Undies launch new display technology

This Elle Macpherson lingerie ad to be shown at Fashion Week will be the first use of HoloDisplay technology in New Zealand.

Elle Macpherson's lingerie range will be used to launch the new high-definition advertising medium HoloDisplay at this year's Air New Zealand Fashion Week.

Bendon's Elle Macpherson Intimates brand will broadcast a three-minute loop showing its range on high-definition film using a HoloDisplay screen for four days at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour from Tuesday next week. The outdoor display will then travel to Wellington and Christchurch.

The HoloDisplay technology, developed in the United States, is an alternative to plasma or LCD screens, says Chris Monaghan of Jelly Design, which won the HoloDisplay rights for New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Britain.

Monaghan says the screens can be cut to shape, work in a range of lighting conditions and can be networked, with the same content showing on different screens.

He says the medium is emerging as an alternative to traditional screens and printed point-of-sale material.

"We just had a major New Zealand brand provide us with a one-line brief of 'we want to reduce our spend to nothing on printed posters because ... at the end of our promotional cycle they go in the bin'."

One media planner says the technology is "visually stunning" and can be used at an amazing scale for the picture quality - but is not that dissimilar to LCDs or plasmas.

Several companies are tapping into the spectacle of Fashion Week for promotions, including Westpac, which will stage an invitation-only fashion show.