Interactive billboard

This is something I’ve not seen before, at least not in Sydney. In Pitt St Mall, NAB (a bank in Australia) have erected a billboard on the back of a public telephone, that invites users to interact with it.

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I probably paid closer attention to it than I usually would, as one of my colleagues at work is currently completing his final semester at UTS, and his project (titled Poster 2.0), while not necessarily directed at the advertising industry, certainly touches (boom boom) on the concept of display systems that are designed specifically to be interacted with. From that point of view, I was intrigued to see how others in the mall would deal with this very unassuming interactive piece.

The premise

The billboard is setup like a public survey. There is an area where a yes/no question is put to the public, a tally is displayed, and interactin sought (vvia a simple yes/no touch device below). The results are displayed instantly, and the tag-line is “Live life at a great rate.”

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Observations

I watched as several people took at least a minute or two to come to grips with the concept. More than half didn’t get it – that is, they stared, waiting for something to change. Obviously the invite wasn’t clear enough for them. One guy did eventually pluck up the courage to engage, and as soon as he chose “Yes” to the question “Have you ever lost money in Vegas”, the billboard updated the count, and he had a bit of a chuckle, and walked off. Result? Not sure…

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Opinion

I don’t completely understand the communication of the Billboard. Take for example the following : “Have you ever lost money in Vegas : No (see below).” And then below : “Live life at a great rate.” Is this suggesting that only those people who haven’t lost money before are the ones that NAB want as customers? (The yes’s were more than the no’s when I was there…) I also wonder how much effort is going into placing and maintaining this billboard, vs how much actual new customers NAB are actually going to get. Perhaps, though, this is not the purpose of this sort of interface – is it’s job is merely to engage?

I did enjoy the subtlety of the display however – it didn’t initially jump out and grab you, it made you look twice, and even made you try and understand it – that sort of brand time is definitely worth something, though I don’t know how you quantify it.

Anyway, interesting regardless – and I think something that will become more and more common given time.

  • http://rant.blackapache.net/ OJ

    By the looks of it, it’s done its job already!

    I have seen this kind of thing in a few places, and the setup is very similar.

    Something flashing and shiny to attract attention. Something that appears interactive to get people ‘involved’ A very cheezy, almost non-existant result. I think the last point is the most important. Because those people who have taken the time and effort to press a button are generally expecting something whizzbang to happen (like an alarm and lots of money being thrown at them). When nothing happens other than a counter updating, chances are they’ll look harder at the poster to see if they have missed something. They’ll look all over it trying to find the thing they’ve missed. The advertiser has won.

    The viewer has seen every inch of the board – what else would the advertiser want?! :)

  • dan

    Very true, when it’s advertising for advertising’s sake. But im still not decided on whther the communication of the billboard has been a success or not.

    Yes, I remember the bank name (but then, ive paid more attention to it than most, and for different reasons). If id not been so keen on resolving the communication, perhaps the brand would not have stuck?

    Yes, it appeared that people had interacted with it – but not a magnitude of people – they were all busy watching the fire eater, or listening to the buskers.

    No, it wasn’t flashy, it was something that had to be read and re-read.

    Some good and bad points :)

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