Elevating Interactivity

I’ve been wondering when electronic paper technology was going to become commercially viable enough to make inroads into the digital signage space. Looks like the answer is now.

According to BrandRepublic Asia, Lancome is using electronic paper as part of an OOH campaign in Tokyo introducing a new mascara product called Oscillation. The product’s innovation is that it has a brush that vibrates electronically to make application easier. In order to showcase this feature, Lancome is creating hanging posters for the Tokyo Metro that use electronic paper to display a moving image. From the BrandRepublic piece:

The ‘train jack’ (whereby an entire train carries advertising exclusively for one brand), which has been installed on Tokyo Metro trains running on the busy Ginza and Marunouchi lines, includes a hanging electronic poster that presents a moving image of the oscillating brush. The fixture reportedly marks the first time for electronic paper to be used to create a suspended transit poster. Trains on both lines, which run through the city’s major business and shopping districts, will carry the work until the end of the month.

I wish I could find video of these posters. If anyone has any, let me know. I also haven’t seen much about the technical details of the electronic paper used, but from the picture above it looks like it may be an OLED technology, perhaps using the newly developed roll-to-roll manufacturing process.

As electronic paper becomes more affordable, the entire world of out-of-home marketing will be turned on its ear, making moving images the norm and enabling rich forms of interaction with viewers. Exciting stuff.