Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Provision tests holographic displays with McDonalds

I don't know if watching a hovering Coke can shoot out of the box-like chest of a creepy plastic Ronald McDonald statue is going to compel me to order a different soft drink at the counter, but Provision and McDonald's apparently think that it just might. According to this writeup in MediaSoon, Provision, "has recently done a deal with Creditz, a digital in store loyalty currency system. Creditz are given for loyalty and as incentives, and merchants can earn incremental revenue. The Creditz holograms will feature at store entrances and in the aisles to point to where the promotions are happening."

Holographic displays have been out for a while now, and while they certainly make for an impressive demo at trade shows, I'm still of the opinion that they're too expensive and don't provide enough real value to be justifiable yet. Images can be hard to see if you're not in the right spot or under the proper lighting conditions, and content has to be specially produced in order to be viewable from all angles.

Still, like I said, they are certainly eye-catching when they do work, and I could certainly envision a scenario where some McDonald's franchise owner allowed Provision and/or Creditz to install some systems on their own dime to see if there was any appreciable benefit (all speculation on my part, mind you).

Tags: Holographic display, in-store media, Provision

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