A central aspect of customer retention is the shopping experience. Even though e-commerce is endlessly marching forward, retail continues to have one great advantage: the emotional connection with a customer through all his senses.
The online presentation of any product is limited to its visual aspect, while all the other senses can be engaged offline. Products can be touched, to feel the quality of the material, some products can be supported by using sound elements, or for additional branding, the brands own perfume can be used.
This makes a unique shopping experience possible, that the Internet just can’t offer. Especially interesting are digital innovations that combine the offline and online marketing to include and engage customers actively.
Interactive advertising and inspiring tools create brand loyalty out-of-home and in stores. Read on for some smaller ideas, but also for some technically more elaborate ones, that will lead to personalized and emotional communication with your customers.
Here are the 6 Best Practices for interactive advertising.
The Great Escape – Interactive advertising for “Graubünden”
A nice smile shines through the man’s long, thick beard on a stele at the Zurich train station. The heavy set man has wrinkles around his eyes from smiling and with his flannel shirt, he is a stereotypical friendly resident of the alps.
In the background is the untouched, beautiful nature of Vrin, with its snowcapped, impressive alps. The idyllic silence of the ad is in stark contrast to the hectic life at the train station, making it the perfect cornerstone for the campaign.
The funny thing about this ad: The nice resident is actually being shown in a live stream and talks to passing pedestrians. With his friendly dialect, he invites travelers to visit his village, to escape their stressful everyday lives in the big city. Even though very surprised in the beginning, a lot of passers-by agree to a spontaneous vacation! To top it off, a train ticket is being printed right then and there, underneath the display – and off they go on their vacation!
This interactive ad is a big Social Media hit and a great example of how to make people remember your interactive advertising marketing campaigns long-term.
Pizza Hut – Order differently
PizzaHut is also using innovative technologies to shape a restaurant visit to be an interactive experience. A touch-screen integrated into the table allows guests to create individual pizza orders and choose everything from the size of the pizza, to all the different ingredients, from the crust to the side dishes.
After the order is placed, guests can play mini games, while a countdown shows when the order will be ready. This campaign is an outstanding example of gamification within interactive advertising, which positively influences costumer experience in many ways. This different way of ordering will definitely be remembered by customers.
Nike Flagship Store – Seoul
This is the future! Nike, together with former pro-athlete Ji-Sung Park, opened one of the most impressive flagship stores in the world in the heart of Seoul.
If you’ve seen this architectural masterpiece already, you know what the future of retail looks like. The store was built with the goal to become the most innovative Nike store worldwide. It’s interactive mirror-display amazes every customer.
Another highlight in the store is the motion technology used in a video wall. Whenever a sneaker is taken down from its display, the video wall shows information and images for the chosen product. Interactive advertising couldn’t be more helpful!
#Lookingforyou – Digital signage campaign for Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
Who can resist the eyes of man’s best friend? The agency OgilvyOne UK, in Westfield Stratford, came up with an amazing campaign for the Battersea animal shelter to bring together animals and humans. Employees gave out brochures that had RFID technology in them.
Whenever someone took a flyer, the technology communicated with the screens that were positioned around a shopping center. Suddenly a dog was following pedestrians with every step, from screen to screen, and would even interact with them.
This interactive and creative ad for the animal shelter is a marketing masterpiece and allowed many animals to get a new home.
Forever 21 – Time Square
Times Square – There is no other place in the world where people are confronted with this much advertising. The colorful displays and screens are fighting for attention and try to outshine each other. Bigger, louder, more colorful, if you get noticed here, you reach over 400,000 people each day.
Through their creative approach, Forever 21 succeeds in setting itself apart from the masses and in engaging pedestrians. How did they?
Microsoft Kinect – Interactive dressing room
Carrying every piece of clothing into the dressing room and noticing that it doesn’t fit, that can be extremely frustrating to customers and employees alike. So some clothing stores are experimenting with digital dressing rooms, where customers can try on outfits virtually. The system uses New Motion Technology, which lets customers select clothing through gestures and verbal commands.
Even though it sounds like science-fiction, it is actually going to become a standard, because it is not just about shopping, but about the experience. This is especially interesting to lifestyle brands, that can really amp up their image with innovative technologies and interactive advertising.
Questions?
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