New! Street Interactive Ads

Back in 2007, when the iPhone debuted, everyone said that it would change every facet of the world. And now while it is changing some things like communication, commerce (in a way) and expectations; advertising mainly stayed untouched. (Yes, I recognize there are ads on the iPhone, but they mainly follow the same principles as online advertising.)

But low and behold, the iPhone is changing the ad space as we know it.

CBS Outdoor has partnered with Clusta, the digital creative agency, to develop a new advertising platform, launched yesterday, which connects a consumer’s iPhone to the display via WiFi or 3G.

By swiping in either direction on the iPhone’s touchscreen, users can make the object in the digital poster spin to the left or right, and users can also make the display change colour. (source)

That is cool! Granted, this technology and ad was premiered at the Media Playground conference in London and has not, as far as I know, been established for the general public; however the technology and possibilities are there.

Another thing about this new advertising opportunity is that it is left for the big dogs. When something new like this is available, only recognized companies and products get to play with it. (Whereas smaller companies like Zappos could dominate the early period of Twitter.) In this case, it was Converse, a Nike owned product, because pretty much everyone knows Converse and the classic Chuck Taylor style. It was also smart to sample this product with the iPhone interactivity because of the demographic that Nike and Converse already draws to. The youth/youthful that own an iPhone probably also own a pair or two of the classic shoe.

Either way, awesome idea. I wonder if Palm will be able to pull off daily life changing events.