A Wider Net

Twofer tuesday (which is not a tradition at A Wider Net) continues with a wonderfully clickable snapable mighty morphing memory stick. Compatible with real Lego® bricks, these USB drives can take whatever shape and form factor you desire, provided you have the bricks, the patience, the free time, and the space next to your computer’s USB “inny”.

Put your logo on it. Wrap them in a biodegradable box labeled “Building The Future”, “Connecting With Your Audience”, or “We Make Your ____ a Snap” so they can dispose of the disposable slogan and keep the chummy tchotchke.

From Engadget. Manufacturer: Solid Alliance. Still looking for US resellers.

Readers of this blog know that I love unusual outdoor billboards and displays. Here’s one that conveys a simple message: Smoking causes blindness. It’s a simple trash can cover that gives you the creepy impression that you’re poking out a giant eyeball every time you throw something away.

I’m afraid to find out what they would put over the trash can for that OTHER activity that causes blindness…

Thanks again, Billboardom

WindowGain, based in Newton, MA., has developed a unique model around outdoor video billboards. They have gathered ideas from event/staging companies, digital signage networks, retail displays, and billboard ad sales, then greatly extended the practices and technology to create a first of it’s kind network of large-scale daylight-visible video billboards. There are lessons here for everyone in the marketing, exhibit, and advertising industries.

The opportunity: WindowGain realized there are plenty of empty storefront windows around the country that create inexpensive opportunities to place content in busy public locations. They needed a way to get great quality content on those surfaces, keep them constantly changing, and keep the costs reasonable.

The technology: They needed very bright images and a system of distributing content to multiple locations. Similar to the edge-blending techniques that are being used for large scale video projection at corporate events, they created their own blending and warping technology that allows them to combine multiple video projectors to seamlessly produce massive High-Definition images with twice the light output of any single projector on the market. Arrays of smaller projectors have other big advantages: They tend to be cheaper to buy and maintain than big single projectors and they require a fraction of the projection distance so they can fit in tight storefront window-sized spaces. Once they had the image projection problem solved, they created their own digital signage software that allows them to distribute content to all the signs in their network. Similar to the big signage platforms, they can mix media - video, flash, powerpoint, and live feeds - and combine different content types onto one screen. They can tailor the content by time of day, day of week, time of year, and location. It sounds like a very comprehensive solution.

The most popular storefront signage solution that I have seen uses see-through holographic screens, which do not block the windows for visitors trying to look through the window. But they tend to be small screens, since most holographic screens are only available in smaller sizes, and because they are semi-transparent, they can look quite cluttered if the area behind the screen is brightly lit. WindowGain has solved these issues by targeting windows that no one uses anyway and using solid screen materials.

Content creation: While they accept content from automatic feeds and from customer’s agencies, they also produce content for customers upon request. Their ability to automatically receive and publish content from data feeds also means that these displays can provide information such as news, stocks, weather, and scores that viewers will appreciate in return for having to look at the big advertisements.

The result: They have created a network of high profile high quality digital signage opportunities that they sell to advertisers - local, national, and global. They have also taken dull empty windows and filled them with brilliant images, breathing life into a busy business district. This is a great story about finding ways to reach people, overcoming technical obstacles, and delivering something attractive in place of emptiness.

I suspect the people from this thread will have something to say about the possibility of lots of big video displays around the city, but I personally love the idea. I think that as long as they can maintain a minimum level of visual quality and appropriateness for a public space, and mix it up with artistic elements that people find attractive, then the lack of precision targeting will be forgiven and the visual improvement to the area much appreciated.

This is a “three-fer” post covering a three SMS solutions of note.

First, Airquake, a small incubatee of Atlantis Tech, has been offering SMS solutions for years now with a particular focus on large event SMS communications. Now they have added some great mini solution examples to their website (example shown). Each is interactive and I recommend giving them a try. They illustrate the use of SMS messaging for marketing better than any examples I have seen. You can also see through their demos, and the other examples below, how the use of SMS can establish a relationship with your customers. They become connected to you from a data perspective (you capture their phone and email information) and from an access perspective (they have access to information, products, and services anytime, anywhere). You can provide them with value on the go, thus creating the mobile component of the experiential marketing continuum.

Another example is Pangolin SMS - another SMS marketing veteran who offers solutions around everything from SMS interactivity at nightclubs and events to interactive television.

SMS Messaging is being used in all sorts of interesting ways now, especially in Europe. At a bar, you can order drinks without leaving your seat. At a conference, you can use text messages to send questions to the presenter, participate in polls, and check your agenda.

But the most intriguing use of SMS I have seen lately is the cool way that Finland has used SMS messaging to unlock public toilets. By capturing the phone number of the person unlocking the door, they cut down on misuse and vandalism by being able to identify who was there when the bad deed occurred. Well, they can identify whose phone opened the door, anyway. They also have found a way to restrict use of the public toilets to their own population - you have to know how to text message “open” in Finnish. Maybe it’s written on the door somewhere. I suppose if you stay in there too long, they probably charge you rent. I did some quick math, and I discovered that if they charged you by the minute, at a typical cell phone plan overage rate, it’s still way cheaper than a hotel. And you thought math would never come in handy.

This holoCube 3D display looks like it will be worth a first-hand look. 3D is precisely one better than 2D, after all.

I’m considering it a probable no-brainer for PoP and Exhibits.

And the retro styling brought back memories of Logan’s Run and the whole curvy 70’s. What’s “old futuristic” is “new futuristic” again.

You’re busy on Sunday - we know that. There’s the small matter of legendary sports history on the line in Arizona at Super Bowl XLII. On Saturday, I suggest you seek out your nearest IMAX theater and witness the greatest virtual event ever - U2 3D.

Even if you’re not a big U2 fan, and I’ll admit - I’m only a casual fan - you will find this event, at times, simply breathtaking. They have captured the live U2 experience and delivered it to your nearby IMAX on a massive screen with masssive sound and in 3D. And it’s not just any old U2 experience - this was a massive energy ball of a concert assembled from 100 hours of footage shot in South America from their Vertigo tour. At times you are given the perspective of one of the fans on the floor, crammed in like a massive sardine mosh pit. You see the concert in the distance through a forest of waving hands clutching cell phones and cameras. You can see the shots of the stage on the viewfinders of all those cameras, and you feel you can reach out and snatch one from the sweaty palm of a screaming fan.

Other times they afford you a perspective that you simply can’t get from any concert no matter how much money you have or who you know in the band. We were hovering just above and just in front of The Edge as he ripped through a solo or filled the song with one of his signature rhythms. The neck of the guitar seemed close enough that you almost had to duck to avoid a bonk on the noggin. Sometimes we were given a bird-on-a-cymbal’s view of the drum kit, while the slightly sweetened sound of each drum hit in our faces reinforced the experience.

It wasn’t a perfect experience - some of the early edits were distracting, some of the 3D effects at the end were over the top, and the kick drum mapped to the IMAX butt-kicker subwoofers was a gimmicky replacement for the pounding chest we enjoy when standing in front of a 100,000 watt audio system. Still, this was a shining example of how we can capture a live event and deliver it, with maximum impact, to a remote audience. It shows us what we can do with 3D and a great deal of attention to production value. Start with great content, capture it well, and manipulate it to make maximum use of the capabilities and limitations of the delivery vehicle. The same approach pays dividends for webcasts, second life, and podcasts.

In our part of the marble this show only runs through mid-February. So don’t wait. Tomorrow is good.

More here and here.