Los Angeles-based new media think tank Future Content LLC has launched with its first project: Viewtopia, delivering a bird’s eye insider’s view of this week’s sprawling South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, in real time, via digital signage and various interactive online formats.
The Viewtopia event will be showcasing five days of music, live performance, interview and event content through technology, marketing and content partners Justin.tv, Zannel, Blip.fm, Tap 11, Whole Foods Market, and Planet-Tek.
This will mark the very first live programming event streamed to a major national retailer’s digital out-of-home (DOOH) system — Whole Foods Market. Viewtopia will stream to a large-format plasma screen at the entrance to the Whole Foods’ Lincoln Park, Ill., flagship store as well as throughout the company’s dynamic storewide digital signage program called The Marketplace Station and through all partner networks.
“We call this collaboration ‘interactive reality TV in real time;’ true device-agnostic convergence content,” said Heidi Richman, founder of Future Content LLC. “The outbound content (which will get home page placement on both Justin.tv and Blip.fm) is a really important part of the content flow, but due to the interactive nature of our partners, it is the inbound, viewer-supplied content that makes Viewtopia special. We broadcast with, not at viewers.”
“We’re delighted to have Whole Foods Market, Wente Vineyards, and the rest of our partners to help launch Viewtopia and Future Content LLC,” Richman continues, “the brand, marketing and advertising implications are major, and a large part of the innovation is led by our tech partners. Through Tap 11’s involvement, we can offer back-end metrics unparalleled in traditional broadcasting, and with the DOOH piece, we are doing so where 70 percent of buying decisions are made: at the point of sale.”
After this week’s festivities, Richman is taking the Viewtopia concept to New York City, with the launch of Viewtopia: In Vino on April 11, featuring winemaker Karl Wente, and a special performance by The Antlers. Though limited to only 50 guests at In Vino, cyber guests worldwide can join and taste in real time thanks to Viewtopia’s technology partners, the company said.