Creative Corner - Sep07

Bright Light Syndrome

How to attract and retain modern creatives into your environment.

It has always amazed me, the wonderful technology and modern facilities of Singapore, yet they are so underused and depressingly neglected. There are screens the size of skyscrapers, lifts and escalators to the stars, five-star hotels racked with B&O televisions. And an extremely web savvy population of gadget and technology freaks who are starved of good interactive environments.

Take a look at some of the retail ideas from New York or Tokyo. Nokia has followed the lead with various interactive concept stores throughout the world. Yet oddly enough not in Singapore. I would like to draw your attention to a few overseas superstars leading the way in this arena, and hopefully inspire some of you to consider the immediate pleasure and response people get from visiting and spending time in such environments. Standout examples that come to mind are IDEO and Antenna Design which have previously been in charge of developing incredibly simple yet beautiful interactive retail spaces, including a reactive shop window called ‘Power Flower' which was visible to passersby of Bloomingdales. As one walked past the shopfront, their motion triggered neon flowers to illuminate. A positive, ageless, playful idea which had people endlessly crowding around their shop windows. A different experiment by IDEO for O2 saw the installation of LED word bubbles where people could SMS directly and see their messages float around 02's flagship London store. This not only reflected the brand's identity but also their modern outlook. Digit London' produced a wonderful installation for Motorola a few years back which consisted of 50 of their new products all suspended in a giant fish tank outside the Design Museum in London. Passersby were encouraged to call a number which through the aid of call forwarding made each phone in the fish tank call another phone in the fish tank, and so on until all the dangling phones were flashing and singing the latest Motorola tunes to each other. An orchestra if you like. These initiatives helped to boost a suffering brand and a stale category into something people raved about. Digit and Romandson have been paving the way with public installations like the Motorola Digital Aquarium, or like with BBDO's interactive billboard for The Economist, using simple technology to get across pleasing PR generating experiences. Getting people to spend time with your brand is the biggest challenge we all face, it seems only right to let people interact, play and respond directly.

As a consumer I get turned on by these new ideas and as a creative I see this as unchartered territory with huge potential. With the marketing industry pouring what little resources they have into various traditional media, they are slowly if not already getting on most peoples' nerves. Very little research is being done into the potential of using interactive ideas in public spaces. It is time for agencies and clients to set up their own facility which can address this blooming medium and let people enjoy themselves.

Steve Lawler

Creative Director

The Works Asia