I’ve been on vacation the last two days. To say it’s a vacation is an overstatement, but nonetheless, it has given me an opportunity to step back from work a little bit, recharge and regain my focus. So it is with this blog, too. I’ve been going heavy for a short three months and I feel like I need to take a step back and level my focus. Remember the basics.
This diagram is the foundation for the way that I look at OOH. DOOH & IOOH are just additions onto this model. But to me, this is the most basic representation of how I view this world.
There are 3 buckets that all OOH initiatives fall into: Billboards, Posters, and Kiosks.
They are separated by 3 differentiating factors: amount of Information, length of Engagement, and potential for human Interaction.
I believe that you can bucket any OOH initiative into one of these 3 buckets by using this guide. Let’s give it a try:
Advertisement on top of a taxi (or the side of a bus): I would say that this is a billboard. These usually have very little information, no potential for human interaction and the length of engagement is very low due to the environment (transit) that they are viewed in.
Advertisement behind home plate in a baseball stadium: Again, I would say that this is a billboard. Little information. No potential for human interaction and while the length of engagement is longer in this setting, the other two factors handicap any “real” engagement.
Movie poster: Easy enough – poster, but posters are interesting. By design, they’re effective at including more information than billboards (and less than kiosks). And because they have more information, people can actually walk up to them, touch them, and “engage”, even if it means absorbing information.
Mall directory: I would say that this is a kiosk. Lots of information. Designed for human interaction and as a result, enable longer interaction.
All of this becomes clearer when you start adding technology to the mix. I believe that there are technologies that simply make them “digital” and then other technologies that make them “interactive.” But we’ll get into those later.
This is important because as a marketer, I feel like this helps hone in what one should be doing in this arena. I’ve got some marketing-specific additions to the model, too. But we’ll take it one step at a time. We’ll get to it.
I have finally been able to catch my breath from the SXSW trip enough to reflect on everything I observed and share it here. First of all, my perspective of SXSW is different than any other conference I’ve attended, just from the standpoint of how much work I was doing to make things happen for our client. It was, by far, the most intense, condensed (if that makes sense) working situation that I’ve been in with an agency. I liken it to my time working on films – in many respects it felt like film production. Late nights, early mornings, always on the run (and I emphasize run), going from one thing to the other so quickly that you’re just reacting. I like that kind of work, that kind of pace, that kind of “doing,” but it’s not something I could sustain at this time in my life. Short periods? Sure. Every day? No way. Anyway, my involvement at that level ”behind the scenes” prohibited me from experiencing the conference in a way that I am accustom to. I didn’t go to any panels, I didn’t go to any parties, I didn’t spend time networking at length with people. It really was strictly business on behalf of FH & Chevy, not Mike or The 11th Screen. That said, I was involved enough in what was going on, specifically around the convention center, to come away with some good, pretty fair observations.
1. Value, value, value – it really does work. Brands can accomplish a lot and shift perceptions by providing value to people. To me, this is all about relevance. How are you, as a brand, communicating & engaging with your audience(s)? Are you engaging in a meaningful way? Is it mutually beneficial? Does it provide value?
2. Don’t talk to, talk with – it’s all about 2-way communication. Listen first. Then, talk. It’s so simple. It’s what we do in our normal, everyday, real-world lives. At least what we should be doing. Effective communication and engagement is not about talking to people, it’s about talking with people. Try this with your spouse, with your kids, with your co-workers, family members, friends – just talk with them. It’s a dialogue. A give and take. When you do this, you can both have productive, fulfilling conversations. Brands who do this, particularly in the social space, create advocates and build trust. Advocacy and trust are sustainable and those types of relationships don’t go away easy.
3. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know – people are smart. And people have connections. In an ideal situation, the best people to know are smart and connected. I say this because if you talk to the right people (smart + connected) in the right way (2-way communication), they will talk about you. You as a person and/or you as a brand. And when they talk, many people listen. I could rephrase this observation to “it’s not how many people you know, it’s how many right people you know.”
4. QR codes & LBS are a ways away from mass adoption – I think SXSW majorly failed at their attempt to introduce QR codes to the masses. They had a prime audience, one who could actually warm to the use of them, yet they failed to educate and create an easy experience with them. Their codes virtually went unused. By the time attendees came to our booth, no one knew what QR code reader to load on their phone and/or exactly what to expect from them. I think QR codes, specifically SXSW’s use of them, was the most overrated technological story that came out of the conference. Again, this is from my limited point of view. (I heard that Twitter’s announcement of their @Anywhere feature was less than stellar.) I just had such high hopes for the QR code story. But QR codes aren’t the only emerging technology that is still immature over here. LBS, like Gowalla and/or FourSquare, are used consistently by such a small segment of people. But there is a huge group who have no idea what “LBS” stands for in this context, much less how to use them on their phone. There was a vast difference between the interactive attendee usage of Gowalla and the music attendee usage of Gowalla. I think a lot of this is attributed to the penetration (or lack thereof) of smart phones still in the US. The opportunity here is to continue to push these types of technologies – because I believe that they still have a life – and experiment with them in various ways. We’ve really only scratched the surface in how we can use them in relevant, meaningful ways on behalf of brands.
5. Last but certainly not least, I work with some amazing people. We were a relatively small team, but we are like family. Matt, Valerie, Cindy, Jodi, Marc, Herb, Rob, Miker, Jessica, Penny, Sarah B., Sarah F., Lane, Chris, Chrissie, Brad, Warren, Christian, designer Jessica, Matt W – you guys rock.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on SXSW. Shout back.
My team and I stayed at a brand-new Westin hotel in Austin while we were down there for SXSW. On the first morning, waiting for some team members (entirely too early mind you), I was happy to see a large touch screen in the guest-lobby. So, I had to play with it. The experience that I captured by myself was not an enjoyable one to view. A couple days later, I recruited my colleague, Herb Sawyer, to walk through the experience for me.
Purpose – From the looks of it, the primary purpose is utility. One can search flights, news, weather, goings-on in the surrounding areas, even stocks if you’re so inclined. I suppose the Westin wanted to provide a centralized, convenient location for travel information, more than anything. Perhaps it’s designed to serve as an interactive concierge? If so, it’s located at the other end of the lobby from the actual concierge desk. So, it doesn’t really cater to guests looking for that information.
More than that, I guess my question would be, as Herb and I get into at the end of the video, what does this enable the user to do here that they would not be able to do on their mobile phone? There is no special content, aside from the local attractions & dining, that could not be found in a mobile application. And even with apps like Yelp, I could find that on my phone. I’m really trying to find the purpose here, but I’m left scratching my head.
11th Screen Score: FAIL
Drama – If I weren’t always on the lookout for this sort of thing, I would have easily missed it every time I was in the lobby. And I was in the lobby at least 10 times. The actual placement isn’t as bad as the orientation. It is depressed inside a large wooden casing on a table. It just looks like a big box sitting on a table. The screen is tilted so far down that it is almost flat, like a table-top. If this were oriented a little differently, so the guests could at least see a touch screen that they could interact with, it might elicit more interaction. As it was, no one was interacting with it.
11th Screen Score: FAIL
Usability – Navigation was fine. It was laid out in a similar fashion as a traditional website with tabbed navigation. I did not like the fact that on the HOME screen, the large modules in the main section of the screen were not clickable. Other things like non-scrollable flight information and inconsistent map views didn’t exactly enhance the experience. While it was usable, it didn’t seem to be designed by web experts, certainly not touch screen experts. It did pass the mom test, though. I think it would have anyway.
11th Screen Score: BARELY PASS
Interactivity – This experience is entirely touch-based. The screen responded well to touch. Buttons and scroll bars were large. I could essentially do anything I wanted in 1 touch. In this sense, it didn’t utilize the technology for what it’s capable of. Give me multi-touch, at least.
11th Screen Score: BARELY PASS
Information - Here’s what the experience includes:
Time – I can get this on my watch or on my phone. If I don’t have either, look no further than here. It takes up 1/4 of the screen throughout the entire experience. They could have hidden it so it’s easily accessible while allowing more room on the screen for other, more important information.
News (and scroll) – the irony here is that the hotel gives away free copies of USA Today on every floor. Here, I only get the headline and byline. I’d love some photos, at least.
Weather – as Herb says, it would be great to see weather where I’m going. Much more important than where I’m staying.
Dining – the only dining/restaurant option this serves up is the restaurant in the hotel. From here, I can see the menu and make a reservation. Both of which are handy.
Attractions & Events – there are a number of sub-sections in each one of these categories that could be useful for out-of-towners. They each include various views of maps, which can be helpful and confusing at the same time.
Stocks – as Herb says, is this really needed?
Overall, the amount of unused space really reflects negatively on the brand. No photos, no videos. Just white space. Even if I thought that interacting with this touch screen was more convenient than my phone, all of this information, through apps on my phone, looks better and functions better.
11th Screen Score: FAIL
Personalization – If I went back next week or next month, I’m pretty sure I’d get the same exact experience. It would be great if this were tied into their rewards program and it had some sort of bar code reader/scanner so every time I scanned my rewards card, I could get tailored content around my history and preferences. Then, all of a sudden, this is an entirely different experience and one that is hard to duplicate on my phone.
11th Screen Score: FAIL
I like the concept of these virtual information/concierge experiences in hotels. To me, it makes a lot of sense. But it must be planned and executed in a way that makes it useful instead of a novelty. The novelties are never sustainable. And we need sustainable solutions in this industry if we want it to grow.
What do you think? Have you seen any useful experiences like this in hotels that you have stayed in?
Take a picture of it. Go ahead. Before you do, though, you’ll need a QR code reader application on your smartphone. Here are some suggestions:
iPhone: I-Nigma
Android: Google Zxing Readxer or BeeTagg
Blackberry: I-Nigma or BeeTagg
Windows Mobile: BeeTagg
Nokia: I-Nigma
This allows you to “read” the code – you need this to use it. And I’ve already “written” the code by inputting my URL into a simple QR code generator (don’t worry about that, it’s just a minor detail).
So, now that you can actually use it, let me tell you what it is. It’s a QR (Quick Response) code. Just like the name implies, it’s used to take you to an online destination “quickly” from your phone. People – mainly marketers – use them for various things, most notably on print pieces to drive consumers online from the actual print piece. You can also receive SMS texts and coupons through this code, if it is set up right and if your reader application accepts those forms of data. There are many other uses, from self-promotion to personal information (business card-like) to rich multimedia content delivery. They’re really big in Japan/SE Asia, in large part due to the absence of a QWERTY keyboard. They haven’t really caught on in the U.S. But it’s a good concept, right? Take a picture, automatically find more information – all through the snap of a little black and white code.
So now that you know what they are (and how to use them) – and I’m sure someone else might be able to explain it better than me, certainly someone who has a much larger audience – let’s say someone like Facebook, the most popular site in the U.S. – let’s actually do something with them.
First, did you take a photo of mine yet, through your QR code reader application? If so, you found my Twitter account. If not, I’ll make it even easier on you – click here. That was probably much easier than taking out your phone, downloading an application, taking a photo of the code and seeing a mobile version of my Twitter account. It’s a 4-5 step process vs. 1. Not really conducive for a good experience in this scenario, snapping this code on a digital screen like a computer, especially when you have a keyboard right in front of you.
But let’s consider this – the power of QR codes really lies in being able to merge the real-world with the digital world. So, let’s talk through that scenario and leverage it for its strength – out in the real world. Let’s say you want to print stickers, or a T-shirt, or even a bumper sticker (yes, I heard bumper sticker?!?) with your own personal QR code so when people see you out and about, they can snap a picture of your code and be taken online to your own personal Twitter account. Or Facebook account. Even see your FB status. If you’re still in, here’s what you need to do.
For stickers, make sure that you have the most appropriately sized stickers/labels. I’ve found Avery 8395 to be the best because of their size (QR codes are square). They’re a little expensive, though – in fact, all blank labels/stickers are more expensive than you would expect.
You’ll also need to make sure you can format them appropriately – how many rows across, how many columns down? The Avery stickers are 2 across, 4 down for a total of 8 stickers per sheet. But, here’s the rub – you can either go through the process of formatting them yourself (which is not an envious task) or buy a software solution that automatically formats them. This can be had for $20-$40.
Now, make your own stickers. Rinse and repeat if you want to do T-shirts or bumper stickers. Or anything else. Keep in mind the formatting and the actual object you want to print them on.
Whew. It’s a lot. But at least now, the world knows who I am wherever they turn. And as a consumer, all I have to do is wade through all of the black & white QR codes in the real world to find information on the people/brands that I’m interested in.
On 2nd thought, the browser on my phone is really good and pretty darn quick.
And to all the brands out there – I’ve done this before. I can hook you up. And we don’t have to wait on FB!
Look – all lightness aside – in terms of raising awareness for this technology, Facebook’s endorsement and accessibility should help immensely (if this is all true). In terms of actual application and effectiveness, I fear that it could easily cloud realistic, positive use. This technology can really be effective and provide a lot of value to the brand and to the consumer, if used correctly. As soon as it becomes an enterprise novelty, though, they might die. I hope this is not the outcome.
It’s been cool to see people interacting with the QR codes on the Cruze over the past few days. We’ve seen some good interaction and gotten some good feedback. It seems (and sounds) like people really enjoy interacting with the car in this way. From my perspective – it feels right. These codes, while I think there are too many for people to interact with here, generate a level of interest to an otherwise static, ”blank” display, which is important because it adds another element to the car to compel people to actually stop and look. But more than that, the engagement that they enable has been very interesting to watch. People like doing anything on their mobile phone, and we’ve seen that here (especially with the “geek” factor at SXSW) in the booth – they like the immediacy and intimacy of the experience. They like the comfort of their phone. They’re not intimidated by it. As long as they know how to use it, they’re willing to try it. But I’ll say it again – the payoff has to be there on the other end, though. The experience needs to be completed. And here, I feel like we did a good job of completing the experience. Again, I think we could have dialed down the number of codes that we gave people to interact with. I also think we could have done a better job of letting the people know the difference in all of the codes. Upon first look, I’m sure it appeared that they were all the same (except the “Fan-us-on-Facebook” codes), so we could have differentiated them better.
All in all, I’m proud of the experience – I think we did a good job of using the spaces around us (car in a tradeshow) to create a personalized experience through the use of enabling technologies (mobile + QR codes). This is what I look for whenever I observe any OOH/”ambient media”/DOOH implementation – does the experience drive deeper than what the user sees on the surface?
I have to commend the client for getting behind this. Without forward-thinking clients, this type of work will only trickle out into the industry and take a much longer time to gain traction than needed. We need a constant flow that turns into a flood.
What do you guys think of the experience?’ I’d love to hear your thoughts!
So, the road trip came to an end last night. All of the teams made it to Austin safe and sound. They generated tons of great content. It was fun to watch. I think the IOOH experiment was successful. (A few people told me last night that they really enjoyed the interaction.) I greatly underestimated the logistical component of those clues, though. We had to ship and coordinate with ~16 different hotels, all different days to be delivered, and different times to check-in. There were many variables that made this particular component challenging. That’s to be expected, though, when using a guerilla-like approach. We couldn’t do much – this isn’t a sophisticated use of OOH – but the point was to try to be as innovative as we could with this element of the experience.
To me, this is an interesting, very realistic way to give people more information/engagement with something as simple and as ubiquitous as post cards. If I were in charge of a city/state branding initiative, where we were responsible for doing the “standards”, like post cards, I would immediately print the cards with some sort of tags/codes like QR codes/MS tags. There would be so many opportunities for deeper, more dynamic engagement and content. You could drive to videos of city/state leaders, citizens, even b-roll-type footage. Even fun facts about the city/state. Even a website (which I know is not preferred, but could be tailored to the content on the card.) Or if you wanted to get a little more creative, you could drive people from a card of say, The Statue of Liberty, to The Empire State building, just the way we did with the scavenger-hunt post cards. It could actually add a refreshing element to these otherwise novel (at best) objects. I suppose in this scenario, these wouldn’t necessarily be true IOOH because the user would, in most cases, end up owning the card, but it’s still a vehicle to enable deeper engagement through an emerging technology.
And yes, I think QR codes are an emerging technology in the US. I don’t know if they’ll catch on here, but SXSW is doing their part to introduce them to a large, influential audience. I’ve said it before, but I think one of the top stories coming out of SXSW is going to be QR codes. They’re on the badges, they’re posted around the convention center, and we’re contributing by using them in various ways. We’ve placed them on all of the ride & drive Chevy vehicles so that people can learn more about each vehicle that they’re riding in or seeing out in the open spaces around the convention center. And we’re placing them on a new car – the Cruze – as a way for people to interact with it because here, they can’t drive it or even get inside it. All of the codes are placed on the car in locations that are specific to the content that they’ll receive. So, if someone wants to learn about the Cruze’s engine, they’ll take a picture of the code on the hood of the car.
The content behind the codes, though, is really going to be key to make these things compelling and show their potential in how they can benefit the user. We’re incorporating Chevy-in-pop-culture facts centered around film & music with the ride & drive vehicles, as well as special product content. With the Cruze, we’re incorporating quizzes and exclusive video content that people can only experience in this way – through these QR codes at SXSW. The payoff has to equal, or preferably, outweigh the buildup. Otherwise, it just makes for a bad experience and bad experiences are, well….bad.
I’m confident in ours. Tomorrow, we’ll find out.
Example of our QR codes on the Cruze:
More to come tomorrow, after the booth opens and the Cruze is covered in codes. Farewell for the night from Austin!
Wow. I have been buried in work, specifically gearing up for SXSW – the premier interactive, film and music festival in the nation. Yes, I am a little partial because I’m from Austin (where it’s held) but anyone who’s anyone, particularly in the interactive world, attends. With its heavy technology focus, “trends” tend to appear here before they go mainstream.
We have spent the last few months planning a huge integrated program for one of our clients, Chevy. And honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of everything we’ve done and are doing. Chevy has been great to work with and it is our expectation that we will enhance the SXSW experience for everyone. I won’t get much into all of our program right now, but suffice it to say, we have developed a heavy social + mobile + OOH program. Here, it’s the OOH program that I really want to focus on.
Yesterday, 8 teams of roadtrippers from across the nation (influential SM-types) set off, all in Chevy vehicles, en route to Austin, where they will all arrive on Thursday 3/11. Along the way, they are accomplishing “tasks” (which have been crowdsourced over the past month) and broadcasting them across the world wide web. In addition, they’re receiving clues that lead them from destination to destination. (It’s like the Amazing Race 2.0.) This is where we’ve introduced one of the OOH components. We’ve made postcards with QR Codes and MS Tags that have been/are being delivered to the teams’ various hotels. When they check-in at their hotels, they receive a package that contains these postcards, and when they interact with the postcards, they receive their next clue. Each team gets 1 QR Code postcard (that leads them to a Twitter account) and 1 MS Tag postcard (that generates an SMS).
Since this is such a technology-rich conference, we really wanted to introduce these roadtrippers to different types of emerging technologies (they also receive a clue via ”checking in” with Gowalla) before they arrived in Austin. We felt that it was the perfect way to set the stage for everything that they will experience in the days to come.
One of our QR Code post cards:
One of our MS Tag post cards:
More to come as we get closer to SXSW. If you’re interested, follow all of the action, from Chevy’s perspective here.
I read many trade magazines. Wired, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review – these are some of my favorites. But, my real favorite is Communication Arts. It’s my favorite because it focuses on the art of communication, which truly is an art. If you’re not familiar with it, I recommend it. It features high quality work from all industries, all verticals, in all mediums – print, photography, video, animation, motion graphics.
My favorite issue every year is their Interactive Annual (they just published the latest one last week). Here, they award the best interactive experiences executed in the industry over the past year. Guess how many IOOH initiatives were recognized this year? 6. Out of 40. This is good. It might not seem that high, but it is double the number of IOOH recognitions last year. To me, this is incredibly encouraging. Industry experts consider these to be among the best interactive experiences executed, regardless of medium.
And there were 2 more – very unique – recognized this year that had elements of OOH/digital/interactive, although I don’t know that I would completely consider them IOOH. The 6 are really nice. All interactive through touch and gesture, but really nice. (2 of which I experienced for myself at the Hard Rock Café in Vegas). However, it’s not these 6 that I want to talk about. It’s these 2 very-unique experiences that I want to talk about.
One is from Nike. Say what you will about Nike, they are great marketers. Medium agnostic. Emerging media experimentalists. I enjoy most everything I see from them. This example is no different: Chalkbot. The concept is simple – let the collective public decorate the roads during the Tour de France (which is a tradition) through the use of various digital media, namely computers and/or mobile phones.
This experience occurs outside of the home (so it’s partly there through my definition of OOH), but the actual experience does not originate from a device, medium, or platform that the user does not own. In this case, it originates from a user’s computer or mobile phone (which does not completely fit my definition of OOH). So, I ask, is this a true OOH initiative? I believe yes, it is. As a spectator (and not an enabler/participant), I experience it outside of my home on a device, medium, or platform that I don’t own. I can’t turn it off. It might as well be a billboard. But the real question that I struggle with is, is it an IOOH initiative? And to me, given my definition of IOOH, it is not. Here’s the thing – as an enabler/participant, I must control what the chalkbot does on the street through a device that I already own. Without that device, I wouldn’t have an experience. So, unlike a traditional billboard, where you would have an experience – you would see the billboard on the side of the road – the road is essentially bare without my interaction. In this case, I choose to turn everything on. And I think that’s the biggest difference between the two. If the chalkbot was a billboard (and already “on”), I would have an easier time accepting that it was an IOOH execution.
But it’s very interesting for sure. It turns interacting with the physical spaces around us on its head.
The other example is just as fascinating, called Thinking Inside the Box. This is brilliant, really. Eight “thinkers” locked themselves inside a huge box in the middle of a busy public space in Toronto, solicited creative challenges by the general public, and solved them on the spot. All of their interactions were filmed and culled down to make a site. So, let’s go back to whether or not this is IOOH, according to my definition. I think that we can most certainly say it isn’t. In fact, it’s much more clear cut than Chalkbot. But let’s break it down – it occurs outside of the home on a device, medium or platform that you don’t own. So, OOH? Yes. But there is no interactivity through technology. So, IOOH? No. However, they streamed video and Q/As on digital billboards in the square, so DOOH? Yes, definitely. And very intriguing DOOH, due to the real-time nature of feeds and the content itself.
Both of these examples truly illustrate the art of communicating – with each other, between brands/consumers, and most exciting – the spaces around us. I think that it’s encouraging to see so many “untraditional” digital/interactive executions being recognized. I think we can all learn something very valuable from all of these stories – don’t constrain yourself to the little grey box on your desk. Think big. Be smart. You can do a lot with a thinking mind. And it doesn’t always break the bank.
So, what do you think of these examples? Do you agree with my differentiations? Or do you lump them into all OOH?
Marketing 
No Comments 
I’ve been on vacation the last two days. To say it’s a vacation is an overstatement, but nonetheless, it has given me an opportunity to step back from work a little bit, recharge and regain my focus. So it is with this blog, too. I’ve been going heavy for a short three months and I feel like I need to take a step back and level my focus. Remember the basics.
