Clusta Develops Advertising Control Feature for iPhone

Birmingham, England-based digital creative agency Clusta is pioneering an advertising platform that allows people to move objects around on a big screen using their iPhone.

Working with transport advertising company CBS Outdoor, Clusta has developed touchscreen technology that allows people to control the advertising display on the 57-in. digital screen at the Westfield shopping centre in London.

It works by connecting the consumer’s iPhone to the LCD display via WiFi or 3G. By swiping in either direction on the iPhone’s touch screen, the user will also make the object represented on the display spin to the left or right.

By using the “pinch” and “stretch” finger gestures inherent to the iPhone, the user will be able to zoom in or out of the object displayed on the screen and change its colour, although many more interactions will be possible.

The technology was revealed at the Media Playground conference and exhibition on advertising opportunities from media innovation, held in London.

An image of a trainer is used on the LCD screens as the object people can interact with in order to demonstrate campaign possibilities to potential advertisers.

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The technology can be developed for use with other smart phones; potentially, SMS interactivity will enable people to receive more information about the product or discounts.

Clusta managing director Russell Townsend said, “This revolutionary platform showcases the huge potential for digital outdoor to use emerging technologies to captivate consumers. Digital outdoor is an incredibly innovative medium and as an industry we are just scratching the surface of the weird and wonderful ways it can engage.”

CBS Outdoor head of retail sales Lee Cutter said, “The addition of this level of consumer interactivity will be a major additional benefit for advertisers.”