The New World of Interactive

The article below was mostly adapted from an article by Dody Tsiantar in Time Magazine, April 10th, 2006. A2. All direct quotes, research, and images are to her credit.


"The New World of Interactive"

In the SoHo district in New York York City, “Star Lenny Kravitz peers down from a 60-ft.-wide billboard for Absolut vodka… at the bottom of the sign, Absolut invite passersby to send a text message… to download a free 4-min MP3 track where they’re standing.”

According to a recent Time Magazine article, last year, U.S. marketers spent $6.3 billion on out-of-home advertising campaigns. In fact, outdoor is the second fastest-growing ad medium after the Internet. And soon, thanks to many of the technologies developed Studio IMC, the two mediums will be nearly indistinguishable, consumers will be empowered, and marketers will be more savvy.

This growing trend toward interactive advertising is something native to the net, but new to digital signage and cell phones. The movement is in large-part the result of consumers becoming “increasingly mobile and increasingly overloaded with information.” Technologies like cell phones and digital billboards are driving the rebirth of digital advertising. These technologies also empower users with new choices and new creative tools.

“Marketers love the interaction with consumers… [and] it is easy to see why. Due to the fact that the results of ads are immediate and measurable.” In other words, there is an immediate ROI and a level of accountability not possible with non-interactive ads.

One advertising Executive even says about interactive media, “For the advertiser, it really turns out-of-home [campaigns] into a direct-response mechanism”. This mechanism includes interactive media in public spaces such as billboards with cell phone interaction and window displays that respond to people’s movements.

As aptly put in the Time Magazine article, “It’s easier to generate buzz when what you’re going is genuinely cool. Consumers can now download music, play video games, watch movie trailers or custom-design a pair of sneakers and purchase them- all by interacting with outdoor ads. Signs can send a digital coupon to our cell phones, and soon they may even start addressing us by name as they did in Steven Spielberg’s 2002 futuristic film Minority Report.” Stephen Freitas of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, claims “outdoor advertising is evolving to a world of two-way advertising very, very fast.” The sign at left in Times Square allowed viewers to send pictures from their cell phone.

As for cell phone interactivity, Coldplay had 20,000 people download their video clips and sample tracks within two weeks directly from posters in London’s main rail terminals to their cell phones. And 500,000 bus-riders in Britain voted for who would win in the movie Alien vs. Predator by pushing a button on the signs. Other success stories include digital signage and cell phone campaigns used by JCDecaux, Lancome, Proctor & Gamble, Ford, Nike, Vodafone.

And the market for interactive advertising will just keep growing. Pricewaterhouse Cooper projects that $8 billion will be spent on outdoor advertising by 2009. According to Executives quoted in the Time article, interactive media “tends to be big companies who want to do exciting above-the-line promotions… Advertisers can change their messages almost instantaneously… this is truly the next revolution in out-of-home advertising”.

It is clear that there is a growing demand for innovations that engage viewers while greatly increasing ROI and accountability. These technologies just begin to expose what the new world of interactive will one day mean.