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?
As you’ve read from previous posts, I found DSE to be very rewarding. My top 5 moments:
1. Hard Rock Café Access – My first impressions from everything there were mixed – overwhelmed, underwhelmed (in a weird sort of way), giddy, and confused. Stepping away from it all, I’m able to digest all that I experienced there. No matter what, that Rock Wall really does rock. MS Surfaces are fun to play around with and I’m sure that if I were dining there, I would play with the booth touch screens to the point where it would probably be annoying. Truth be told, with all of the interactivity there, there might not be a better place for lovers of the 11th Screen world to go, including me. Interestingly enough, I just saw that these were featured in what I consider to be the gold standard in industry recognition – the new Communication Arts Interactive Annual (yet to be published online).
2. One-on-one discussions – the information and knowledge that I took away from the formal sessions paled in comparison to all of the one-on-one discussions I had. Guys at the Preset Group, Symon Communications, Reflect Systems, Muzak, Digital Signage Today, Daily DOOH, Arinc, and Daktronics – I enjoyed meeting you all and I look forward to continuing the conversation. We are all excited about the future of digital/interactive out of home.
3. The different & consistent perspectives of the future of DOOH – everyone talked about the future of digital out of home being bright. They also talked about the barriers we face – lack of consistency, measurement, and stories. There are many companies in the industry doing the same exact thing, but there are far too few stories and proven success. The industry, agencies, media planners/buyers, and clients need all three of these things – consistency, measurement standards, and stories.
4. The on-the-floor workshops – I attended Keith Kelsen’s and Gary Kayye’s small workshops and they were, hands down, the best formalized sessions offered at the show. Both are industry leaders and visionaries and I would recommend everyone hear them talk.
5. Mobile and social integration into digital signage – by extension, mobile and social integration into digital signage makes it interactive signage. I look at this as interactive out of home – 11th screen. I believe that this is the immediate future of DOOH. Content will always reign, and the better, more relevant the content is, the more people will be compelled to interact with it. But once you connect people through content, you have deeper engagement. And with deeper engagement, you strengthen relationships. With strong relationships, you have trust and with trust, you have loyalty and advocacy. I saw two companies integrating mobile & social – LocaModa (who you’ve probably all heard of, thanks to Jumbli) and Aerva (who I just heard of) – watch out for them both, especially Aerva. They have a great offering(s).
Again, none of this would have happened without the folks at DSE. They were really good to me and “thanks” on paper just doesn’t seem like it can capture my gratitude. I look forward to seeing them again.
How about you guys? What were your top moments of DSE?
Steve from Symon – “Visual Communications Solutions” of which digital signage is a part of
Jeremy from Razorfish – emerging media, enough said
Bryan from OpenEye – unique experiences through digital media in various environments
I’m going to hear the stories that OVAB mentioned yesterday that we need – the case studies.
Landscape is constantly changing – number of things that are competing for consumer’s attention: traditional media, new media, social media. Everywhere an individual turns today, they’re being bombarded by information. It’s a different world today, more people are gravitating to online media, now mobile elevating in importance, social, too.
Just having a digital sign on the wall doesn’t mean your message is going to be delivered, seen, absorbed. You have to do something unique. If you’re going to keep people from looking at their handsets instead of the digital sign, you have to do something uniquely different.
Bryan (OpenEye) – what do we do with content (non-advertising based content)? A huge question? Create identity to help strengthen the brand. Emphasize the brand values, culture. Help educate the viewer. Perception is that content is video – not so – look at other dynamic media formats, for example Flash. Look at a way of using content to create a very visual, unique experience. How do we keep the screen fresh? Keep people from overlooking it? You have to create a consistent message across other mediums. There’s a way to pull all that together and put something effective, consistent on digital signage.
(He’s showing examples)
Sovereign Bank example – incorporate media into the environment, not product promotion. Create unique experience for the customer. They developed a series of videos/content of people within the bank, also to show local businesses. All outside of advertising. Also product promotion, but used it in an educational way. Approach this as extending the relationship with the customer and the brand.
Smithsonian Institute Museum of Natural History example – problem with foot traffic, trying to get people from one location to another, to other exhibits. Another challenge – need to incorporate into existing environment, couldn’t move the exhibits. They looked at the architecture, the area – how do we get screens into the existing environment? And not oversaturate the environment? This is a non-advertising based network. The ROI is how big the person’s smile is when they leave. (I’m hearing this consistenly here. Perhaps OK for non-advertising based networks??)
Jeremy (Razorfish) – It’s about understanding the audience that’s going to be there and how to best impact them. What’s the dwell time? It’s a delicate balance. Every time you do one of these, you learn a little bit more. Test and learn process. 4 examples:
Microsoft example – Windows Phone 7 Series. Big touch screen that allows people to understand how the phone software looks/functions on a large screen, with the absence of phones themselves. Only had 6 weeks to do it. Thought about the content first. Animation, video. Instructional. Experience. From technology perspective – multi-touch, directional audio, Windows 7 based. Utilized their Razorfish Touch Framework. Also had tracking mechanisms built in as well. Will use the data to evolve the solution. Design – they worked closely with the MS booth guys. They really wanted to draw people to the screens. One of the biggest challenges is to reverse engineer the animations. Needed to spend a lot of time making sure it was consistent with the animation on the phone.
Retailer example – back-to-school initiative, wanted to drive to denim dept (jeans). Side by side touchscreens on a vacant storefront. Covered the storefront in a static wrap. Full-screen attract loop, made some contextual inferences – Starbucks close by, so mentioned something about the coffee. Heavy use of interactive video – video based on user’s decisions/interactions. A lot of that interactive video content was put on the website. We’re able to get more bang for the buck. Timeout screen if not interacted with after a period of time. Technology – rear-projection film. Their proprietary touch framework and analytics framework.
Audi example – surface experience as part of a tradeshow booth. Developed a complimentary iPhone application, too. Car configurator. Really rich 3-D. Various POVs. Audi-branded “puck” (I believe called a “muster” in the surface developer crowds) that brings up additional menus. Multi-user, multi-touch. Simple gesture that switches the whole interface around if others are interacting with the same surface.
AT&T example – surface experience in retail store. Most difficult considerations – do you want people sitting? Standing? Elevated? Fixture around it? How do you “present” it? Challenge with managing that number of people around it and the whole experience (like standing).
Questions –
How do you see these experiences evolving? A: mobile phones, social networking…digital signage is just a complimentary medium. It doesn’t stop, it extends.
How do you get past the barrier of intimidation, particularly for touch screens? A: It’s about finding ways to attract people into the experience. It’s the content. But then, it’s all about how it looks in the environment. When it comes to multi-touch, gesture-based, the iPhone has really paved the way. But it’s a consideration – either visual or text-based, instruction needs to be there. Also, are there any on-site support (retail store employees, car salesman, etc..)
Nationally-known brands – who are the leaders in embracing this technology/experience? A: From OpenEye’s perspective, there is “private” clothier who is looking to create these types of experience. Smaller organizations like that seem to embrace this type of technology. From Razorfish’s perspective, one of the most innovative retailers is Ralph Lauren. Touch screen windows for years. QR codes, too. From both perspective, there’s not a lot of case studies out there, so there is a tremendous amount of educating that comes along with talking to clients.
My thoughts – These guys are marketers, I can relate to everything they’re saying from personal experience. They’re saying all the right things. Cool examples, but examples that I read about online or in trades. 1 hour is not enough time for a session like this. So many questions, primarily around the future. I wish I would have gotten to hear Steve share some examples, but he just moderated. Off to coffee with him now.
Simplicity, I’m finding, is really where it’s at. Perhaps I’m more sensitive to it since I’m right in the middle of Excess City. The solutions that are sticking out to me are the ones that require me to do very little while interacting, and give me the ability to share with others. I walked the floor a number of times today and I was just so overwelmed by the barrage of touch technology, I didn’t interact with anything. Outside of this environment, I’m sure I’d interact with all of the solutions. I’ve got to keep that perspective tomorrow so I can interact with, what are probably many, effective solutions.
Those which I did interact with fell into 2 buckets: (All are examples Interactive Out of Home (IOOH)
1. Simple, usable, and effective
2. Complicated, unusable, and frustrating
Example 1, falls in the 1st bucket:
Standard OOH made interactive through mobile enabling technology. The only problem with this one is that it’s on the back of this brochure and the graphical callout that houses the Call-to-Action (CTA) doesn’t stand out (black on black). So, it’s easy to miss.
Example 2, falls in the 1st bucket as well:
Digital OOH made interactive through mobile enabling technology. Text photos, a message or even Tweets and they’ll end up on these screens for everyone to see. I really like the engagement here. All different. All unique. And most importantly, especially for me today, all easy.
Example 3, falls in the 2nd bucket:
DOOH made interactive through enabling touch technology. I think wayfinding is one of the most logical, practical uses of touch technology, but ironically enough, I think it’s one of the most overly mis-executed solutions of touch technology. This one lives up to my very low expectations. I couldn’t figure it out, much less find my way anywhere.
I think it’s important to look at these examples through a cost/value lense, too. The two effective examples, I believe provide great value for the cost. The ineffective example, however, provides little to no value for the cost. In fact, the cost heavily outweighs the value in my opinion.
You feel me? What are the most effective IOOH solutions you’ve seen and interacted with?
And then, reality set in. More like, the Blackberry started exploding. We are planning a HUGE program for one of our clients at South by Southwest, which is in 2 weeks, so needless to say, there is LOTS to be done.
So, I missed out on part of the next phase of the tour, which was in the new City Center. This place makes the Hard Rock look like small time. The scale is simply amazing. It’s an $8.5 billion “megaplex” full of shops, casinos, hotels, condos, restaurants, a standalone convention center, and even comes with its very own Fire Station. Ridonkulous.
Even more, and this is what I’m talking about “scale,” – these guys operate over 300 digital screens in this complex, but in their network, beyond the City Center, there are over 1,000 screens that they operate – all via 1 control system. All different sizes. Some digital. Some interactive. Some for slots. It’s crazy.
I smiled with satisfaction, extending kudos to my previous co-workers, when the guys at Aria Resort & Casino (our primary stopping point) talked about the hardware they use for each one of the screens. Mac minis. Which is what we used for our interactive solutions. They’re great devices – powerful, flexible, with a small footprint.
I was really impressed with their team. They only have ~11 on staff that run this entire operation. They custom build applications. They implement and run one of the most recognizable digital signage networks in the world on the Las Vegas strip. They think about measurement (they track what people are interacting with and for how long) and they’re even thinking about future iterations.
I missed the part of the tour where they take everyone around to all of these different screens and let them play with them. You know, the fun part. Something that I could have done all afternoon. But actually, I don’t know if I could have, because honestly, it was all so overwhelming, coming off of the experience at Hard Rock, into Digital/Interactive Signage World. I had a hard time digesting everything.
I played with one of their interactive directories, which I found to be a bit confusing:
And they had these digital placards outside of their conference rooms, but they were not interactive:
Digital menu boards. Digital advertisement screens. Digital marquees. Digital slot machines. Interactive wayfinders. Interactive directories. If you want it, they’ve got it – at least digitally. And that begs the question to me, is it needed? Are digital menu boards needed? My friends, Phillip and Seth, both had strong opinions that they are not. I think I agree with them. But then I think, is it OK to do digital just to do digital? Once the infrastructure is set up, there are many benefits, regardless of placement, purpose, or interactivity. So, I can see value in it. Especially when everything else is digital. If their only digital solution was a digital menu board, I would think differently. But when you have your whole City wired, of course, you’re going to have digital menu boards.
This, I believe, is a great look into our future. A real future where technology is incorporated in everything all around us. I didn’t own one thing that I interacted with today. But the interesting thing was, while I didn’t need to own the device from which the experience originated, I wanted (and needed) to use my own device (mobile, Flip) to share the experience.
And I think that is a very important piece to this puzzle.
I kept up with the plane’s momentum and hit the ground running as soon as we landed. I had to rewind my clock to set myself on Pacific time, which kills me, btw. So, while I landed at 9:18 Texas time, it was really 7:18 Vegas time. My deadline was 8:30 – 8:45 at the Hard Rock Cafe to catch the tour. I wanted to drop my bag at the hotel, register at the Convention Center, and make it to the Hard Rock in what was essentially an hour. Plenty of time, right?
I felt so anxious the entire time, rushing to every destination. And it didn’t help that I had the slowest cab drivers, despite my direction to “get me there as fast as you can.” The broken red light right by the hotel didn’t help either. Once we got to the hotel, I dashed inside, they had my room, I took my bags up, and then viva Convention Center. That ride seemed to take an hour, but I got registered there and had a speedy cabby take me to the Hard Rock. There, I walked back and forth between the cafe and the casino and across the street and everywhere in between and still could not find the tour-gatherers. Of course, it turned out that there is a NEW Hard Rock Cafe on the strip and that’s where everyone was to meet.
So, I rode over to the new cafe – it was 8:50 by now – with two really nice guys, Phillip (from Arinc) and Seth (from Daktronics). They both work for digital signage & network providers, were interested in new technologies, and asked me what “11th Screen” meant. Good conversation.
Most importantly though, we all made the tour!! The Hard Rock crew and the tour-gatherers welcomed us in, gave us some behind-the-scenes access, good talk with the GM, and then let us play with all of the technology. And let me stress ALL of the technology. It was almost overwhelming, how much interactive technology they have. First, the centerpiece is the Rock Wall, a huge, 18×4 interactive, multi-user, multi-touch wall that holds 70,000 pieces of Rock & Roll memorabilia.
Then, they had quite a few Microsoft Surface displays, each with a well of content, too.
And if that weren’t enough, each booth had a small touchscreen that users could interact with and, among other things, search Hard Rock’s retail inventory. The video is the least compelling, thanks to my direction.
As much as I love all of this sort of technology and all of these solutions, I think that they are missing an opportunity, primarily to drive additional sales. There are no ties to ordering or purchasing anything in the cafe (including the retail store) from any of these devices. I know that it is complicated to tie into larger systems like POS systems, but I feel like they could get much more (true) value out of these than they are currently getting.
To their credit, their whole objective is to drive deeper engagement between the brand and the consumers, so as long as people are interacting with this technology, thus the brand, they are achieving their objective. Aside from all this, two nuggets of information that I found interesting:
1. The average age of people visiting Vegas is 49 years old. And Hard Rock believes that this technology is for this demo. I actually think that the Hard Rock demo is younger than this and this could be the reason they are getting so much interaction. And who wouldn’t want to play with these things. Even if they are overwhelming.
2. Apparently, it only took 1 year from ideation to “turned on.” I just can’t believe that. Wow.
Up, up and away. Here we go, Mike’s Digital Signage Expo 2010 Adventure has begun. I’m going to chronicle A LOT of my adventure here, so be prepared. It’s not just going to be news, or the latest greatest technology and trends. It is going to be the entire experience from my point of view, every step along the way. It all started bright and early this morning:
4:11 AM – my body clock woke me up. I looked at the alarm clock. I had 19 more minutes to sleep before the alarm started barking.
4:30 AM – the alarm clock started barking. I turned it off, got up, dazily walked into the kitchen, pressed START on the coffee maker, and hit the shower.
5:50 AM – checked in at the self-serve kiosk, which by the way is probably the most widely accepted interactive kiosk (what I call “Interactive Out of Home”, or “IOOH”) in the U.S. today, outside of the ATM.
6:13 AM – pulled money from what I suspect is the most widely accepted interactive kiosk (IOOH) in the U.S. today – the ATM.
6:32 AM – checked in “On Da Plane” via foursquare (become my friend – “mikecearley”)
6:45 AM – flight departed.
6:46 AM – found two interesting mobile advertisements that could easily have been made into IOOH examples in the American Way magazine. Before I get into those advertisements, I think it’s important to make clear, again, my viewpoint on OOH + technology. “Digital Out of Home” or “DOOH” is the term that is used to describe anything that falls into the OOH category and has technology associated with it. To me, that is such a wide generalization and practically accurate, but not always technically accurate. “Digital” Out of Home is any standard OOH solution that is made digital by display technology. There is a finite list of display technologies – LCD, LED, plasma, projection. If there are any other display technologies, please let me know, but it’s a small list. This, to me, defines Digital Out of Home. There is no interactivity associated with Digital Out of Home. But since technology is the foundation of “Digital” Out of Home, interactivity is inherent. Not always used (in fact, used much less than I think can be. I hope to see advancements made on this front in the industry this week), but inherent. Standard OOH initiatives can also be made interactive. Case in point:
Example 1:
Simple mobile app that the user can access at AA.com/mobile (which doesn’t work btw). Put a short-code on this ad (which I originally thought it was) or a QR code/MS tag, and send them directly to the app from the magazine ad.
Example 2:
Print any attachment from your smartphone on one of these fancy HotSpot Printers. There’s a simple process to go through, but when you do, voila, you’ve got printing on the go. So, here, if I wanted to take a picture of this map, from this magazine, I could take a photo of it, email it, and print it, all from my phone.
This magazine is a device, medium or platform that I do not own, so by my definition, it is an “Out of Home” solution (in this case, an object). The brand is driving me deeper into an engagement through the use of enabling technology, in this case, my mobile phone. Thus, we have an Interactive Out of Home solution, or IOOH, which is a term that I’m officially coining (at least the acronym). It’s my truthiness.
8:46 AM – passed over the Grand Canyon. Even from up here, it looks grand. I’ve had the fortune of visiting the Grand Canyon. It is something that I think everyone should do once in their life. It is amazing. I will bring my family here when the kids are old enough to appreciate it.
9:18 AM – landed in Las Vegas. Off to the convention center to get my press passes. Then, to the hotel to drop my bags. Then, to the Hard Rock Café to depart on an awesome behind-the-scenes tour of Las Vegas’ $11 Billion City Center and Hard Rock Café.
“The most exciting part of the tour is the behind-the-scenes look at advancements in digital signage control – everything controlled from single laptop computer equipped with state-of-the-art software to the remote control of over the 1,000+-screen installation at City Center and the other MGM properties up and down the Las Vegas strip.
Stops will feature Interactive reader boards, progressive Slots & Video animations that tie-in to progressive jackpot meters and table top displays; restaurant interactive Touch Screen Menus, interactive wayfinding through a 500,000-square-foot shopping center, video walls, and a huge multi-user, multi-touch interactive digital wall.”
I’m a little bit late to the game because this particular solution has been out for quite some time. It’s worth more attention, though, albeit not-so-timely. These boys know how to do it. True 11th screen material. They built the world’s biggest multi-touch, multi-user wall at a race track complex in Germany.
I’ve developed a guide that helps me look at solutions like this – 11th Screen solutions, if you will – in a consistent manner. It’s not a measurement tool, by any means. It’s not designed as a magic formula to produce quantitative results. It’s simply designed to help me look for the same components across all kinds of IOOH (11th Screen) solutions. It’s my attempt at leveling the playing field in an area where the field is far from level. For each “criteria,” I simply give a PASS or FAIL.
So here, we’ll use the Ring Wall to inaugurate the official 11th Screen perspective. Understand that I have not interacted with the wall in person. I’ve only watched demonstrations. My comments about the wall are made entirely from observation.
Purpose – What is the purpose of the solution? Is it to drive awareness? Acquisition? Loyalty? What is the brand trying to accomplish in this medium?
In my mind, this is the most important question to ask. It should define the exact solution. Brands can do one thing through a billboard and something entirely different through a kiosk. More often than not, I believe that brands utilize the OOH medium as an awareness-only medium. I think there is always an opportunity to drive consumers deeper into the brand, even from the biggest “awareness-driven” installation – a standard billboard.
Here, the Ring Wall looks like one big awareness machine. It enables many users to experience information, but it’s the same information for every user. There is no “deep dive” for data capture, personalization, or even an extended experience.
11th Screen Score: If the objective was awareness, I don’t know how they could have done any better. Taking that assumption into account, they PASS.
Drama – Does the solution make a big impact on the user? Does it make them stop and interact?
Since everything we’re talking about is interacted with in the physical spaces around us, it must have some drama to it to entice people to interact. This can be accomplished a number of ways – the physical installation, its movement, its content and its call-to-action.
The Ring Wall has an immense amount of drama. First of all, it’s huge, the largest of its kind. Second, gesture-based technology allows content to move with the user as they walk by, engaging them without even a touch. I think where it falls short, if any place, is providing the user a clear call-to-action. It might seem simple to have a big “Touch Me” call-to-action rolling throughout, but I think intimidation is still a big barrier with acceptance and use of most touch screen installations. The clearer you can be with the action you want the user to take, the more success you should have at breaking down that barrier.
11th Screen Score: I don’t know how much more dramatic one can get. PASS.
Usability – Can the user navigate through the experience with ease? Are the paths to information intuitive? There’s also an element of functions, too, but I think that is much more subjective. Do the functions enhance the user experience?
The biggest killer to any touch screen installation, once the user starts interacting with it, is not knowing what to do and/or how to get to the desired information. It’s critically important that foundational elements like content grouping(s) and navigation hierarchy are intuitive. Herein lies the challenge though. Old website standards are most often not applicable because interaction in this medium is so open, non-linear, and tactile. Navigating a website with a mouse on a computer is different from navigating a website with your finger on a touch screen. It’s vital to understand the audience when concepting and creating an experience like this. You and I might be able to walk up to this wall and use it effectively, but would our mom or dad?
Here, the Ring Wall’s user interface seems to be intuitive. The navigation looks to be consistent with a standard website homepage (primary navigation at the top, eye level with 3 callouts below the main content area) and as a result, clear. Also, the user has multiple ways to navigate in the experience. They can use the scroll wheel above the gallery to navigate as well as the FORWARD/BACK arrows on the main images. It doesn’t hurt that every ‘panel’ displays the same UI, too. And the functions look fluid and cool :)
11th Screen Score: It’s hard to give a definitive score in this category without touching it and using it myself. From the interactions I can observe, it looks to have a good user experience, thus PASS.
Interactivity – How does the user interact with it? Is it gesture-based? Is it touch-based? Can the user interact with it through any other enabling technology?
This consideration is really an extension of Usability. But whereas the Usability consideration focuses more on how the content experience is laid out, the Interactivity consideration focuses on how much effort is required to interact with the physical experience. If it’s gesture-based, how responsive is it based on the user’s interaction? If it’s touch-based, how responsive is it based on the user’s touch? If it requires an enabling technology, how easy, instant and accurate is it based on the user’s actions? This is the second biggest killer to any touch screen installation. If it doesn’t respond to the user’s touch, the user will either give up or get upset. Either way, they’re not going to interact with it anymore. (And they might tell their friends not to interact with it. And their friends might tell their friends and….anyway, this is food for another post.)
The Ring Wall is both gesture-based and touch-based. When the user walks by, the wall seems responsive. When the user touches the screen, it also seems responsive.
11th Screen Score: Again, it’s hard to give a definitive score in this category without touching it and using it myself. From everything I can see, PASS.
Information – How much and what kind of content is available for the user to interact with?
A system like this is set up to be an endless well of content. I think this is good as long as the user isn’t overwhelmed with that content, meaning they don’t have to see everything “behind the curtain.” Let them know what they’re going to expect and how to get there and leave the rest to them. Drive them deeper into the experience instead of away from the experience. A critical element of this is the type of content in the experience. The Ring Wall includes a good combination of copy and rich multimedia content (images & video). And the video looks like it plays fluidly.
11th Screen Score: There looks to be a deep well of information for the user to interact with in one experience. PASS.
Personalization – What level of personalization does the experience provide?
In my observations over the past few years, this is the one area that I am the most underwhelmed with. The opportunity that we have in this medium, and really the opportunity that I feel has been the least capitalized on, is the level of personalization to the experience. On the surface, any multi-user touch screen includes a level of personalization that allows each user to have their own, unique experience. But on a deeper level, the content is the same for every user. The opportunity that I see is for all of that content to be customized for each user. Simply put – everyone sees what they want to see, even if they don’t know what it is they want to see. And they don’t see the stuff that doesn’t matter to them. This level of personalization requires some level of data gathering from the user, which is always touchy, but can enhance an experience greatly.
Perhaps another way to look at this is ‘does it account for various stages in the relationship process?’ Does it accommodate someone that is interacting for the 1st time? Or the 3rd time? Or the 30th time?
Here, the Ring Wall doesn’t seem to have any personalization built into the experience. It treats everyone the same, whether they are interacting with it for the 1st time or the 30th time. There is an opportunity to personalize each experience, though – be it through a couple of “preference” questions or a higher level of technology like RFID, each user could have an experience most suitable for them.
11th Screen Score: FAIL.
Overall, I just think this is awesome. Major kudos have to be handed out, not only to the development team, but to the clients themselves. They get it. To take the leap on technology like this (both hardware and software) is remarkable, not to mention that the decision was made a year and a half ago, well before the idea of DOOH and/or IOOH was halfway mature, certainly on this scale. It’s combinations like this, with both forward-thinking marketers and clients, that are going to create a new level of interacting with each other and our physical spaces around us that is the norm instead of a novelty.
What do you think of this thing? By “thing,” I really mean the wall, but I’d love to know your thoughts on the scorecard, too. Do you feel like anything needs to be shaped differently on it? Added to it? Just like the space we’re in, I expect it to evolve as we look at other solutions. Comments gladly accepted.
