Tablet Computers 2 | SunMatrix Ramble

Samsung Live Human Outdoor: Billboard caricature

With the new Samsung Note 10.1, caricature artists can now go digital. To highlight this feature and raise awareness about the tablet, Samsung puts a real caricature artist “into” an outdoor billboard experience and has him draw live caricatures of passers-by. The finished drawings are then put on the Samsung Portugal Facebook page.

A live billboard that behaves like a street-portrait stand

The mechanism is simple. People stop. They watch themselves being drawn in real time. The artist works digitally using the Note 10.1, and the billboard becomes a public canvas that makes the device’s creative promise visible from across the street.

In consumer electronics marketing, live demos in public spaces work when the product capability is undeniable without any explanation.

Why it lands: you do not “see a feature,” you experience it

This is not a spec sheet. The real question is whether your launch turns a capability into a moment people actively want, or just a message they tolerate. The device becomes the instrument of a familiar craft, and the outcome is something people actually want. A caricature is personal, fast, and inherently shareable, which makes the crowd effect, the people who stop to watch, do the distribution work.

Extractable takeaway: If your live demo produces a personal artifact on the spot, proof travels further because people share the outcome, not your claims.

What Samsung is really achieving

Proof at full scale. A drawing tool is hard to dramatize in a 30-second spot. On a billboard, the proof is the show.
A reason to stop. The promise is not “look at our tablet.” The promise is “get drawn.”
A built-in content pipeline. The Facebook posting turns a one-off street moment into a browsable gallery.

What to steal for your next live product demonstration

Choose an outcome people value. A personal artifact beats a generic demo every time.
Make the capability visible from distance. If it only works up close, most of the street never understands it.
Close the loop digitally. Give people a clear place to find “their” result after the moment ends.
Let the crowd be the media. A live, public performance naturally draws more viewers than static outdoor.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Samsung Live Human Outdoor?

It is an outdoor activation where a caricature artist draws passers-by live using the Samsung Note 10.1, with finished sketches published to Samsung Portugal’s Facebook gallery.

What product feature is being demonstrated?

The ability to create digital drawings naturally and quickly on a tablet, associated with pen-based input and creative apps.

Why use caricatures instead of a standard product demo?

Because the outcome is personal and entertaining, which makes people stop, watch, and share, while the product capability is being demonstrated in plain sight.

What makes this “live communication” rather than outdoor advertising?

The billboard is not only a display. It is a real-time performance and interaction, with the public influencing the content through participation.

What is the main lesson for experiential product launches?

Turn a feature into a moment people want. If the experience creates a valued takeaway, attention becomes voluntary and sustained.

Lexus ES: Print Ad That Comes Alive on iPad

You are flipping through Sports Illustrated and a Lexus ES print ad starts behaving like a screen. The car appears to change color, its headlights flare on, the interior reveals itself, and the whole moment syncs to music.

On a number of occasions I have featured examples of brands creating interactive print ads. By “interactive print ad”, I mean a print page that becomes dynamic when paired with a tablet, with the page acting as the interface and the screen supplying light and motion. Here, the new Lexus 2013 ES is seen changing colors, turning on its headlights and exposing its interiors while music plays in this interactive print ad for the Oct. 15 Sports Illustrated issue.

Paper as a “display”

The trick is not that the magazine suddenly has electronics inside it. The page becomes a physical overlay, and the motion comes from a second screen underneath it. Place the ad over an iPad while the matching Lexus ES video plays, and the printed ink acts like a mask that makes the animation feel like it is happening on the paper itself.

An interactive print ad is a print execution that becomes dynamic when paired with a second screen, using the page as the interface and the tablet as the light and motion source.

In premium automotive marketing and magazine environments, this approach keeps the experience on the page while still delivering the “wow” of moving imagery.

Why this beats the usual print-to-digital handoff

Most interactive print ideas send you away from the page via QR codes, short links, or app installs. This one does the opposite. It pulls the digital layer into the print moment, so the reward arrives immediately and visually, without asking the viewer to leave the ad context.

Extractable takeaway: When a medium is already in someone’s hands, bring the digital layer into that moment instead of routing people elsewhere.

What Lexus is buying with this execution

This is not primarily a spec demo. It is a perception demo. The real question is whether the format makes “advanced technology elevated by style” feel true before the viewer even reads the copy. The ES positioning is “advanced technology elevated by style”, and the format reinforces that promise by making a traditionally static medium feel newly technical. The ad itself becomes proof of the claim.

Stealable moves for interactive print

Keep the interaction on the page. If you can deliver the payoff in the same frame, attention holds.
Use a familiar object as the interface. A magazine page is intuitive. No learning curve.
Design one signature reveal. Headlights, interior, color shift. Pick the one moment people will retell.
Make it work in low light. If the illusion depends on contrast, design the experience so it still reads in real life.

A few fast answers before you act

How does this “interactive print ad” actually work?

The print page is placed over an iPad while a synced video plays underneath. The page acts as a mask, so the animation appears to live on the paper.

Is the interactivity coming from electronics inside the magazine?

No. The motion, light, and sound come from the tablet. The magazine page provides the physical overlay and the illusion of print moving.

Why is this more engaging than a QR code in a print ad?

The payoff is immediate and stays on the page. QR flows add steps and send the viewer away, which increases drop-off.

What is the brand advantage of doing it this way?

The medium becomes the message. The execution demonstrates “technology plus design” through the experience itself, not just through copy.

What is the key execution risk?

If alignment, lighting, or setup friction is too high, the illusion breaks and the viewer quits before the reveal lands.

Nike SPARQ: Immersive Digital Training

When training becomes the differentiator. Nike SPARQ goes digital

Not too long ago, talent determined greatness. Today, talent is a given, but training is what separates the exceptional from the merely promising. So to help athletes everywhere reach their true potential through better training, Nike along with ad agency R/GA New York created an immersive digital experience for the SPARQ program (Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, and Quickness).

Athletes could now follow the same training regimens as professional athletes through detailed, customized video demonstrations delivered via iPods or handheld video players that made it accessible anywhere. The SPARQ website also let athletes set goals, track progress, find Nike SPARQ Trainers across the country, get an official SPARQ rating, and purchase gear.

The smart move: make elite training portable and personal

The experience does two things at once. It brings pro-level drills to anyone with a device, and it makes training feel individualized through customization and video guidance. That combination shifts SPARQ from “program” to “daily habit.”

In sports-performance brands and youth training programs, the winners make instruction portable enough to survive real life.

Why this feels bigger than content

The real question is whether your digital experience builds a habit-forming training loop, or just publishes drills. Because it is not just inspiration. It is infrastructure. Video demonstrations give you the “how,” goal setting and tracking give you the “keep going,” the rating gives you a yardstick, and trainers plus gear connect the digital loop to the real world. Here, the digital loop is the cycle of instruction, goals, tracking, and feedback that pulls you into the next session. Treat training as infrastructure, not content, if you want durable engagement.

Extractable takeaway: Pair instruction with goals, tracking, and feedback loops so progress is visible and practice becomes a habit.

The business intent hiding in plain sight

Build a performance ecosystem that increases commitment over time. The more you train, track, and compare, the more SPARQ becomes the platform you return to. And the more natural gear purchase becomes inside that flow.

Steal the habit loop, not just the videos

Ship a loop, not content. Guidance, goals, tracking, and a measurable score.
Design for anywhere use. Portability turns intention into repetition.
Connect digital motivation to real-world touchpoints. Trainers, ratings, and commerce.

A few fast answers before you act

What does SPARQ stand for?

Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, and Quickness.

What did Nike and R/GA New York build?

An immersive digital experience for SPARQ that delivered customized training video demonstrations and a supporting website for goals, tracking, trainers, ratings, and gear.

How did athletes access the training content?

Through detailed video demonstrations delivered via iPods or handheld video players, making the training accessible anywhere.

Why did this feel bigger than training videos?

Because it combined instruction with goal setting, tracking, a rating, and connections to trainers and gear, creating a repeatable training loop.

What made the SPARQ website useful beyond videos?

It let athletes set goals, track progress, find SPARQ trainers, get an official SPARQ rating, and purchase gear.

What is the simplest principle to copy from SPARQ?

Pair guidance with goals and feedback so people can see progress and have a reason to return.