In today’s competitive retail landscape, businesses are pushing the envelope and getting creative when it comes to building an engaging customer experience. With communication technology evolving all the time, digital signage and personalization have become key ways for businesses to draw consumers in. And for Microsoft (News - Alert), already a leader in virtual tech, this seems like a logical strategy.
Over the holidays, Microsoft Store locations in Seattle launched a time-limited, in-store attraction aptly dubbed “the largest photo booth in the world.” Taking advantage of its existing digital signage video walls, Microsoft not only found a way to create a fun experience for holiday shoppers, but was at the same time able to show off the full range of its multi-display installation and technologies, and how user-generated content can be seamlessly integrated into them.
Leveraging the new Kinect for Windows, Microsoft shoppers were prompted to capture their own image, with the option of trying out a few predefined image filters to create a personalized collage. This allows shoppers to get a hands-on, free trial of just a small sampling of what the technology has to offer—a clever way to reel in potential buyers. Once images were captured and edited, the Photo Booth application generated a 26K video wall theme on-demand, instantly projecting customers’ faces onto the giant in-store video wall.
"Microsoft Stores and Synect collaborated to create a truly magical experience," said Peter Ruthenberg, senior art director for Microsoft Retail Stores, when announcing the promotional attraction. "The campaign for the Microsoft Store during the holiday season was called 'Give Happy' — and Photo Booth kept the video walls full of happy families and smiling faces all through the season."
By giving users the chance to not only test out a new technology, but also enjoy the thrill of seeing themselves on a massive, public wall space, Microsoft endeavored to take customer experience to a new and engaging level.
"The best part about it is that it looks really simple, even though the complexity behind the scenes is huge," Synect Director of IT Assaf Margalit said. "We're using a lot of innovation — from Microsoft, Synect and our partners — to reimagine digital experience inside the store."
No matter the industry, businesses can take a page from Microsoft and its use of personalized, digital signage as a high-tech, sleek way to get more customers participating and interacting with the store’s products.