Virginia-based Intellimat Adds Motion to Floor Mounted Displays

Floor mounted displays will be the next step in in-store advertising if Virginia-based Intellimat can turn a novelty in to a new media., according to a story reported in the Roanoke Times.

Spun off from the Egg Factory earlier this year, IntelliMat holds nine patents -- including four foreign ones -- for any floor-mounted display thats controlled by a computer. And because there are computers in just about everything, including televisions, it comes down to this: No company can put a screen on the floor without IntelliMats permission.

But the company has more than the patents. It has a product: a floor-mounted computer and monitor thats flat enough (at four-fifths of an inch) and tough enough to be walked on in the supermarket or drug store, by the cosmetic counter or deli section. The first of the $9,900 units are already coming off the production lines outside Chicago.

IntelliMat is betting that the floor is the next frontier in advertising -- a frontier thats barely been touched, but, it hopes, is ripe for the picking.

Weve all seen floor graphics, those large stickers placed under your feet in the supermarket. Maybe theyre touting Clorox in the cleaning supplies aisle, or Diet Coke, if youre looking at soft drinks.

But those dont move. Theyre static images, and soon customers simply tuned them out. Chances are you walk all over them.

Forget stickers on the floor, says IntelliMat, even big, colorful ones. The companys product is a bit more 21st century. And, in an age of advertising saturation, maybe the Next Big Thing.

It takes the idea of putting an ad on the floor (which we all have to look at, if only to avoid stepping on -- or in -- something), and adds motion. Anything that can appear on a computer screen can be displayed on an IntelliMat: Pictures, movies, animations, even PowerPoint presentations. Think ads, news, information, entertainment.

The important thing is that whats on an IntelliMat moves, and that makes them hard to tune out. To read the full article go to www.roanoke.com.