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Marketing with gesture-based signage

Research shows that interactive signage is resonating in retail.      

September 7, 2008 by Michael Mascioni — writer, self-employed

When people talk about gesture-based digital signage, the conversations are usually geared toward the future. But research is showing that the future apparently isn't far off, based on the growth and impact of gestural displays in shopping malls and other public places. 

In fact, Mike Ribero, CEO of Reactrix Systems, predicts an "explosion of gesture-based media in the next five years." He adds that such media will "appear in places you'd never expect to see them." 

Read alsoDigital signage execs still strive for 'Minority Report' future

From his perspective, gesture-based signs have significant advantages over traditional out-of-home displays: they're "not intrusive, and capture the consumer's attention without diminishing their control over interactive experiences." One of the keys to gesture-based media is that they "hold the audience's attention for a longer time," and "attract people from a distance." 

For example,a studyconducted by Arbitron last November with 4,000 consumers in 20 malls exposed to Reactrix displays showed that consumers at those malls spent significantly longer amount of time in front of the gesture-based sign. 

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Reactrix's gestural displays have been well received on a number of levels. According to Ribero, research conducted by shopping malls employing Reactrix displays have ranked those displays as "one of the most effective types of media" at their malls, and its displays are the "one of the highest revenue generating displays" in General Growth Properties' shopping malls," based on a study conducted by the mall in the first quarter of 2008. 

Reactrix generated such a strong response from the application of its gestural system with a STEPscape display for Samsung this year that even Reactrix "was flabbergasted." The company had a single STEPscape display operating on a rotating basis in four shopping malls in Florida, where 20-25 back-lit displays were already installed.  

A study conducted by an outside research firm in Feb. 2008 with nearly 400 consumers found that 35 percent of consumers at those malls recalled the Reactrix display, while only 15 percent could recall the 20-25 static signs at the four locations. 

Reactrix recently applied its system in a unique way to the Florida lottery. The company used its SMARTspot technology to beam real-time Lottery jackpot numbers every Wednesday and Saturday to participating shopping malls in Florida. Through Reactrix' STEPscape SMARTspot platform in mall walkways, users had a chance to participate in a lottery game by stepping on virtual Lotto balls floating above a yellow backdrop, triggering the appearance of virtual money where they step. They could also push the balls around and make them collide with each other.

Portugal's gesture-based innovator

YDreams, based in Portugal, had considerable success with the YSenses point-of-sale promotion it developed for Compal at the "World of Flavors" fair at seven Continente supermarkets last year. The campaign was deployed throughout Portugal, according to Marta Vieira, director of business development and operations for YDreams. 

Screen shots from YDreams' Compal orchard campaign.

YDreams also developed an interactive cinema campaign called Happiness Factory for Coke. The campaign centered around a game which was designed to enable users to interact more with the Coke brand and allowed users to control the main character's movements by waving their arms from left to right. 

In the game, the worker character runs left and right to in an effort to catch as many Coke bottles as possible falling from the sky. An announcer preps the audience for the surprise and mimics the worker during the game.

Research conducted with participants indicated the campaign's major brand impact: 300 of those surveyed about the experience said they were "positively surprised by its innovative action," and 40 percent of the respondents indicated increased brand awareness of Coke as compared to traditional in-cinema advertising.

YDreams elicited highly positive results with an interactive adver-game it delivered in +Cinema theaters in the Lisbon, Portugal, area to promote Vodafone's Duplex ADSL brand this April. The game, which was developed together with the agency Brandia Central, allowed users to control the movements of the main character (VodaRed Man) on the screen by waving their arms in the air. That character ducks left or right to avoid hazardous objects that are hurled at him, and retrieve as many ADSL packages as possible.

According to surveys conducted with moviegoers participating in the game, "moviegoers who played the Vodafone game were more inclined to purchase Vodafone products," reports YDreams. The surveys also found that brand recall and awareness of those products was higher than that generated by traditional cinema advertising.

YDreams also created a special buzz with an interactive product promotion it developed for Dove's soap products at Sao Paulo movie theaters in 2007, which afforded moviegoers the opportunity to play with soap bubbles that appeared to descend on screens in those theaters. Webcams were installed at the back of those theaters to track the movements of those people while they were interacting with the bubbles. The moviegoers had an opportunity to push and burst bubbles on the screen through their gestures.

Gesturetek in malls

GestureTek is another company that has made a strong impact with its gestural interactive marketing displays in public places. The company had "great success" with a system it installed in the flagship store of Hudson Bay in Toronto with "multisports windows," said Vincent John Vincent, president of GestureTek. The system, which was situated at the corner of a window in that store, utilized eight- by 12-foot projectors and featured special effects and ads for Hudson Bay. 

Most of the GestureTek experiences in shopping malls and retail outlets are entertainment, though they are ultimately designed to promote the brands of the malls and retail outlets and carry the logos of those operators. 

GestureTek's ScreenFX system was an integral part of the launch of the Charlestown Mall in Ireland. The GestureFX family of interactive display systems can project visual content onto any surface, including floors, walls, tables, countertops and bartops. Users control multimedia content and special effects by moving their hands and bodies without the need for other user interfaces. GestureFX utilizes GestureTek's patented video gesture control software and special camera technology.  

The system, which was installed in a high-traffic location inside the Charlestown Mall, was integrated into a Panasonic 103-inch plasma display, allowing users to interact with it. GestureTek's GroundFX interactive floor displays were also installed at several entrances in the mall.

General feedback so far indicates that users have found that application an "enjoyable experience," Vincent said.

GestureTek's ScreenXtreme system was also used in a gestural brand experience for the Spanish retailer Musgo-SXT. In that window promotion, users were immersed in a soccer game through a multimedia interactive experience.

In addition, Target Stores has used GestureTek's system in interactive billboards in an underground mall in Canada to great advantage. That system has proven to have a "positive effect on store traffic," Vincent said.

Some retail applications of GestureTek's systems are designed to promote specific products of particular companies. For example, Telefonica, a leading Spanish telecommunications company and part investor in GestureTek, is using GestureTek's multitouch system to provide more information about its products and brand in its stores.  This application, framed around the Telefonica Retail Window, affords users an opportunity to collaborate with others while interacting with content on the screen.

The impact of gesture-based displays in public places will be even greater in the near future due to key new technological developments. One of the most important of those will be a greater convergence between gestural and mobile systems in public places, opening up even more expansive forms of interactivity in those settings, Vincent predicts.