Coffee. Tech. Explosion.

I am not a big fan of shopping. Actually, I probably hate it — and I especially dislike shopping on Black Fridays because of the crowds. In fact, I hate shopping so much, that I generally just buy things off the mannequin so I could get in and out of the store/mall as fast as possible. However, on this past Black Friday, I was coaxed into going because, well, “the deals were too good to pass up” for one particular fiancee of mine.

We headed out to West Valley Mall in Santa Clara, CA and I was able to snap a few pictures while coming away with some interesting observations after spending about an hour in the god-forsaken place. In short, I was disappointed to see a lot of the same mistakes being made with regard to mobile marketing. For the sake of the medium, I really hope marketers, agencies, and platforms can (quickly) learn from the mistakes before over-saturating the market and desensitize shoppers.

Observation #1: QR Codes Need to be Special & Consistent. It’s no secret that Banana Republic is a merchandising and promotions machine. So naturally I was pretty excited when I saw a print sign prompting me to scan a QR Code for a 40% off coupon for one-full priced item. It took me less than a minute to get the deal. Sweet! Then when I got to the store, I found out that I didn’t even need to scan the coupon: In fact, the ENTIRE STORE was already offering a Black Friday special of 40% without the coupon. 

Blarg. One minute of my life that I’ll never get back. The lesson? Make QR-Codes worth the time of the person scanning it. Make it special — else, what’s the point?

Observation #2: WiFi Considerations. Westfield Mall has this photo-backdrop where people can take pictures amongst a wintery wonderland of snowglobes and candycanes: It’s called LOLiday Cards, which requires the shopper to download an app that allows you to take pictures and “superimpose” the subject of your picture in a variety of compromising holiday-themed outfits.

I thought this was kinda cool. I scanned the QR Code for the application, which directed me to the iTunes app store. But then I found out the mobile application is over 20MB which, due to either Verizon and/or iPhone restrictions, requires me to download the application over WiFi. After going through the trouble of turning on the WiFi Antenna, I found out the Westfield WiFi network is a secured network. FAIL. There are a few lessons to be learned here, but I think the primary one is that mobile experiences need to be stupid-simple (like yours truly) for the end-user or adoption will be low.

Observation #4: The Brick-and-Mortar Store is a Destination. I was finally able to check out the new Microsoft store. Awkwardly enough, the store was 20 feet away from an Apple store. But I have to say, the Microsoft store is *really* well-designed with lounge areas, digital signage, and kiosks galore. It actually *might* be cooler than the Apple store. Yes, you read that right.

In this particular case, the Microsoft store looked twice as packed as the Apple store and featured “play areas” for shoppers to engage/use/interact with all of Microsoft’s gadgets and gizmos. The interesting thing is this: I don’t think these stores will actually generate tons of revenue. I think Microsoft’s strategy with their store front is to demonstrate their wares to the general public so the end consumer can then buy the product on Amazon, Best Buy, or some other e-tailer. Perhaps a retail trend we can look forward to?

Observation #4: Mobile Loyalty. While I didn’t get to play with a Tag Tile I spotted at a nearby dessert shop, I was fascinated that a (niche) stopgap solution was put in place until NFC or some other technology becomes more dominant. Which brings me to my last observation: The leading loyalty solution on the market is, arguably, Foursquare. And while walking by a pretzel shop, I overheard a conversation where a shopper tried to redeem a Foursquare offer at Brookstone, but the store associate had no idea what Foursquare was. It sounded messy, but this too, happened to me at a Sports Authority AND a Radio Shack last year — so I felt the shopper’s pain. The lesson? Make sure the people working in the stores are trained/educated on corporate marketing initiatives utilizing social media and mobile marketing.

**DISCLAIMER: It is not my intention to bash the industries or companies I mention in this post, but rather explore the topic of interactivity in out of home environments. This post is also unusually long. Please read at your own discretion!

Despite all of the research, case studies, and white papers, I find myself questioning (and in some cases doubting) the validity of interactivity in out of home (OOH) environments. Often times, it seems, I have more questions than answers. Are people really burying their faces in their cell phones? Do interactive solutions only work well in metropolitan areas? Are viral and visceral experiences edge cases? What makes great interactive content and how can you get more people to engage in otherwise unusual behavior outside the comforts of their own homes?

I attended (and will probably continue to attend) industry Digital-Out-of-Home (DOOH) and Digital Signage tradeshows like DSE and CETW, for years and have seen an abundance of cool inteactive technology that has the potential to be ginormously huge for the industry like touchscreens, eye-tracking solutions, emotion/gender-tracking solutions, RFID tags, NFC tags, and gesture-technology. Heck, I even researched, piloted, built, and rolled out some of these technologies while working at a leading Digital Out of Home media company for nearly seven years.

These days I spend more time drinking coffee than the Out-of-Home Kool Aid, and I think my perspective on emerging interactive OOH technology has changed. I view things more as a consumer of content instead of a protector of the DOOH universe. And while my experience in the industry has caused me to be ultra-receptive to technologies outside of the home, I find myself questioning DOOH solutions everywhere I go. I even sometimes question if the technology I helped build over the last seven years will have merit in the future of immersive and interactive out of home experiences.

In a general sense, the DOOH networks who’ve employed emerging tech over the last couple of years have all but lacked practicality. Even worse, in many cases, the implementation and execution of the technology was so piss poor, that it may have caused irreversible damage to the medium’s credibility by staining it with solutions that result in gimmicky, awkward, and utility-less user experiences. Don’t get me wrong:  I am all-for interactive technologies and pushing the Digital-Out-of-Home medium forward, but I think the DOOH folks need to stop, take a step back, and figure some stuff out before implementing new tech just for tech’s sake. 

While only a mere example, I wanted to point out the recent Chevy Cruze campaign. I was walking in downtown San Francisco with a friend the other day and where there used to be an Office Max, is now a vacated retail space with a wrap-around window display ad for the new Chevy Cruze. As I approached the building, upon closer inspection, I noticed the front-side of the building was actually an interactive wall with a call to action “Can you outdance the Chevy Cruze?”

I stood at the very busy intersection of Market and Kearny for 15 minutes and not one person engaged with the window. Curious, I played with the window for a bit and could actually see why:

• Presentation: While the location of the interactive window was great, the actual presentation of the window was really dark. In fact, I had to be three feet in front of the window to actually see that it was actually playing full motion content. To a person who is very quickly walking by the window, it wasn’t very eye-catching.
• Audio: There was no audio to draw passersby to the interactive window. In fact, I had to be two feet next to the window to hear anything. Isn’t this interactive window supposed to be similar to a video game? Like video games and movies, audio is a key component of the immersive interactive experience. 
• Content & Usability: The content on the screen displayed instructions on how to out-dance the Chevy Cruze, but the instructions went by so fast that by the time I figured out how to use the game, the game was already over. We lost and were simply too publicly embarrassed to try the game again.
• UX: Overall, the user experience with the interactive window was just so awkward. Honestly, I’m self-conscious about my dancing and I’m not the type of person to stop in the middle of a busy street, boogie down, and slap my hands against a touchscreen against a dirty San Francisco street window.  (Note: My friend even said in the Youtube video: “That’s a nasty ass screen.”) In concept, the Chevy Cruze campaign has the potential to be viral, beautiful, and visceral: What if they designed the experience to be group-friendly? Seriously, what better way to look like an arse in public than looking like an arse with a bunch of your closest friends? That’s why Flash mob dancing took off, right?
• Utility: There was no incentive for me to interact with the screen. Do I win a Chevy Cruze? Do I get a discount? Do I get to be on YouTube in my 15 seconds of fame? Nope.

Sorry Chevy. Sorry Chevy’s Agency. Sorry Interactive Window guys. I am just organizing my thoughts about a solution you put out there in the world. Take it with a grain of salt. I just feel there something needs to be said (even to my small, but growing readership).

So what’s the big deal? Digital Out of Home, while nearly 20 years old, is still considered as a “nascent” medium and, with many of the advertisers/agencies I’ve dealt with, is often categorized as “emerging media.” In other words: DOOH is immature and the technologies/solutions that are out there need to grow up.The industry needs to be strategic, precise, and in a nutshell, deliver amazing user experiences every time. The bar for amazing content and user experiences is so high, that delivering anything less will be ignored. Technologists, networks, and advertisers need to focus on delivering the right technology to the right market, at the right time: Anything earlier or later can result in poor user experiences or missed opportunities. It’s not about throwing cool stuff up there and seeing what sticks.  There is simply too much opportunity and money to be made to simply throw together technology and solutions to get an advertiser’s business.

The phrase, “You are your own worst enemy” comes to mind. I believe the more crap that is put out there actually cheapens the DOOH medium over the long-term and reduces it to being gimmicky, experimental, and noise that consumers filter out. But when done extremely well, the rising tide raises all boats and the medium becomes an invaluable tool for consumers, advertisers, and operators.

Spotted a picture of this on David Hayne’s blog at Sixteen-Nine. I was curious to see a video of it too, and here’s what I found: