MediaZest’s holographic Seite 1 Girl caused a stir at Berlin’s C&A store.

Passers-by and shoppers were simply stopped in their tracks at the store window where, complete with sound projection via Whispering Windows, a life size holographic image model was showing off the company’s new Seite 1 Girl lingerie. She danced, she gesticulated and she appeared to interact with her mesmerised audience.

Behind the stunning trickery, Jung Von Matt set up a website in conjunction with the holographic window display where the model, the lingerie and the reactions of passers-by were all there to take a look at. And browsers to the site were further able to vote for any of the 30 available options of what the model would do next. Her list of actions included blowing kisses, playing air guitar and even stripping. It was probably that that grew the male proportion of the audience but kids to adults, women shoppers too just loved the spectacle.

The website periodically aggregated votes and then put the model through her paces according to the requests. Far beyond the audience influencing the system, the system more importantly for the retail perspective gauged the interest levels and reactions to those participating and to passers-by in real time.

Notably the MediaZest installation was a first whereby press, TV, Internet and the holographic window display with Whispering Windows sound have been used in a single campaign. Erik Meijer, C&A Visual Merchandising Department was delighted with the project and the results it achieved which, according to MediaZest CEO Sean Reel, squarely demonstrated the capability of the company to deliver innovative, one-stop advertising solutions to leading international retailers.

MediaZest created the holographic illusion by projecting a specially produced movie on a see through screen. The film simply merges with the surrounding foreground and background to create a realistic illusion in a real-life setting. According to the company, key element in the system is a newly patented screen technology that makes the screen so effective it is practically invisible when sited at the right distance, with size customised according to system requirements.

The user interface, specially designed for holographic projections, comprises just two buttons – on and off switches. Press the on button and the screen drops down, the projector starts automatically and the player starts to play the specialist film. Simple as that!

Whispering Window, used at the C&A store in conjunction with the holography, turns the surface of a store window into a huge speaker, radiating sound fed to it. An amplifier and automatic gain control enable volume generated by the window to remain at a fixed level above ambient, eliminating noise pollution.

Whispering Windows was first installed at Peter Jones in Sloane Square, generating huge interest from passers-by, with research from that project showing that their interest increased by 56%, significantly above the best practice in store window design. We reckon the reaction in Berlin in conjunction with the MediaZest display took the interest level off the scale!

W: www.mediazest.com