IFA 2008 Missing The Point Award

http://www.viddler.com/player/adffa1f0/

In the Home Appliances section of IFA 2008 are dozens of brands of coffee makers, most doling out freshly brewed joe to bleary-eyed conventioneers.  The video above demonstrates one of the larger of such displays.  A small pad on the bottom of the coffee cup contains an icon, which a camera under the table identifies and tracks as it slides around the surface.  When it comes to a full stop for a few seconds, information panels fly out and are then activated by touching the tabletop.  As you can see in the video, I press first one then another widget to get information about the delicious coffee I was enjoying.

Everyone was so engrossed by the novelty of the display mechanism that I don’t think anyone remembered the name of coffee maker (Nespresso) who was running the display.  When the technology used to display your product is way cooler than your product itself, I think you might want to reevaluate your marketing process.