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interacting with spaces
AdWeek just posted this interesting article on companies creating interactive experiences for moviegoers. I think this is a set of great examples of breaking down the barrier between physical and virtual worlds. As always, the mobile is involved because it is the device actually in everybody’s pockets.
Briefly, the article talks about a couple of companies making interactive software (and I think hardware in one case) to be installed at movie theaters. Audiences can participate in crowd games, can vote on surveys, and so on. Results are displayed on the big screen.
Of course every game is sponsored (this is AdWeek, after all) and the advertisers are improving brand recall. But it’s also a win for the theaters, the filmmakers, and the audience.
I believe that a major area of growth for retail stores and other spaces is creating extra levels of customer engagement via digital services, accessed by the mobile. Examples can include
- interactive store directories, so you can figure out whether they have what you are looking for
- projects for home improvement stores or recipes for grocery stores, letting you figure out what could be done with the Sputnik-looking vegetable in front of you, and where to find all of that stuff in the store
- user and critic reviews, similar items, back ordering, and more at book and music stores
- increasing interactivity and audience engagement at theaters
- storing my preference for large mocha at my coffee shop, and letting me buy it without standing in line
- airport information interaction – when is my flight boarding, can I change seats, where was my luggage the last time it was scanned, etc.
- information, beer ordering, statistics, small-screen replays, photos to save as memories at sporting events
There are more ideas, but this is a start. Each is, essentially, the sort of interactivity you might put on a well-designed web site selling the same services, except accessible in the physical environment.
Oh, and don’t forget that every one of these has a location component. And many have a phone-as-wallet component.
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Of course, the nerdy among us have done some of this for a long time. Pop open the laptop to flightaware, while in an airport coffeeshop, so I know when it’s time to wander over to the gate. Etc. The use cases are already out there, they just need to be exploited.
Data integrity will be interesting as this sort of stuff takes off. One example is inventory control: I don’t think the local Home Depot actually knows what is in the store, and they certainly do not know where it all is currently located.
Comment by steven — June 30, 2008 @ 3:05 pm