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Whole Foods tells digital stories

Written by Tom Ryan

At its flagship store in Alpharetta, GA, Whole Foods has introduced a series of digital signage installations to provide shoppers with information and inspiration.

The store features four interactive experiences:

1) Farm, Meet Table: An interactive wall of window panes in the store's café displays real-time images of local suppliers to connect "customers more closely to the real people that provide the food they eat." The installation includes "a peek into authentic moments — such as hands patting down freshly planted herbs or shots of the farmer's daughter blowing out candles at her birthday party." Additional content includes Q&As, maps, and video profiles for each supplier.

[Image: Whole Foods SapientNitro]

2) Wise Wood: A 12-foot tall x 2.5-foot wide wooden tower tells the story of Whole Foods' new "Responsibly Grown" produce rating system. Customers pull a series of wooden knobs to transform a farm landscape for information on specific sustainable farming practice that are part of the program. For example, pulling the "Energy Conservation" knob causes a set of wooden windmills to appear out of the ground and start spinning.

[Image: Whole Foods SapientNitro]

3) Whole Body Mirror: Designed to help shoppers discover the chain's Whole Body products that match specific needs, customers see their forms reflected in a "magic mirror" as one of three auras: Refresh, Energize, Relieve. They are prompted to align their whole body by mimicking a pose, such as becoming "zen", flexing their muscles, or hugging themselves. The press release states, "Achieving a pose activates a burst of the shopper's aura and reveals a product within Whole Body related to the pose just completed."

[Image: Whole Foods SapientNitro]

4) Perfect Pairings: At the cross-section of the of wine, beer and cheese departments, an in-the-round installation of stacked crates helps shoppers discover products. On each of the three faces of the installation there is an open crate, revealing one of three interactive touchscreens:

  • "Expand Your Palate" allows shoppers to discover products they might like based on their individual taste preferences. For example, tapping "tastes like dark chocolate" reveals a coffee and wine product recommendation. Tapping the "I like" tile for curry or BBQ ribs, reveals a relevant beer pairing for each.
  • "Celebrate Your Passion" is an Instagram feed of photos of favorite pairings from the Avalon, GA community using #WFMAvalon.
  • "Become a Connoisseur" educates and assists customers by answering questions such as, "I'm having a party, how much wine should I buy?" or "How do I make a cheese plate?"

[Image: Whole Foods SapientNitro]

"We wanted to bring in some cool digital elements, but we didn't want that to detract from the shopping experience," Whole Foods' Social and Digital Media Specialist Matt Courtoy told Adweek.

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