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Australia's oOh!media launching new interactive retail digital signage screens

Australia's oOh!media has unveiled what it's calling 'a world-first in out-of-home engagement' with the launch of its new interactive retail screens that it said are 'loaded with unparalleled sensory features.'

October 16, 2015

Australia's oOh!media has unveiled what it's calling "a world-first in out-of-home engagement" with the launch of its next generation of interactive retail screens that it said are "loaded with unparalleled sensory features."

The company said its new Excite retail screens provide engagement and networked national reach that give advertisers opportunities to interact with consumers in new ways.

The range of technologies combined within each of oOh!'s Excite panels include: 

• Multitouch screens;
• Kinect 2.0 gesture control;
• Voice-recognition technology;
• High-definition webcams;
• Wi-Fi;
• Audio; and
• Networking capabilities.

"For the first time, digital advertising will have access to all these technologies across a network that links advertisers and consumers through the integration of the creative with online, mobile and social channels," the company said.

Company CEO Brendon Cook said oOh!'s Excite panels move beyond converting traditional inventory to digital signs. "Digital technology has changed forever how we communicate. Today's announcement is a major step in oOh!'s digital strategy and accelerates the changes that digital technology is bringing to the out-of-home industry," he said. "Our proprietary content management system creates a partnership of technology and content that provides advertisers with new capabilities to connect with consumers and achieve nationally networked, mass-audience reach … The opportunities of how this can be used are limited only by the imagination."

The company is initially rolling out 50 new panels in centers across Australia, with the first advertisers to utilize the capabilities set to be Village Roadshow for its new release, the movie "Pan."

The Excite screens are strategically placed in high-traffic spots — giving a wide berth for interactivity and crowd viewing, plus a long viewing time — such as the food courts in Australia's top shopping centers, the company said. Its newly appointed digital strategy director, Brendon Cropper, said the release of the panels was an exciting evolution of the out-of-home sector worldwide.

"We've spent more than $1 million in the development of the Excite panels which take the out-of-home industry to an entirely new level and set the benchmark for consumer engagement," he said. "We know that the offer of interactivity is appealing to consumers, from our experience with 33,000 consumers joining a touch-to-play game on the screens during a two-week campaign. We've packed in all the latest technologies we could to equip brands and their advertising agencies with the opportunity to be creative and develop interactive campaigns with both cut through and reach."