Interactivity and Empowered Advertising

I love this recently launched “interactive” campaign for the UN Voices Project (by Saatchi & Satchi Australia), which employs mobile technology as a link between outdoor portraits and the voice behind their expression. Interactive marketing is all too often regarded to be the privileged domain (okay, I’ll concede my bias) of a small group of over-zealous technophilic specialists. It is not, nor should it retain that myopic, self-imposed limitation for much longer.

This campaign reinforces my longstanding belief that “Interactive” is not a medium as it has been regarded, but rather a way of thinking — a calling for marketers, designers and manufacturers alike to shift their perspective and begin challenging their assumptions. The web, and those working within it, have been early to embrace this view simply because it is inherent to the structure of the medium; but interactive philosophy must/will eventually make its way into nearly every aspect of our lives and, consequently, marketing.

We have only begun to explore the applications, challenges and opportunities of a truly interactive world. We have been slow to challenge the belief that a poster can be nothing but; that television is a one-way megaphone; that movies must be experienced as linear and uniform; that action figures are limited by their pivotal joints; that the mobile phone is only for making calls. This will change, and to some degree we are already beginning to see the power and value of thinking interactively (outside of the web), albeit these explorations are still quite early in their evolution:

• The instant text-to-vote system that determines which American Idol contender will sing only their swan song, or the broadcast iReports from viewers on CNN may not seem revolutionary - but its evidence of progress.

• It is no coincidence that many popular toys among children today are really just keys to unlocking interactive experiences (WebKinz, UBFunkeys) or incorporate interactivity as part of their design (Pleo, LeapFrog’s Tag Reading System).

• Or what about RFID-enabled billboards which greet you by name, alternative reality games, GPS-powered scavenger hunts, Subservient Chickens, and merry-go-rounds that leverage playful interaction to pump water for an entire village?

All of these examples, and there can be many many more (drop your examples in the comments), are evidence of a change in mindset more than revolutionary technological advancement. The birth of a new technology or medium does not necessarily call for the death of its predecessors; but it ought to begin a new round of scrutiny and innovation. Surely some industries will fade into obscurity as a result of new technologies, but many more will force that fate upon themselves by failing to embrace the value and possibility of empowering people/consumers/audiences with interactive control.

A poster is not groundbreaking, but the idea that a poster can serve as a gateway to a grander interactive experience is — and this campaign has only, but admirably, scratched the surface of possibility.

[via CultCase]