Our European team was back in Barcelona for the annual Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) conference recently, taking in the latest developments in digital and tech - that and catching some much needed winter sun.
We’ve been attending ISE for many years. Each time we have a blast and learn something new. This year’s event was no exception. With over eight halls, hundreds of booths and multiple technology zones including audio, digital signage and content production, we were truly spoiled for choice.
Photo credit: Integrated Systems Europe (ISE)
Here are a few things that made our tech-geek hearts sing:
Hypervsn’s lift and learn display showed us how an interactive customer experience can
be combined with state-of-the-art technology, like holograms, to display product information in a visually stunning and novel way. In the past, we’ve installed lift and learn solutions for clients such as Kiehl’s to personalise customer journeys in store, so it’s great to see the interaction concepts we’re already using being elaborated with this eye-opening digital canvas .
Sustainability was a big focus from a lot of manufacturers and we noted a lot of ‘bare timber’ on various stands. We can’t help but think that this often strays into the realms of greenwashing, as, ultimately, any product has a carbon footprint, but we are at least seeing a concerted effort from many manufactures to reduce the energy footprint of their products, with many manufacturers selling this as a key benefit of their tech - Sony, NEC and Dynascan were probably the most notable for us.
Did we mention how large the ISE conference was? At over 240,000 square metres, everywhere we looked there was lots of great tech to gawp at and try out. It was the content displayed on each and every digital display that really appealed - a colourful and impactful reminder of how important content production is to successful digital media. From LED archways, digital shelf edge displays, video walls and projections, all lit up with some great footage that demonstrated the quality of each underlying hardware solution.
Despite the many wacky and wonderful digital installations we saw, one of the main takeaways from our many visits to ISE is that not every piece of technology we and others marvel at is destined for immediate commercial use. ISE is a great source of inspiration and a peek into the future, but it’s important to remember that some innovations are just that - prototypes and concepts that will never make it into mainstream manufacturing.
For anyone who’s been eyeing up some of the more novel products from ISE, this realisation might be disappointing. However, whilst we await the times when this inspiring tech becomes available to the commercial market, it gives us the chance to focus on improving and updating the digital media networks we already have our hands on. With increasingly more ways to monetise digital media in retail and other spaces, there are already so many opportunities for current mainstream technology to thrive.
Now our feet are firmly back on UK soil. We might be missing the Spanish sun, but our heads are full of inspiration for how to continue making our projects look and perform even better.
If you’d like to discuss a digital media project, or want to catch up with us at another event this year, get in touch!