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Patrick ConnollyCEOObscura Digital |
Over the years, we have seen quantum leaps in the level of interactivity found on the web. Technologies like Java, Flash, Silverlight, and countless others started to make appearances on the web. These advances, married with a new generation of technology-savvy creative directors have resulted in the most amazing online digital experiences and extension of brand that I could only have dreamed of in the early days. We are now scratching the surface with game engine technology. Every day, technology is being introduced to the advertising/marketing worlds that really make the possibilities endless.
This is great news for interactive agencies and will no doubt continue in lockstep with Moore’s law. But the vast majority of these experiences are, as we say, locked in “the box,” with the “box” being the computer.
At our agency we believe the experience should not stop at the screen sitting in front of the user, nor should traditional methods of interaction limit the experience. The first typewriter received its patent in 1868, and the mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1968 (yes, over 40 years ago). Yet, the keypad and mouse remain our input devices to this massive world of interactivity. However, this is changing, quickly in some markets. We look at the success of the Wii, and the potential with Microsoft’s Natal project, in the video game market as an indication of the consumer’s desire to interface differently with an interactive environment. But new user interfaces for interfacing with the “box” and the Internet are few and far between.
Through applied computer vision technologies utilizing motion sensors, 3D cameras, motion capture, gesture interfaces, touch, multi-touch, immersion, and a host of other new user interfaces we are able to provide new inputs to the computer. These inputs are also coupled with advances in output technology, such as powerful projectors, holographic displays, multi-touch touch screens, large scale LED displays and mobile apps to name a few. We feel that the ability to build a bridge between the new inputs/outputs will be key to the success of any digital agency in the next decade.
We foresee a shift in competencies necessary for today’s traditional interactive agency to provide next-generation interactivity to their clients. Those who cannot provide this new type of interactivity may not survive in today’s economic climate by simply building websites. This shift will involve the ability to embrace the aforementioned technologies and marry them with the current interactivity that is already being produced. The result will be the ability for the agency to deliver its clients the extension of their digital strategy into the real world, and provide true interactive experiences.
Digital Interactive Experiences
We believe that the web (which is just data), should be pervasive, and not locked in “the box.” The ability to make this happen is not as easy is it sounds, but will be the next-generation of touch points that consumers will come to expect when interacting with brands.
Case Study Examples
After a sizeable investment in their traditional “interactive technology,” one of our clients, a large themed restaurant chain, was handed the keys to an award winning website. The site did everything it was supposed to do and then some, but it was still just a website. The executives at this company believe in innovation, but also live in the real world of today’s economy. Thus, they came to us to help get the experience that users of their website could receive, and get it “out of the box.” Our solution was not to recreate the wheel, but instead, to embrace the current wheel and extend it. We delivered interactive multi-touch LCD panels in the restaurants that had XML hooks into the current CMS that powered their site and used it as the backbone of our “in-restaurant” digital experience. This allowed the customer in the restaurant to experience the content locked in the website in a never before seen way. As content changed on the website, it dynamically changes in the restaurant on the multi-touch panels. Although this is a very basic example, it exemplifies how the web and its content can be brought out into the real world for real world interactivity.
A more complex case is one that we experienced in Korea. The challenge was to turn a skyscraper in downtown Seoul into an interactive video display for the Holidays. We used 4 massive HD 30,000 lumen projectors to create the display which was no small feat. And then we tied it back to the internet. The system was capable of taking cell phone pictures, which is what we used, as well as text messages Tweets, Diggs, etc., and storing them on a microsite. Next, a text message was sent back to the user telling them when their photo would be displayed on the building and then integrating that photo into a mosaic of photos sent in from users anywhere in the world. A webcam was set up to watch if the sender was unable to be there in person to see themselves projected 9 stories tall. This cool project highlights the integration of content from the web and mobile devices into a physical manifestation that brought the consumer closer to the brand; in this case a bank, and gave them a personal sense of interaction with that brand. In this day and age, where we can turn a car into an interactive video advertisement and make a building come to life, the screen is not the end of the campaign/message. Everything can be treated as a website, and therefore, content must be designed to be flexible and extensible.
Conclusion: Design for Next Generation Interaction
The take away from this paper should really be that the web can be anywhere, and physical interaction with brand and the extension of commerce into the real world are the convergence point in the next wave of digital marketing. The genie is out of the box and digital agencies should begin to not design just for the web, but for extensions of the web-- in the physical world and mobile spaces. Agencies should start building and creating campaigns knowing that multiple API’s, XML feeds, databases and access points need to be built in to allow for that extension.
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