Projectile Conversations via Slingshot

You know this much by now: if it’s Friday and you’re on the Awesome Blog, there’s a good chance you’ll be reading about some awesome projection executions. But, before you dismiss us as being a little too predictable, admit that you didn’t expect us to be covering slingshots in the same post, right?

Meet the SMSlingshot, one heck of a technology mashup courtesy of the German group VR/Urban. Here’s the gist: users enter a text message into the slingshot device, aim at a wall, and (virtually) tag that message on a projected surface. But, seeing it action (in the video above) is much, much cooler.

(If you’re curious about all the smartypants science behind the device, it’s all explained here.)

Besides the fact that we’re suckers for projection, we especially like how this mashup inserts an unexpected (or, shall we say delightfully surprising) element into a tactic that’s lost a bit of its novelty: text-to-screen. The SMSlingshot adds a tactile component that makes this a far more immersive sensory experience, so it really feels like the participant is blasting their conversations at a wall.

For brands that are trying to spice up their event marketing executions, the SMSlingshot serves as a fruitful thought starter. With consumers constantly carrying mobile touchscreen devices, text-to-screen applications can be made far more engaging by encouraging participants to flick, poke, push, or fling their messages toward the screen. Digitally transmitting a message to a server just isn’t as exciting.