More retailers are using out-of-home (OOH) digital technology to publish customers' accounts of their shopping or service experience, and American Eagle Outfitters (AE)  is one of the most recent - and perhaps the most elaborate - examples to date.

OOH screens promise to figure prominently in the retailer's launch of its flagship store in New York's Times Square on Nov. 19. As part of the campaign, the store will invite recent customers to pose in its campaign called "15 Seconds of Fame" by stepping into a mini photo studio. Moments later, the photo will be projected onto the 15,000 square feet of LED screens outside the store.

These immense, 25-story displays will feature content 18 hours a day and afford AE a number of advertising options, from real-time delivery to the simultaneous showcasing of multiple products.

Many Partners

AE partnered with several firms to pull off this combination technological-architectural-advertising initiative:

• The Barnycz Group conceived the design, integrated the technology, and oversaw installation of the architectural facade of synchronized LED displays, as well as the store's interior A/V systems.
• Barco, a manufacturer of high-resolution LEDs and displays, provided the 12 panels that wrap the building's exterior, with a total pixel count nearing 3.3 million, along with the LCD monitor wall at the store entrance.
• R/GA is creating content for the interior and exterior signage displays.
• ABC Regional Sports & Entertainment Sales, a unit of ABC National Television Sales, is the advertising sales rep.

Step Up to the Mic

In a similar development, MySpace and Titan, a provider of digital OOH screens, have partnered to launch a similar, yet less extensive, customer-featured campaign. In the joint promotion, called "Step Up to the Mic," MySpace's users in the US, UK and Ireland will have their thoughts broadcast on more than 300 digital screens in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dublin, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Birmingham. Participants can sign up at the "Step Up to the Mic" page.

Just One Facet

This point of sale messaging by actual customers is just the latest chapter in the increasingly innovative use of OOH by retailers. In general, OOH advertising spend - and especially digital OOH - is projected to increase next year. More than four in 10 (42%) agency and brand marketers plan to increase their DOOH spend through 2009 and the first half of 2010, according to Adcentricity, which found that total DOOH spending is on target to hit $4.53 billion by 2013, up from $2.6 billion in 2009.

Another measure of the medium's growing popularity comes from a new report from BIA/Kelsey. That forecast states that DOOH is expected to increase at an annual rate of 13.5% annually, from $2.2 billion in 2009 to $3.7 billion in 2013, far outpacing traditional out-of-home’s 1.4% growth.