How a lonely store made new friends

Tesco attracts shoppers with a digital poster that chats to them.

da Maud Largeaud , AdForum

The Charlemont Square district of Dublin has had a facelift featuring offices, shops, homes – and a new Tesco supermarket. But as the store is a bit out of the way, it needed a publicity boost among the local community. So Tesco installed a poster that interacts with pedestrians in real-time, commenting wittily on their appearance (with the help of a live editor) and inviting them to pop in to the store. What seemed spooky in films like Minority Report turned out to be a lot of fun in reality. The event not only provoked word-of-mouth, attracting more people to the store, but also featured in a web film that spread the news even further.