,\u201d says Vasconcellos.<\/p>\n

Shimmering walls
\n <\/b>Walls can also become dynamic content delivery systems. HypoSurface, for example, is a three-dimensional (3-D) structure whose entire surface can physically shift and move. It can display a message or logo, but can also react to interactive inputs with movement, making it more versatile than other digital signage.<\/p>\n

The wall can be triggered by touch, sound or kinetic movement. It can also be fed content through Internet feeds or apps. With the scale of its structure and movement, it has the potential to provide a highly immersive experience for the viewer.<\/p>\n

As such, instead of using full-motion video to capture attention in the first place, like most digital signage deployments, the movement of the screens themselves is more likely to draw the eye of passersby, followed by the emergence of on-screen content from the fluid, luminous surface of the wall, with video overlaid onto the movement.<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>
At the Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, a \u2018build-your-own-fish\u2019 game allows customers to create an avatar on a touch screen and send it onto a large, dual-screen \u2018fish tank\u2019 display.<\/span> Photo courtesy T1 Visions<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTypically, physical dynamics attract users immediately,\u201d says Simon Berger, founder of IM2 Events and marketing director for HypoSurface. \u201cLike a finely controlled liquid, this technology is emblematic of the new media of movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berger explains a recent soft launch with pneumatic technology will soon be followed by an electromagnetic (EM) version, which will more easily display text and visual content on the various screens. Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising firms can purchase the intellectual property (IP) outright or simply add HypoSurface as another option in their \u2018pipeline.\u2019<\/p>\n

Berger is also marketing the system on a modular plug-and-play basis for permanent installations in suitable areas with high levels of pedestrian traffic, including airports, stadiums, shopping malls, theme parks, nightclubs and casinos.<\/p>\n

Another business model involves an advertising revenue-sharing arrangement for video wall applications, whereby revenues generated through DOOH advertising are split once the licensee earns a capital expenditure (capex) return.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlready, companies like JCDecaux and Clear Channel have expressed interest in the system,\u201d says Berger. \u201cIt is also being marketed directly to brand owners and through their agencies. And it will be available for multi-event rentals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next generation
\n <\/b>From multi-touch tables to gesture-sensitive merchandising displays to immersive video walls, digital signage is going to be delivered in increasingly dynamic formats in the next few years, with interactivity becoming more prevalent. Ambient interactivity offers the promise to substantially expand the scope of digital displays and achieve much greater sensory impact with passersby. Conventional notions of interactivity have already been fundamentally transcended, as an entirely new generation of digital signage is ushered in.<\/p>\n

Michael Mascioni is an independent market research consultant and project manager in the digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising industry. This article is based on part of his upcoming book, <\/i>The Out of Home Interactive Entertainment Frontier, co-authored with Kevin Williams. For more information, contact Mascioni at (212) 688-4781 or via e-mail at mmmascioni@aol.com<\/a>. To order the book from Gower Publishing, visit www.ashgate.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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