The German company GranataPet developed a clever way to convince dog owners to connect with the company on Foursquare. Once a dog owner checked in on Foursquare near a giant billboard, the sign dispensed a free snack for the dog.
In the video embedded above, you can watch the interactive billboard in action. The possibilities are endless for publishers, a way to coordinate real-life giveaways with books, posters, zines or other print samples.
Geekosystem has more: “In most forms of media, consumers generally can’t taste or smell the food being advertised. Granted, they solved the issue with dog food, rather than people food, and the billboard is in Germany instead of everywhere, but they solved the issue nonetheless. When one checks in at the billboard via Foursquare, some of the dog food slides out of a dispenser and into a bowl, ready for dogs sample. The billboard isn’t too complicated, as the checkins are sent to a server that is connected to a box which controls the dispenser.” (Via Calvin Reid)