Article

Into the 'Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier' [Book Review]

Digital signage expert consultant Lyle Bunn reviews the new book "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities."

July 24, 2014

By Lyle Bunn

BUNN Co.

At the top of the reading list for everyone involved in out-of-home, place-based and engagement media must be "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" by Kevin Williams and Michael Mascioni (Gower Publishing, 2014).

It informs, inspires and provides a context for all business planning related to communications and consumer engagement.

In providing a comprehensive history, status and the outlook for high-engagement media, the authors have left no stone unturned. The result is a clear picture of how visual engagement media got to its current state, but more important, it enables the readers' extrapolation to future directions and trends.

The ongoing explosive growth of the digital out-of-home and screenmedia sector through messaging to shoppers, patrons, travelers, staff and students for commercial and brand benefits, is part of the overall context of visual experience and interaction.

Insights related to "gamification," "advergaming" and "exergaming" are reflected by a wide range of attributed, credible pioneers and practitioners from Disney to GestureTek. Their comments emphasize the social and immersive aspects of media while reflecting on its ongoing progress, even as elements have moved through periods of fading and rebirth.

In weaving these insights and example scenarios together, the authors provide a context for application and business planning, ideation and a vision of the possible.

There are so many territories of relevance to current and possible planners, providers and integrators of digital media. In winning the hearts and minds of target audiences, brand messages will increasingly be integrated into more attractive and appealing media-based experiences. The use of games in the forms of play, trivia and multi-level accomplishment are increasing as brands seek to gain consumer awareness while amplifying the brand's characteristics and attributes. The current paradigms of message presentation, interactivity and mobile interface serve as the basis for improved return on investment.

All media providers and users must have the widest possible field of view. This book empowers an expanded view of place-based digital signage from messaging into a more immersive and augmented experience.

Dr. Jonathan Waldern, the founder and visionary behind Virtuality, which was funded in part by IBM, hits the nail on the head in noting that "in technology, all the moons must align to deliver a disruptive new communications medium."

Digital out-of-home has a lot of moving parts inherent in its application experience, business model, analytics and technologies. And it can be highly political related to its replacement of existing approaches, funding allocation and its need to provide sufficient profit to all contributors.

The possible role of some emerging technologies such as Google's "Project Glass," see-through LCD and mobile capabilities are alluded to in augmenting the real world or serving as the window to virtual worlds.

The role of mobile and tablet (sometimes called "phablet" in commercial application and flat panel interface), requires constant review and environmental scanning. As sensing capabilities for location, environmental and contextual awareness by personal screens increase, the usage scenario can constantly evolve. Technology connectedness and interfaces require that the moons of consumer acceptance and infrastructure return on investment do not inhibit exploiting of new approaches.

The gap between the conceiving and the contriving of technology application often exists; technology is, after all, an invested industry seeking to advance by solving problems and introducing new incremental benefits or "next plateau" approaches. The authors have done an excellent job of capturing this dynamic.

They have also aptly highlighted the relationship between military, commercial and consumer applications, pulling back the curtain on new uses of media by an ever-increasing and extensive user base.

Digital out-of-home has found its place in the "Paid-Owned-Earned" media model, even as advertisers wrestle constantly with the challenges of gaining the coveted "audience-of-one" from publishing-based approaches that must use an "audience-of-many" path.

All media is personal. The context of the experience differs from one person to the next as experiences, awareness, aspirations and capabilities serve as the lens through which each person ingests, engages with and is moved to emotions or actions by media. The authors have captured this foundational reality of media.

"The future isn't what it used to be," said baseball legend Yogi Berra, a sentiment echoed every day by media, technology and marketing professionals. "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" by Kevin Williams and Michael Mascioni offers commentary and insights upon which the future can be developed.

This book is at the top of my recommended reading list. Give copies to your investors, management, colleagues, partners and prospects.

("The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" is available in both Kindle and paperback editions on Amazon.com.)

Lyle Bunn (Ph.D. Hon) is an analyst, advisor and educator in the digital place-based and enterprise media sectors. He has assisted hundreds of firms to define and implement their media programs and was named as one of the "11 Most Influential People in Digital Signage in 2013" by DigitalSignageToday.com. He can be reached at Info@LyleBunn.com.