CHICAGO - Bank of America Corp. wants people to touch its windows.
The Charlotte company has installed a touch-screen window and two video displays at one of its two downtown Chicago branches.
The branch is the only one in B of A's network that is testing the technology, which one executive calls "our most innovative new consumer marketing tool." The 90-day trial is meant to gauge whether high-tech displays are a better draw than paper posters.
"We're over-postered in the United States," said Amy G. Brady, B of A's innovation and development executive. "We really feel like this is the wave of the future when it comes to signage."
Ms. Brady was on hand last Wednesday, when it held a press conference to announce the test at its branch in the Bank of America building on LaSalle Street. On the outside of the building are two 67-inch windows with continually changing displays: information about B of A products, scenes of Chicago, and descriptions of the Bank of America Foundation's projects in the city.
Those screens cannot be manipulated by the public, but one in the building's lobby can. There, customers who are waiting for a nearby automated teller machine or just passing by can get detailed product information, look up average home prices in several of the city's neighborhoods, and take a quiz on Chicago history that ends with an invitation to come into the branch for a free B of A keychain.
The bank says that the technology behind the windows is proprietary but the basic approach is much like that of a touch-screen computer. Until it is touched, the interactive window displays an "attract loop" of images and messages about products. Once touched, it prompts customers to make additional touches for information about specific products.
Terry E. Perucca, the president of Bank of America Illinois, said he thinks the interactive window could improve cross-selling, while the outside ones would draw people into the branch.
"They give just enough information to get people to follow up inside," Mr. Perucca said.
Ms. Brady said the downtown branch was chosen for the test because Chicago is a strong market where the bank wants to improve its name recognition. (In addition to the downtown branches, it has one in a nearby suburb.) During the test, it will track the number of people who enter the branch and how many of them use the touch screen, she said. It will also survey customers and people on the street about the signs.
Joanne L. Shaver, a vice president in B of A's innovation and development department, said the test will also help it determine how often the windows' content needs to be changed. If the response starts strong and tapers off, the timing of that decline will give some clues about how the content should change, she said.
R/GA, an interactive advertising agency that is part of Interpublic Group of New York, produced the windows for Bank of America. Ms. Brady would not say how much they cost, but she did say that if they prove effective, they will be cheaper in the long run than traditional posters. The bank could eliminate some printing costs, and the content could be changed automatically. And instead of printing duplicate sets of marketing materials, it could incorporate multiple languages into the displays.
B of A appears to be the first bank to test a touch screen in a branch, but others are using video screens in their branches. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. of Pittsburgh and four community banks have contracted with Captive Audience LLC of Vernon, N.J., to install electronic signs in their branches that can display sales and marketing information along with news and weather reports.
