Mindshare & LG utilize interaction to engage consumers about 3-D TV

Disclosure: This is, pretty obviously, client work I was involved with, but I think its an interesting option to talk about how interactivity can be leveraged for education and consumer involvement. Hopefully a bit of follow-up at the end of the campaign might give some insight on where this tech is going. As usual, opinions stated on the site are my own and not the assumed position of either Mindshare or the client.

With consumer technology bringing more and more questions about what to buy and what is coming up on the horizon, Mindshare & LG utilized the increasing ability of web interactivity to empower the consumer. While interactive widgets such as Burger King's 'Subservient Chicken' & Tippex's Youtube Experiement with the hunter and bear have used Flash video interactivity to entertain, the 'LG Live Lounge' uses the same concepts to provide engaging and educational content about any and all things 3-D. The widget, produced in collaboration between Mindshare and Framestore, provides a mix of serious responses (try asking 'How much a 3-D TV will cost?" below) and funny ones (asking the presenters to 'jump around' is a favourite).






The use of educational interactivity shows how we can start to develop digital solutions for ambiguous technical areas. The algorithm which parses user queries into responses is limited by a possible knowledge base (the wider the scope of conversation, the higher the chance of an incorrect response), but within limited areas, this shows how we can marry technical information within an engaging vehicle. Given the extensibile nature of the flash widget, it is also distributed across the brand's Facebook page, tapping into the support built up within the network. Embedding code for the widget was also made available to bloggers, allowing not just news of the widget to spread through the blogosphere, but the actual experience.

The campaign extends the video content and the interactive algorithm, by distributing its presence across Twitter & Youtube. Videos were uploaded to the LG Youtube brand page, serving as answers to questions posed in the titles. Driving to these, the Twitter page ('@AskLG3DTV') serves as a destination for users to ask questions about 3D technology, much in the way that the full video widget functions. Twitter users can '@' a question to the Twitter page, which will parse the query and respond with an '@' tweet of its own to the user, linking to the pertinent video response.

By syndicating campaign content across as many networks as possible, the campaign aims to generate a search presence through both general and video/blog/update search, as well as create a branded, generally present experience.