Elevating Interactivity

Sniff is an on-the-street in-window IOOH experience that does a nice job of engaging the visitor in a playful and entertaining way.

When walking on the sidewalk, passersby will notice a cute (because of its behavior more than its looks) 3D dog avatar that clearly wants some attention. This dog is looking for a few minutes of your time, to play with in the window as you would a real dog.  But how do you play with a digital dog in a window? This answer to that question is revealed during this activity.  The part of this experience that I’m most interested in is the realistic behavior of the dog. This behavior unfolds through a back and forth interaction between the visitor on the sidewalk and the dog avatar in the window. It is achieved through a natural body/gesture interface.

The technology leverages a 3D camera that can detect a person’s location, proximity, motion, speed, etc. Using this information, applications can be made to respond to a user’s body motions. In this case, the dog is programmed to behave in certain ways to particular movements. This creates the illusion that the dog is a live animal who is reacting to your specific body language, akin to the way a real animal would respond. This behavior is executed well and is quite believable, enough to make the average visitor ask “How did they do that?”

Sniff is an art installation. Brand messaging is not currently part of the experience, but you could see how it could easily be applied to similar experiences for products such as a dog food or pet medication, or any brand that could be be represented by a “living” avatar.  The experience is satisfying and short, as most IOOH experiences should be – keep it simple.