Is this the future of advertising?
It is small, cute, almost non-obtrusive and maybe an indicator of the types of media advertising has to adapt itself to in the future.
The key to most brilliant things lies in their simplicity and singularity of purpose.
Chumby (www.chumby.com) is a wireless network device that displays widgets, let’s you check email, displays photos, streams Internet radio, displays headlines as they happen, shows you You Tube videos, serves as a wake up alarm…while you go about your morning or evening routine.
It’s small. The touchscreen is only 3.5 inches across. The information or the widgets change every 30 seconds. But you can interact with the device. Say a thumbnail of a YouTube video pops up. Just tap on it for the video to play.
Now think. How would an ad widget work with this device? Will it be at the level of a YouTube video. A special offer that opens up as the consumer taps. Or, even a brilliant way to deliver direct mail. The possibilities are endless…
Advertising, it is said, is a reflection of the context we all live in. As technology evolves from the PC to singular web-devices like chumby, ads need to adapt and evolve a new grammar to exploit the medium to the fullest.
