Is That Heather Locklear?
Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
At first glance we thought this was Heather Locklear AND then noticed it was a Virtual Mannequin.
As Seen At BETT 2009
It’s nice to see that 3M took up our suggestion of calling this a Virtual Mannequin rather than the cumbersome ‘Virtual Brand Ambassador’ that they have previously used
Heather (it wasn’t ‘Heather Locklear’ by the way but we will call her that for the purposes of this post) was the star of 3M’s stand at last week’s BETT show. This was the first time that a UK audience had got to see the technology.
We think that 3M can quite rightly herald this as “the next interactive technology concept for attracting attention and driving sales at the point-of-sale (PoS)”. As we have written before this is not only cool but also very eye-catching.
Lloyd Cole, European Marketing Manager, 3M’s Optical Systems division told us “Our Virtual Mannequin is an entirely new and novel medium for communicating promotions to the retail floor. It can take on any shape to reflect a human body, cartoon character and a wealth of other imaginative forms.”
The Virtual Mannequin of course is created from 3M’s Vikuiti Rear Projection Screen technology.
In an in-store environment, for example, a video of a salesperson is recorded in the first instance and the Vikuiti Screen is laser cut to the exact shape and size of their upper body. The Screen is then placed on the shop floor on a stand or custom made static display for the lower half of the body. A rear mounted projector controls delivery of the video to the Screen and synchronises with directional speakers positioned down by the Virtual Mannequin’s feet to bring it to life. The speakers ensure there is no sound interference with the rest of the retail store.
Heather will next appear at ISE 2009, 3-5 February, Amsterdam RAI, Stand #10I144.
January 23rd, 2009 at 16:12 @716
You could make this lady interactive but of course there is an issue of where to touch!