Whilst exploring New York on my recent trip I was surprised that I didn’t see more digital integration in retail considering New York is supposedly the capital of digital signage let alone other cool uses for  digital technology. Most of what I saw was pretty basic and was nothing to get excited about. After all, who gets excited about advertising on screens! A few of the things I thought were somewhat interesting that could’ve been taken to a much higher level were:

1. Digital screens above some subway stations (although most just had advertising on them)
2. Digital drink machines in McDonalds (although a lack of digital menu boards in store was surprising)
3. Fashion & Instagram integration in Columbus Circle (was an interesting concept however did not have a lot of signage to explain the concept)
4. Projection (around the current political campaign) which seemed like a pop up street campaign
5. TD Banks featured digital signage in their windows but again they were doing anything interesting with the content

Whilst our trends follow those in the US, I was hoping to see much more innovation that what is currently happening over there. Some of this stuff was pretty basic and although I fell in love with the cupcake ATM and the work being done at Normal, I can’t see I was impressed with the mainly basic integrations I encountered.  Seems like there is plenty of room for improvement and at the very least for Australian brands to do it bigger and better.

C’mon Aussies, we can do so much better than this. It would be great if they came out here to see all the innovative concepts we are doing with digital, not the other way around.