UK start-up creates adverts the size of sky scrapers
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New start-up, Lightvert Ltd., is set to disrupt the Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) market with a new augmented reality solution called ECHO. ECHO is a patented technology that will take advertising to new dimensions of both height and engagement, producing huge digital images that appear as if by magic to the viewer.
The technology creates a cityscape where giant adverts up to 200m high appear in front of the viewers eyes.
Although the DOOH market is growing, it is limited by the amount of available advertising real estate in premium urban locations.
ECHO uses augmented reality to unlock large amounts of advertising real estate on high-rise buildings and other tall structures. A narrow strip of reflective material is fixed to the side of the building and a high-speed light scanner projects light off a reflector and towards the viewer. This creates large-scale images that are ‘captured’ for a brief moment in the viewer’s eye through a ‘persistence of vision’ effect. The images are fleeting, prompting viewers to stop, engage with the image and share the experience.
ECHO has a global patent pending, and Lightvert believes it will open up exciting new advertising opportunities in outdoor spaces that are currently inaccessible to traditional billboards and LED screens.
Funded to date by Innovate UK and a small cohort of seed funders, ECHO has completed the proof of concept and is now ready to develop a commercial solution. Lightvert is completing a crowdfunding campaign in order to finalise the development of the technology and bring ECHO to market.
Daniel Siden, CEO of Lightvert Ltd explains: “Traditional billboards and large scale LED screens in built-up environments are expensive and it is increasingly challenging to leverage new real estate in crowded urban spaces such as New York’s Times Square and London’s Piccadilly Circus. ECHO provides a new way for brands to rise above the noise of street level advertising and engage with audiences on an unprecedented scale.”
“Using the persistence of vision effect, ECHO hardware has virtually no physical footprint. It introduces new audience behaviour and is a powerful opportunity for advertisers and property owners, which could dramatically change the game in terms of capital costs and planning permissions for premium outdoor media.”
Simon Dicketts, executive creative director of M&C Saatchi adds: “This is exciting; technology that frees up the mind to new creative possibilities has to be a good thing.”
