27.03.13
Hundreds attend PSCo’s Art of Digital
Major players in the luxury retail, marketing and digital AV markets came together in the Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge to discuss the future of the customer experience.
Hosted by distributors PSCo the event on Tuesday attracted almost 500 people during the day ranging from manufacturers to end users such as Burberry and Selfridges. Despite high street retailers still feeling the pinch, there was every suggestion that the hunger for AV solutions in the luxury end of the market is buoyant, and growing.
The speakers included William Woodhams, Board Director at Mission PR, who extolled the virtues of choosing the appropriate technology to suit the end purpose and having good content to back up digital installations.
During a later Q&A session, Woodhams said marketing was being held back by technology to a certain degree, in that products that enabled true interactivity to create an emotional connection with the customer had yet to arrive.
“I might look at an image in a shop, but it’s not looking at me – it’s still a static poster” he said.
“This technology will arrive - in two months or two years - and we will nail it.”
Nordic marketing firm the Integer Group sent Iikka Maunumaa to outline his work with mobile devices with major brands such as McDonald’s.
Harrods’ Media Sales Director Guy Cheston outlined the prestigious store’s use of AV including its network of advertising displays and large, portrait videowalls flanking the escalators. He explained the importance of design and aesthetic in integrating AV technology to the store’s existing architecture and the challenges they had encountered with heat and ventilation when using displays almost 24 hours a day.
Guy said the Art of Digital was the perfect environment for end users to meet up with integrators and distributors, saying many retailers were put off by going to more tech-orientated shows.
Rounding off the speeches, Graham Tricker, Head of Operations at Proxama, explained the developments with NFC and the use of digital wallets.
All of the exhibitors in the hotel’s Ballroom drew plenty of attention and said they were happy with the new contacts they had made with end users. Popular exhibitors included Holition, the Holborn-based 3D Augmented Reality Solutions firm, who were showing off digital mirror technology where customers trying on an item of clothing can scroll though styles and colours in a life-size display.