STRATEGIC PARTNERS
July 12, 2010
Dubai, United Arab Emirates -Consumer electronics giant LG has partnered with Specialized Software Services (SSS), a Scala-Certified Partner, to deploy digital signage in Point-of-Purchase (POP) customer communications.
Nearly 30 so-called 'Interactive Power Poles' were installed at A-location spots within large malls in different countries in the Middle East: 11 in the United Arab Emirates (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), nine in Saudi Arabia and eight in Egypt.
"The ultimate goal for LG with these installations is to successfully introduce a range of new mobile phones to the market and communicate instantly the features of each phone to potential customers," said H.S Paik, president of LG Gulf FZE.
The poles have a unique design and state-of-the art interactive features to meet LG's information challenge. The new phone models are attached to the poles with retractable cords. When a viewer takes one of the phones from the unit a photo cell is activated. This triggers a script that runs on Scala software. The software then initializes digital content on a 32-inch touchscreen that is relevant to the phone that was taken from the unit by the consumer. Using the touchscreen, the target customer can browse through and compare the features of the phones. This interactive feature of the poles is a great asset for LG, the company says, since it enables a customer to compare the phones without having to speak to a sales person and they can zoom in on features that are the most important for them.
"By reaching potential customers directly, we are able to receive accurate and up- to-date feedback on the new mobile phones," Paik said.
Through the software, the system also registers generic information about number of people who visited the POP, as well as their time and location of viewing the context.
By combining the initial data with the data coming from the touchscreens, a database is created allowing LG to surmise the following about the stand: most popular phones, the time spent examining each phone and feature and which features were most looked into. The system also logs the number of visitors per time slot per day per POP location.
This combined data enables LG to understand the phone preferences of their audience and the data reports functions as operational tools to optimize the company's marketing strategy.
