No longer waiting in the Que in the LOO!

Webchutney that always had a reputation for coming up with unconventional and edgy campaigns like All about Rajni, Harmonium Love and The Buddy Stamp is out with one more which is one-of-its kind initiative.  It is believed that experiential digital advertising has arrived in India and Webchutney has raisen curtains on their first true technology project- ‘Peeloo’.

What is Peeloo?

Webchutney recently won an Agency hack organized by Yahoo by creating an interactive loo service. ‘Peeloo' is a modified version of the hack that won us the gold- an interactive loo service for small and medium sized enterprises which eliminates the concept of a queue. The app allows anyone in the office to check the status of the loo, ring a bell if engaged and get notified when the loo gets vacant, and all this is done remotely from the comfort of your desk. It took us a good few months of research, testing, development and hits &misses to come up with this, and we are glad today to have succeeded in doing the same.

Peeloo is yet another example of how electronics/robotics is adding fuel to the digital industry and the field is not just limited to websites and campaigns.

Adgully caught up with Gurbaksh Singh, Creative Director, Webchutney to get some core ideas about the different and on-of-its kind initiatives. 

Well, a very different idea though and so when asked how did this whole thought come up and probably what prompted them to create something like this on loo, Singh said, “We initially came up with this Idea at Yahoo Agency Hack and what prompted us to come up with an interactive loo service was personal experience to say the least. Since the Yahoo Agency hack was a 24 hour hack-a-thon, all the participants were required to work the entire night on a floor with very few washrooms, so majority of the times we approached the loo, it was engaged. The Webchutney office premise poses a similar problem, as do most small and medium sized offices. There are usually frustratingly long lines outside the washrooms. We wanted to find a solution.”

The application was built to simply add a unique/interactive experience to the mundane daily routine of office-goers while at the same time ensuring that the application has enough functional utility. In terms of responses, Singh said, “Although a self-promotion activity, the response has been pretty great. It’s been talked about on a lot of technology and digital blogs around the globe. Our mail is full of people and business asking for a price quote. Infact, some of our clients called and asked if they could get one in their offices.”

Talking about Webchutney's growth plans in India and how does it view the Indian market, he said, “Webchutney has had a good year and we are constantly working on new and innovative technologies that can add value to the digital medium.”

Singh believes that the world is moving towards electronics/robotics & experiential advertising is the wave of the future. People love to experience something new and different and that’s what we are trying to offer- Using technology to give our audience an experience they cant stop talking about.

He Says, “The Indian market is ever expanding, so it is time to step towards the new available technologies which enhance the digital industry.”

Shedding some light on the promotional and marketing strategies for the same, Singh told us that while Peeloo is an agency self-promotion campaign, the nature of the product is such that it invokes curiosity and interest. “To be honest, all that we had to do was share the case study video on certain key digital and technological forums, and it got picked up by masses from there,” he adds.

In terms of challenges faced Singh said, “One of our biggest challenges when creating Peeloo was to ensure simplicity in usability. We wanted people to use the application on a daily basis without having to put too much thought into it. Hence, it had to be easy to use. Facilitating that proved to quite a task.”

“The second challenge at hand was building the technology which would fit our current premises without making any major modification to it. We wanted installation to be as smooth a process as possible and that was another important factor taken into consideration while designing the hardware,” Singh added. | By Aanchanl Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]