Nike launches interactive signage program

TORONTO – Digital View, provider of digital signage and digital media networks, and Pattison Outdoor Advertising, Canada's largest out-of-home media firm, are launching a unique interactive advertising experience for consumers. Shoppers in some of Canada's busiest malls are now able to choose which TV commercials they'd like to view during a special promotion, using their cell phones like remote controls. The first client to sign up is Nike Canada, which kicked off this year's world soccer championships blitz with a series of long-form TV spots featuring some of the planet's best-known soccer players. This groundbreaking digital signage was tested first in Toronto's Yorkdale Mall and is now running at Bramalea Town Centre, Montréal's Mall Champlain and Montréal Eaton Centre, as well as Vancouver's Oakridge Centre and Metropolis at Metrotown malls. Engaged by a large LCD, directional speakers and vinyl floor graphics, consumers are encouraged to select, via text-messaging, any one of the five "Joga Bonito" Nike Soccer videos that rotate on the screen. "This is exciting on a number of levels," Digital View chief operating officer Stuart Armstrong said.  "Not only does this allow consumers to choose what they want to see, they're also more deeply engaged with the brand advertisers through the text-messaging process."

The text message request routes through wireless carriers to a custom SMS receiver device that controls the output of Digital View's Remote Player 300 digital signage player. The video that is chosen is then played in full audiovisual mode.

The program is able to track the popularity of the videos by counting requests, and also engages consumers by sending them return messages, encouraging them to visit a dedicated Web site and to opt in to receive other Nike news via SMS text messaging.