For many years, my wife and I marketed our brownies in the freezer case of national grocers like Publix, Wegmans and Kings Supermarkets. Since Rachel’s Brownies didn’t have preservatives, we used the freezer to preserve freshness.
We learned that it is hard to sell something that is behind a door that is often hazy or hard to see through because of the frozen glare or fogged up visibility.
Today, an idea is in a pilot program from Cooler Screens is bringing a chill and a thrill to retailers.
The folks from Cooler Screens looked at the door of a refrigerator or freezer case in the supermarkets, convenience stores, and drug chains and wondered, what if it was like an iPad? What if it could display what’s inside and be interactive?
They are rethinking the door and turning it into an enabled screen and creating the most massive in-store point of sale network and merchandising platform. Digital merchandising may be the next wave for marketers and retailers.
New Networks
Cooler Screens, a startup has developed a new marketing channel and network at the point of sale. The doors are equipped with sensors and eye tracking gear so they can discern your gender and an age range. The door might serve up an ad for Coke or Red Bull depending on who stands in front of the case. If it is late in the day, an ad might pop up and suggest picking up one of their frozen entrees in the next case over. The display reveals wants behind the door but can also change based on artificial intelligence.
In essence, they are digitizing refrigerator and freezer doors to turn them into interactive billboards.
Ad-Tracking to The Physical World
Cooler Screens is doing in the physical world, what Google does online. The difference is that the products are within a few feet of your reach. At the moment, the screens aren’t touch screen enabled, but that can’t be too far behind. Some call this thinking phigital – physical meets digital.
I don’t like interruptive marketing like the video screens at gas pumps, but this idea may be different. Like most things, it is all about the execution and how video screens can help the consumer find what she is looking for, and not just be another advertisement in your face.
What intrigues me most is looking at a freezer door and seeing it anew.
Marketing requires a fresh pair of eyes seeing the ordinary in a new light. That’s how new doors open.
Do you need helping with seeing your business in a new light and opening a new door to the future? You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Try my new chat feature on my site if you have a quick question.
Photo Courtesy of Cooler Screens
