A handful of U.S. companies are attempting to develop more interest using large-scale, multi-projector installations driven by dedicated content that is digitally mapped specifically for a projection target. Besides the scale and the use of multiple projectors, what sets this kind of projection work apart from conventional projection is the use of pixel-mapping software that takes a rendering of the intended projection surface and maps it out pixel by pixel. The impact of this eye-popping projection on advertising could be immense, particularly as ad dollars start to come out of hiding in 2010 in search of new ways to reach eyeballs. Television commercials can reach a few million people two or three times, but a unique event, such as when Obscura Digital turned the U.S. Mint building in San Francisco into a pulsating canvas with balls bouncing between the windows for security software maker McAfee, can go viral from onlookers' camera phones, generating hundreds of millions of views on YouTube and other online channels.
From "The Biz" by Dan Daley, PLSN, Feb. 2010