Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

Tryvann Vinterpark is a state-of-the-art ski resort located just 15 minutes outside of Oslo Norway, and oddly enough, even though there might not be a single snowflake falling in Oslo, the ski conditions can be perfect at the park. So to let those living in the city center know when it’s the ideal time to grab their skis, ad agency TBWA created this transit stop ad with a built-in simulated blizzard. And instead of leaving it running all the time, the fake blizzard can be turned on and off by someone working at the resort with a simple text message to indicate when it’s actually snowing. (There’s a short video of it in action after the jump.)

[ Toxel - Tryvann Snowing Billboards Invade Norway ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

As the story goes, solar panel manufacturer Schott Solar wanted to find a clever way to promote the fact that their panels come with a 20 year warranty. So the Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency in Frankfurt, Germany came up with this wall calendar that features a tear-off page for every day of the year, for the next 20 years. Understandably the 7,300+ pages end up sticking out about 2 feet from the wall, and it looks like it comes with a pair of pretty hefty screws for securing it. Sucks to be the sales team who has to carry around this promotional item.

[ directdaily - Schott Solar "20 Years Warranty" ] VIA [ Foolish Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Speaking of items we thought would never actually hit the market, the rCard multimedia business card concept was first shown off about 3 years ago, but is just now finally seeing the light of day. It’s also been re-branded as the EDG (pronounced ‘edge’) card, and if you haven’t heard of it before, it’s basically a high-tech business card that’s slightly thicker than a credit card, but features an LCD screen, a speaker and controls allowing it to play back videos and other multimedia content.

UPDATE: It turns out the EDG cards are in no way related to the rCard, which was a similar concept that never actually made it to the market. The EDG cards are instead produced by a company called Jump Lab who’d like to assure us their products are not only available for purchase, but “far exceed anything any former product could deliver.” We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

The cards include a mini-USB port for uploading content, and while users can also download additional PR material from the card to their PCs, they don’t have access to the video content, preventing them from re-purposing the card for their own uses. The EDG cards range in price from $17.50 up to $29 per unit, which already makes them a tough sell if you plan to give away more than one, but hopefully they’ll make a big impact on your client before the novelty wears off.

[ EDG Cards ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By Andrew Liszewski

According to their CBS affiliate, New York city’s transit agency is currently testing a new digital advertising system on the sides of buses. The system apparently uses actual flat screen displays to show rotating static advertisements as well as short commercials, but what’s particularly interesting is that the ads will be targeted towards the specific neighborhood the bus happens to be passing through thanks to GPS. A company called Titan Worldwide has a 10 year, $800 million advertising contract with the city’s public transportation system, and the first buses to feature the new ads are currently being tested on a Manhattan route. But come 2009, about 200 more buses will also get the advertising upgrade.

[ WCBS TV - NYC Tests Digital Ads On Buses ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

A company in Japan called Recruit Co Ltd. is using a unique system to lure people into the restaurants and cafes in the underground mall of the Tokyo Station. Developed by NTT Communications Corp. the system emits appetizing aromas that correspond to a video advertisement being shown on a 42-inch LCD display. The idea is that passers-by will be attracted by the smells, wander over to the kiosk to watch the advertisements, and then take a coupon book which will hopefully bring them into the restaurants. My only experience with artificial scents is the scratch n’ sniff stickers I had in grade school, and as I recall the only ones that didn’t make me wretch in disgust were strawberries and grapes. So maybe (and hopefully) artificial scent technologies have come a long way since then.

[ LCD display emits appetizing aromas along with the advertising videos in underground mall of Tokyo Station ]

By Andrew Liszewski

At one point, competing companies would go out of their way to avoid specifically mentioning their rivals when it came to advertising, preferring to instead drop subtle hints as to who they were referring to. But if the tired Mac vs. PC ads are any indication, those days are long gone. Toxel.com recently posted another collection of Creative Advertisements which included this amusing and downright brilliant ad from FedEx. While I’m pretty sure the image was only created for a print ad, it would have been really cool if they went the extra mile and actually converted one of their delivery trucks to look like this.

[ Toxel.com - Creative Advertisements Part 2 ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If it wasn’t bad enough that stores were already tracking the purchase decisions and buying patterns of their customers, it now seems that Philips is developing a way for stores to track the interests of people who haven’t even come inside. Using a set of video cameras and eye tracking software the system will be able to tell what someone looking at a window display has been staring at the longest, and will then provide more detailed information about the product via a passive or even interactive video display in hopes it will push them towards making a purchase decision.

The system is also useful for keeping track of gazing trends for large groups of people. The data can help a store determine what type of layout or window display design is most effective for selling a given product. If you’re looking for a way to make your Monday even duller than it already is, you can read the full patent application for the gaze tracking system on the World Intellectual Property Organization website.

[ Gaze Interaction For Information Display Of Gazed Items ] VIA [ New Scientist Invention Blog ]

By Andrew Liszewski

At home you can use your Tivo remote to fast forward through boring or annoying commercials, but if you happened to be walking through Columbus Circle in New York last week, you wouldn’t have been so lucky. A few Segways that had been retrofitted with large, vertically mounted plasma displays were being used to show advertisements for the new J.J. Abrams series, Fringe. The writers at Chip Chick managed to snap a few shots of the Segways which featured special mounts for the plasma display, a portable DVD player and a couple of large batteries to keep all the added electronics running. There’s no word on whether or not a-32 inch flat screen display will become an official option for the Segway, but I’m sure it would be a popular accessory.

[ Chip Chick - Segways Get Plasma TVs for Adverts ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Have you ever looked up in the sky and thought “Hey! That cloud looks just like the McDonald’s arches”. If you have, there’s a good chance that cloud may have actually been engineered to look that way by a special effects company called SnowMasters. They’ve developed something they call Flogos, which are basically flying custom logos. Made from a proprietary soap based foam, the Flogos are filled with gases such as helium rather than air. As we all know, helium is lighter than air, so once the Flogo comes out of the machine, they just float away.

Depending on the soap mixture, the Flogos can last for just a few minutes or up to an hour. They can also travel 20-30 miles and fly as high as 20,000 feet, though the weather conditions (particularly wind speed) play an important factor in how far they go. The standard Flogos range in size from 24 inches to 48 inches, though the company is working on an even more impressive 6 foot generator. The Flogo machines can produce a flying logo every 15 seconds, and the soap based material is 100% environmentally safe.

[ Flogos ] VIA [ Cool Hunting ]