Category: Case Study

IPG Media Lab Matches Hershey With Vengo For An Innovative Take On Product Sampling

Posted on by Lab Team

Hershey looks to build buzz for the launch of its new Cookie Layer Crunch bar with a digital twist, thanks to a partnership with interactive vending machine maker Vengo orchestrated by IPG Media Lab and Universal McCann. Aiming to build social buzz and engage consumers with a fun, innovative sampling experience, the confectionery giant will place two branded Vengo interactive vending machines in Radio City Music Hall starting today, as well as one at the Hershey Chocolate World in Pennsylvania.

How It Works
This fun sampling experience begins with the Vengo machine instructing customers to take a selfie and choose from multiple branded, holiday-themed filters to make the photo more festive in real time. They will then receive a free Hershey’s Cookie Layer Crunch bar as a reward after entering their mobile number to get the selfie sent to their phone.  Throughout the experience, they are encouraged to share their holiday photo on social media.

What Brands Need To Know
Our core design aims to capitalize on the selfie filter craze and bring some fun interactivity to vending machines and product sampling. The branded holiday filters will help generate organic social buzz for Hershey’s product launch as customers are incentivized to share their personalized photos on social channels.

This type of digital OOH solution offers an effective way to reach consumers in the real world as it operates as a unique digital experience at a landmark physical location and bridges the gap between mobile, social, and OOH campaigns for maximal consumer engagement.

How We Can Help
The Lab’s Hershey team is proud to have played an integral role in facilitating this partnership and working with both sides in designing, building, testing, and implementing this next-gen vending machine experience. We developed a customized operating application for these bespoke Hershey-Vengo machines, leveraging facial recognition and tracking technologies to smoothly apply the branded filters in real time.

Our proprietary real-time selfie filter application is highly customizable and applicable to other in-store digital installations. If you’re interested in learning more about this or simply want to discuss how to leverage emerging technologies to modernize your campaigns, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit.

hersheys-vengo-wrap

Ansible And IPG Media Lab Launch NiroBot On Messenger To Introduce New Kia Model

Posted on by Lab Team

Kia Motors America (KMA) on Thursday launched NiroBot, a chatbot for Facebook Messenger, to deliver instant access to comprehensive product information about the all-new 2017 Niro hybrid utility vehicle, making it among the first automotive brands in the U.S. to utilize Facebook Messenger.

Developed and implemented by Ansible, KMA’s agency partner, in collaboration with IPG Media Lab, the NiroBot aims to introduce consumers to the new model through automated, engaging conversations. You can start chatting with the NiroBot yourself to get an hands-on experience with this next-gen customer engagement tool by clicking here.

The NiroBot is packed with helpful features and eye-catching visual designs, including full-screen galleries, guided vehicle discovery, rich product specification menus, deep linking to kia.com, expansive technical information regarding the vehicle, step-by-step tutorials, and test drive scheduling calendars on a user-friendly interface. Additionally, the NiroBot can connect the user to a live Kia representative at any time during the chat.

convos-screenshot

Besides its comprehensive product-related functions, the NiroBot also comes with a charming personality that is designed to optimize the chat experience. It can tell jokes, offer witty answers to some driving-related questions, and greet customers with various phrases depending on the time of the day. These touches of personality truly elevate the experience and make the NiroBot fun to chat with.

Facebook Messenger is used by more than one billion consumers worldwide monthly, and those accessing the NiroBot for Messenger will benefit from comprehensive product information, multimedia product overviews and the ability to schedule a test drive of the first Kia vehicle to make use of an all-new, dedicated eco-car platform.

As consumer habits shifts, more and more customers are opting to communicate with brands on social and chat apps. Therefore, it is imperative that brands follow their audiences and look into ways to connect with them on those messaging platforms.

The Media Lab and Ansible have considerable experience with building chatbots and working with brands to apply conversational experiences to marketing. The One Direction fan experience The Lab developed for Sony Music on messaging app Kik earned a Smarties Award from the Mobile Marketing Association.

Please get in touch with the Lab’s Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) or Ansible’s Account Director Merrell Middleton ([email protected]) if you’d like more information or have a client opportunity.

 

Source: PressWire

IPG Media Lab Brings Digitally-Enhanced Retail Experiences To NYX Flagship Store At Union Square

Posted on by Lab Team

This morning, NYX Professional Makeup opened their first-ever flagship store in Union Square, New York City. A huge line of fans and makeup enthusiasts waited for hours to be among the first to see – and touch – the store, which combines innovative technology with a hands-on educational environment to provide consumers with first-of-its-kind digitally-enhanced makeup experiences.

These in-store retail experiences were created by IPG Media Lab, who has been working closely with the NYX team for well over a year. Some of these experiences – such as the exclusive in-store Beauty Bar which is an interactive makeup station featuring custom video tutorials, a trending wall featuring UGC content centering around the latest looks, and a unique shopping tool which allows users to scan a product and bring up photos of what that specific shade looks like on real people – have been already available in recently opened NYX stores. A Palette Bar experience educates users on how to build an eyeshadow palette and, in this flagship store, also guides users to their chosen colors with pink and white wayfinding LED lights.

Unique to the Union Square store are three brand-new experiences, including a Brush Bar and a Lash Bar, each of which help demystify subjects consumers find especially challenging. Users don’t need to leave that knowledge in the store, however. They can also choose which of the exclusive video tutorials they’d like to have at home for future reference.

The centerpiece of the Union Square store, however, is Colorcast, an eye-grabbing sculpture made from 48 cascading iPads. The Lab collaborated with Brooklyn-based Red Paper Heart to design this dramatic interactive installation, which is also a work of art. The digital sculpture scans the colors of your outfit and reflects back the makeup artistry that feature those shades. Shoppers will also be able to filter the community content based on hair color, eye color, or iconic NYX products.

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NYX Colorcast

The NYC flagship store also features a Masterclass area where influencers and experts teach classes on makeup artistry. Through a combination of in-store classes and digital classes, NYX’s goal is to help shoppers embrace their personal style and give them the tools and knowledge to express their own artistry. 

nyx-masterclass-space
NYX Masterclass space

The NYX NYC flagship store is located at 41 Union Square West, New York City. Opening weekend features meet-and-greets with some of today’s most popular beauty influencers from YouTube and Instagram, including Kandyee Johnson and Mac Daddy as well as exciting prizes and limited-edition collectibles for customers.

Come by and check out what the future of beauty retail looks like!

 

CES 2013 Recap

Posted on by Lab Team

CES is like Christmas for the Lab team. We love it. We are on the ground the day before the show opens, running around in an organized frenzy, scouting out new technologies that excite and inspire us. We then gather back at our “war room” on the edge of the convention center to pitch why our findings should be featured on our client tours. Once agreed, we stay up all night mapping our tour (3 miles!*) through the convention center.

Download our full CES recap below.

CES 2013 Recap