While I was working at i-merge they created the very first ad for the e-paper version of ‘De Tijd’ which is sort of the equivalent for the Financial Times in Flanders. The electronical reader allows the ad to be time-sensitive, which means that in the morning there can be an ad for coffee and in the evening that same ad space could be used for an ad about a restaurant. That’s a very flexible way of advertising.
The image above shows the front page of the newspaper, and next to it is the ad for Rabobank. Copy:”2002, Rabobank.be releases the bank without paper.”
Very clever from the creatives, because it shows the readers how progressive Rabobank.be actually is. After all, 4 years after the launch of a paperless bank (internet banking only), there’s now a paperless paper. The experiment with the e-reader is the first of this kind in Belgium, on the other side of the ocean, the NYTimes is testing this out too. The trees will be happy, because this is a very pro-nature development.
Tech: The digital paper is called E-Ink, can be read in sunlight and doesn’t need additional light (as a regular screen). The paper is charged with data electronically and then displays (browsably) what has been charged. The device is the Iliad e-reader (prototype) from Philips.
You can find more info on the Iliad in this .pdf (3.25Mb), the first few pages are in Dutch, but if you scroll through, you’ll find everything you need to know.