Dylan Jones, Jones Digital Media
#Kioskcom kicked off Tuesday with a Keynote speech that made its point with a gorilla playing the drums and ended with James Brown’s “I feel Good” – very Vegas baby, very Vegas!
But William Ratcliff from BrainJuicer had a point to make – advertising needs to connect with emotion and a whole lotta feel good factor. Personally, I didn’t think it was quite the revolutionary insight others in the room seemed to think it was, but a fine mood setter for the conference nonetheless.
Randy Dearborn, head of digital signage for the MGM Mirage brand maybe gave us a little too much insight when he casually mentioned that he hoped to use GPS technology to help “track his guests like dogs” while they walked through his properties – funny, I thought they already did that. He did offer some interesting perspectives however, after all Vegas must be the digital signage capital of America, and hearing how his group develops, manages and creates content for thousands of screens that need constant updating was an eye-opener.
Their ‘way finding’ technology is years ahead of most retailers – Home Depot and other big box retailers please take note, take your lead from Vegas and actually help your customers navigate your stores.
Brandon Elliot from Build a Bear Workshop had some equally interesting insights. They’ve been using interactive kiosks since 1997, and as a parent to a seven year old I’ve witnessed first hand the power of this brand at retail – they’ve really got this whole thing figured out.
The kiosks are intuitive, (even the parents find them easy to use) and they’re using the web to expand their customer base and build brand loyalty – as a company they probably only have their customers for a few years, so this loop-closing from site to store makes perfect sense.
On the second day I’m looking forward to see what’s cooking at the cooking up content display, listening to customer engagement strategies, business strategies and maybe even some Black Jack strategies.
I’ll be trawling the exhibit floor, tweeting a little and lounging around the blogger lounge, so please come over and say hi.
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