Archive for the ‘technology’ Category

Animated Tattoos, Dancing Ice Robots, and Other Things That Leave an Impression

“Leave an Impression.” The Ballantine’s Scotch Whiskey tagline serves as the inspiration for the company’s Human API campaign on Facebook. The campaign follows a group of artists as each works on an interactive piece of art. The creation of each piece of art is streamed live over Ballantine’s Facebook page, inviting the audience to collaborate by leaving comments and suggestions as they watch. The result is a shared experience between artist and audience, and a finished product influenced by contributors from around the globe.

What makes the campaign stand out isn’t just the audience interaction, but also the nature of the art being created. The theme of digital interaction and technology-fueled creativity carries into the art projects themselves. Ice sculptor Jamie builds an ice robot that moves and lights up, then documents for its melty demise, leaving behind a skeleton of wires. Tattoo artist Karl Marc creates the first-ever animated tattoo by integrating a QR code that when scanned, links to an animation that matches up with the tattoo, bringing it to life. Every part of the campaign – from the creative process to the finished project – is a fascinating and entertaining example of what is possible when art merges with technology.

Ballantine’s Human API campaign takes art – something that is usually a one-way experience for the viewer – and uses interactive technology to turn it into a conversation, a collaborative experience, and a chance for viewers to leave their impression.

Posted by Ramona on November 7, 2011 in interactive, progressive, technology

Tesco Homeplus Brings the Store to the People

We’re generally not big fans of clichés, but we can’t deny that necessity is the mother of invention, or in the case of South Korea’s Tesco Homeplus, it’s the mother of innovation.  The grocery retail chain had long been stuck in the #2 spot in the ranks of Korean retailers, and this largely had to do with the fact that the leading competitor had far more locations. So Tesco was forced to find a way to move up in the ranks without opening more locations.

South Koreans are very hard working people. In fact, they’re the second hardest working people in the world, so running errands like grocery shopping can be difficult to schedule into their busy weeks. Tesco realized it was necessary to create a convenient way to shop without taking any more time from their customers’ already full schedules.

Their solution to both increasing sales and making the shopping experience more convenient was to bring the store to the people. Recognizing that online grocery shopping could be difficult – it’s hard to see the products and easy to forget items because they’re not all laid out in front of you – Tesco Homeplus set up a virtual store in a subway station. The walls are designed to look like the shelves of a grocery store with photos of actual food, so that the shopping experience is as easy as it would be in the store. Customers simply scan the QR code of the items they need with their phones, and the groceries are delivered when they get home from work.

Tesco analyzed the needs of their business and the needs of their customers, and came up with a truly original, innovative idea. They are now #1 in the online market and a very close second in the general market.

How innovative are you when to comes to meeting the needs of your clients and your business? If you’d like to brainstorm ways technology can be used to give your clients an outstanding experience, give us a call!

In the meantime, check out Tesco’s virtual subway store:

Photo Credit: Tesco Homeplus Subway Virtual Store in South Korea

Posted by Ramona on November 5, 2011 in interactive, progressive, strategy, technology