If I worked at Bloomingdale’s or Macy’s…

If I worked at Bloomingdale’s or Macy’s, I’d create an interactive online Holiday Window Display feature. Visitors would make their own personal branded holiday window that’s fun to share with friends and family, with links to the online store and special offers for visiting a brick-and-mortar store.

The possibilities for such a feature are substantial:

• The simplest version would allow visitors to upload photos that would then act as backdrops to pre-built animations, perhaps with minor selectable options like color and crafting a specific message.
• A more intricate version would have separate components that the user could choose to express their holiday message, each one customizable, such ringing bells or flickering menorahs. In addition to uploading photos, there’d be an option to get a picture from the visitor’s computer’s camera.
• A third option would interact with a wish list, so the window would feature products the person wants for Christmas, complete with links for purchase. (Although this idea sounds like the most direct connection to its purpose, it’d have to be subtle, a ‘service’ rather than an advertisement).

The final product could be a still image, perhaps even print-quality; a video with an “upload to YouTube” function; or an interactive SWF.  Tools would also be available to post links to Twitter and Facebook, along with shareable “Try it yourself!” links.

MoveOn.org has been very successful with this kind of idea. By directly interfacing (with permission) with people’s Facebook accounts, MoveOn helps visitors create videos that are customized with their photos, names, hometown, etc.  Animoto is another site where users can upload a bunch of photos and generate a very slick video.

A more direct example is OfficeMax’s Elf Yourself campaign, where JibJab created an engaging, fun product that reached a wide range of people (I got links from people who I didn’t think knew how to use e-mail!). However, OfficeMax isn’t otherwise associated with elves in any way, and even if they tried, the connection between ‘elf’ and ‘office supplies’ is wafer thin.  I forget which office supply company launched this campaign, making it another “Where’s the Beef” promotion where the content overrides the message.

The ultimate beauty of this idea: Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s are already known for their store windows, so they’re the ONLY ones who can honestly capitalize on this. JCPenney or Sears can’t do this because no one thinks of them when they think of holiday windows.  This idea IS Bloomingdale’s or Macy’s, it’s just a matter of making it happen.

If I worked at either of these retailers, I’d make it happen.