Like a Fish in Water
„Digital touchpoints“ are digital surfaces and services in public spaces, at the point of sale, in trade fair booths, museums and exhibitions, representation rooms or brand experience worlds. They come as interactive screens, multimedia installations, location- or context-orientated mobile applications, internet-of-things solutions or 3-D worlds. And they all invite user immersion.
Advertising feeds visuals into the subconscious. It reminds us of previous brand contacts and prepares later ones. All its strengths notwithstanding, advertising´s influence on brand preferences is receding. Its key stimuli are generic and the experience is too vapid to really cut through the noise of modern multi-media in everyday life. Thousands of brand messages are flooding the consumer, and they all compete for attention, isolated brand logos as well as 30 second TV commercials.
Immersive communication beats this competition: Even the shortest interaction, a simple „like“ for instance, creates awareness for a story. Creating a positive situation for users and helping them to experience new, positive self-perceptions will create lasting loyalty within seconds. Attention is always in limited supply, users are highly selective in giving it, and will preferably turn it to where they feel appreciated and where they can move around comfortably, much like a fish in water.
Customer inclusion postulates a preference for quality over quantity, and for intensity over coverage - which is exactly what digital touchpoints deliver: They trigger emotions and are remembered as stirring experiences. Designs and interfaces following the „joy of use“ paradigm will produce superior added value. Staging stories, both big and small, with the same love and attention to detail, adds to the unique quality of the digital installation experience.
These presentations and services are no replacement for proven advertising formats, rather they will serve as exciting additions in selected locations, for instance in places where large numbers of potential customers meet. They may also help executing ambitious promotion concepts during events or trade fairs. And last, but not least, they will shine at the point of sale, inside shops or at storefronts where frequencies are known and intentions of visitors and passers-by can be met with precision.
Digital touchpoints tend to build on established, proven technologies, with a system´s sophistication resulting from smart, innovative system combinations.
