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an independent report from lyonsdown, distributed with the daily telegraph
November 2011
Business Technology
Audio visual communications
13
Bag of tricks
A round-up of the hottest AV technologies
currently making the headlines
By Caramel Quin
Bringing content to life
Web-based tool Prezi
gives users a free hand to
position words, images and
videos on a giant zoomable
canvas, and then either set
a presentation path or move
around freely. You use the
relative size and position
of a piece of information to
represent its importance
and how it relates to other
information. The result can
be viewed online, on an iPad
or downloaded and played
offline. Prezi has passed
the 5m user mark but the
technology is still niche
enough that clients have
probably seen nothing like it.
Digital signage
Video screens can be a
striking alternative to posters
and billboards but, as they
become commonplace,
companies need to do more
to make their messages
stand out. In October Adidas
installed a Virtual Footwear
Wall (below) at its flagship
Oxford Street store in London
– a touchscreen, two-metres
high, that lets shoppers
explore its latest football
boot, watch videos, interact
with social media and use a
tablet computer to make a
purchase.
The modular wall can be
reprogrammed to promote
different products. Adidas,
working with Intel, hopes to
roll it out elsewhere and has
demonstrated a wall with a
built-in camera that detects
the shopper’s gender and
offers them suitable footwear.
Holographic keynotes
Time-pressed executives
can’t be in two places at once,
so cutting-edge holographic
technology allows company
CEOs to “appear” at events
in any location, even
simultaneously. Last year
the CEO of recruitment
specialist Randstad appeared
holographically to 28,000
employees in 18 countries,
his speech pre-recorded
in four languages and
subtitled in nine. Live
holographic keynotes are also
increasingly popular. Market
leader Musion has worked
with blue-chip companies
including Cisco, Samsung,
Microsoft and Orange to
seemingly teleport speakers
on to a stage.
iPad magazines
The sleek portability of tablet
devices such as the iPad
make them the ideal sales
tool for one-to-one meetings
and exhibition stand
presentations. Thousands of
business applications exploit
the format already, and now
there’s even a package to
bring a professional magazine
look to the way presented
material is packaged. Special
magazine publishing
software from Adobe will
cost a company around
£5,000 a year, but much
the same effect can be
achieved with more
affordable software
such as Roambi Flow
(around a tenth of
the cost). Its intuitive
desktop or iPad interface
lets users drag and drop
text, pictures, videos and
documents to create a digital
magazine.
Gamification
If you want to engage your
customers, suppliers or
workers in your message,
make it fun. Welcome,
gamification – the use of
game design techniques and
mechanics to solve problems
and engage audiences.
Foursquare, which runs the
eponymous location-based
social networking website,
made more than 10m people
obsess over earning badges
by visiting ordinary places
like cafés. Screenreach
Interactive recently created
a billboard-sized video game
on the wall of London’s
Westfield shopping centre
for car insurer Swiftcover.
Passers-by were encouraged
to download the free app
to play a giant racing game,
using their smartphones as
controllers. Shoppers won
prizes and discount vouchers,
and in return Swiftcover
was able to analyse the
consumers that took part,
gaining an insight into the
target audience and seeing
how they responded to
the brand when trying
out new technologies.
Augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is a
bit like virtual reality (VR),
but instead of immersing
themselves in a virtual
world, users access the
experience through a screen.
For example, with an AR
application on a smartphone a
user might point their device
at the Empire State Building
(above) and see images of
its construction (through
a history app), a visual
directory of which companies
have offices there (via a
business app), or King Kong
fending off biplanes (using an
entertainment app).
There’s no real limit to
the business applications
for augmenting the real
world with virtual objects.
AR might be used to guide
someone around a campus,
demonstrate a product
concept or engage shoppers.
Online retailer Net-A-Porter
recently created a virtual
clothes shop in London
and New York windows
– customers pointed
smartphones and iPads
at posters to explore and
buy clothes.
Projection mapping
Projection mapping
techniques give a wow
factor to big events.
Clever graphics are
projected on to a big
screen, fooling the
eye into thinking it’s
seeing something in
3D , without requiring
the viewer to wear
special
glasses. At recent
catwalk events for Wella
haircare, creative agency
Knifedge combined
projection mapping and
spatial surround sound to
make the audience feel they
were looking at a motorised
set costing millions, when
it was pixels and processing
power.
Touch tables
Straight out of futuristic
sci-fi films such as Minority
Report come touch tables
– large furniture with
embedded touchscreens and
custom software, promising
to transform everything
from the boardroom
table to retail interaction
(below). Marketing agency
Imagination won two
Marketing Design Awards
for creating a motor show
experience for Ford’s luxury
US car brand
Lincoln using modular
touch tables that can be
reprogrammed and reused.
Another Imagination client,
Swire Properties, has used
touch tables to revolutionise
store directories in its flagship
Hong Kong shopping centre,
with multiple languages.
These are more than
just touch-screens that tell
customers where to find a
shop, being as tactile as an
iPad. Think swiping pages
to make them turn, having
real-time updates on events
and promotions in the store,
and even a direct link to
the Hong Kong weather
observatory.
Video engagement
Video engagement uses
video to interact with online
users – with live talking
heads guiding users through
a company’s offering and
even showing them web
pages, documents and more.
This enables firms to drive
up customer service without
pushing up operating costs.
The technology can boost
business too – for example,
in retail it can save the
contents of online shopping
baskets from languishing.
Clients of video engagement
specialist Vee24 have been
known to experience a 38
per cent boost in website
conversion rates after
introducing the video
engagement feature.
Alternative propositions
are available from companies
including Netop which
supports a blend of text,
audio and video chat
options which companies
can combine to form a
flexible customer support
channel.