Telephone 0800 032 1127

29/5/2007 - ‘TALKING’ SHOP WINDOWS MAKE THE ‘EBAY EFFECT’ A THING OF THE PAST

lcd soundsystem Empty high street shops are soon to be a thing of the past, thanks to Scottish company motomedia.

Motomedia offers new technology which transforms entire shop window surface’s plate glass into speakers. When combined with projected images, it turns a normal shop front into a living, talking advert, offering businesses an alternative new avenue to get their message out into the public domain. The new technology, recently introduced to the UK, is thought to be the first step towards introducing personalised shopping to the high street.

Until now the technology has been science fiction in futuristic films such as Tom Cruise’s Minority Report, but a store in London was recently transformed into an almost real life Myspace for EMI Records’ launch campaign of American band LCD Soundsystem’s new album, Sound of Silver. Passer by who stopped to listen to a track from the band’s new album were automatically offered a free Bluetooth download via their mobile phone. In the first week alone, 900 downloads were made.

The idea is the brainchild of Glaswegian entrepreneur, Kenny MacLean who launched motomedia after years of working in the retail industry. Motomedia clients now include EMI Records and the Labour party.

Kenny said: “With increasing numbers of empty shops in Britain’s high streets, known in the retail industry as the ‘ebay effect’, where shops are emptying as business owners transfer their selling online, this revolutionary technology is seen as one way of transforming empty retail units.”

“Empty shops can be an eyesore for shoppers as well as a financial burden for shopping centre owners but they can easily be transformed. We can create outstanding audio-visual theatre in any retail location and, coupled with Bluetooth, this represents a new and powerful method of attracting buyers, even from an empty shop.”

Motomedia does not remove the importance of leasing an empty unit - the lease is still held by the existing landlord - instead, they provide an opportunity to generate additional revenue and give new life to an otherwise deserted unit.

The Labour party utilised motomedia technology as part of their recent election campaign with a specially adapted BMW mini car which featured multicoloured flashing panels targeting younger voters on nights out in Glasgow City Centre. Passers by, who were stopping in their tracks to take notice of the mini, were automatically offered a free Bluetooth video message via their mobile phones giving them the chance to download a humorous cartoon with a serious message. In one weekend, over 1,000 downloads were made.

The technology is described as a cutting edge 'through-glass' sound driver, which delivers very high quality audio, comparable to a CD. Combined with a powerful in store projector, videos are seen and heard coming directly from the plate glass shop front window.

Kenny explained: “Our audio driver technology turns the glass into a high-quality speaker. At the same time, special vinyl is applied to the windows to create a rear projection video that is visible in daylight.”

"We are very excited about the motomedia concept and feel it is the perfect platform to launch music, new products or to simply get a message out to the public. We were particularly pleased that the first company to adopt this technology was EMI Music, the world's largest independent music company.”

motomedia technology within the advert also allows motomedia to capture data such as the age, gender and viewing times of passers by – something that has never been seen before on the high street.

Future projects are being currently planned with Adobe, Baileys Irish Cream and American rap star Mims.

Scottish Event Awards - Winner telephone 0800 032 1127 |
email info@axismediagroup.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales | 4375076
website designed by stream media | sitemap