13 Jul Life Imitates Digital Art
I remember the first time technology became an interruption of my life rather than a helpful addition. We were at my friend’s house, and video cameras had just become a consumer good. My friend filmed our holiday dinner together. And then, we all sat down and watched the video.
It seemed to me that my life was going to be cut in half if I was now going to have to sit and watch everything that I’d just done. Dinner took about 45 minutes, and then watching dinner took about 45 minutes.
Next I saw that the importance of a Facebook photo becoming the most important thing in life. Rather than enjoy an experience, my younger friends were spending time “staging” a Facebook photo to commemorate whatever it was we would otherwise have actually been doing.
On a boat? Let’s all stop listening to music and chatting to stage a photo of how silly we are all acting on the boat so we can post it. Out on New Year’s Eve? Let’s all stop dancing so we can form a little cluster and shoot a video of us dancing with specific expressions.
Next, and count me in this guilty one – watching reality shows of people’s lives I don’t actually know, but sit and watch as they stage parties and “friends getting together for a drink” for the cameras.
And now, there is a new surprising effect – or at least surprising to me. Lifestyle companies are bringing online gaming to life in a restaurant, and adding online shopping to the in-store shopping world.
In a recent article in USA Today, it is noted that Adidas is introducing an online wall, through which shoppers can tap the item and size they want, and then proceed to a check-out counter to pay for the item and pick it up.
A second life imitating digital art is a new theme restaurant Capcom Bar in Tokyo, in which they have created food and drinks to mimic the characters and weapons from the video game – which is brought to life at your table for your dining pleasure. Well, that is, your dining pleasure if you want to eat slaughtered brains.
In any case, the concept of product extension from online into reality, or from in-store to online, is I’m certain just in its infancy. It makes our brains tingle with Freshly Minted Business ideas.