Tag Archives: Happiness Brussels

The “New” OOH as Shown by a Tree

First, it was a talking, feeling, thinking bike, now it’s a tree.  Thanks to Happiness Brussels, we are now able to hear and see this tree’s thoughts and feelings.  Aside from the fact that this is yet another example of how (enabling) technology can turn any real-world object into an engagement mechanism (this is true 11th Screen stuff here), the purpose behind the initiative is meaningful – to create a discussion around climate change.  This, just as Nike’s Precious Bike did, illustrates the power of anything and everything “Out of Home” as a conduit to drive consumers deeper into a brand/discussion.  As I’ve maintained here, the “new” Out of Home is not Digital Out of Home, it is utilizing the things and spaces around us to engage consumers and drive them deeper into the brand experience.  While this execution is technically a “push only” execution on the surface, it is designed to facilitate discussion across multiple social channels, and it is in those channels that 2-way (push/pull) communication occurs.  OOH is just one channel in the communication mix.  Facebook, Flickr, Vimeo, Soundcloud, and Twitter are other ones.  .com is another one.  They’re not hard to make work together, it just requires forethought and planning.  If you’re able to do that, these are the types of solutions you can make.  Complete.  Not silo’ed.

Talking Tree – Making of from Tom on Vimeo.