• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, October 15, 2010

For the last couple of years, Interpublic Group's Emerging Media Lab has been bringing together cutting-edge media technologies to showcase their possibilities for advertisers and agencies alike. And it only makes sense that digital out-of-home video -- one of the fastest-growing new media, with huge potential for innovation -- be well-represented at the EML. Now Premier Retail Networks, which operates digital video networks in big-box retailers including Wal-Mart, ShopRite and CostCo, is joining forces with EML to share what's happening on the avant-garde side of place-based media.

PRN's new EML showcase features demonstrations of PRN's Checkout TV Network, which enables marketers to engage shoppers about products and services while they wait in line at supermarket and retail locations; Product TV, an interactive point-of-purchase merchandising solution for single or select products; and an associated mobile marketing solution, jointly presented by Jagtag and PRN. Together with Jagtag, the Product TV screen allows shoppers to download a mobile coupon after texting an embedded Jagtag from their MMS-enabled mobile device. The showcase also includes a demonstration of PRN's interactive endcap triggering content on Cabco's TV Kart digital shopping carts.

It's not clear whether PRN's new EML showcase will include any demonstrations of the purported special capabilities of Wal-Mart's new Smart Network, the result of collaboration between PRN and analytics firm DS-IQ. The Smart Network is currently deployed to 1,200 Wal-Mart stores around the country, out of a total 2,700, according to Ad Age. PRN's various in-store networks reach 206 million consumers a month.

Meanwhile PRN's parent company, Technicolor, is rumored to be trying to sell PRN as part of its post-bankruptcy restructuring plan -- an additional motivation for putting PRN's capabilities on display at the EML. PRN has been consistently profitable over the last ten years, also according to Ad Age.