Credit Unions Testing 3D Holograms on ATMs

Credit Unions Testing 3D Holograms on ATMs
August 21, 2017 Marketing GrafWebCUSO

ATM transactions are typically two-dimensional experiences, but one company has plans to add a third dimension to the encounter and credit unions might get in on the action.

Utah-based Prosperity Investments, which operates the Joyful ATM brand, announced this month that it has partnered with California-based Provision Interactive Technologies to put 3-D holographic displays into as many as 48,000 ATMs throughout the United States and 68 other countries over the next 72 months. The ATMs will project 3-D holographic advertisements, the companies said in a press release. Customers that approach the ATMs can redeem coupons for the advertised products.

The first 2,000 ATMs will be deployed in the United States during the first half of 2018, it said. The first 200 systems will be in the Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, Illinois, and Texas markets, according to Provision’s August 9 shareholder letter.

“Specific to credit unions, we have less than 1,000 of the initial 48,000 Joyful ATM’s allocated to credit unions,” Prosperity Investments director Harold Jahn told CU Times in a statement. Jahn declined to name the financial institutions Prosperity was working with. “We welcome any new credit union partnerships or new relationships, as we are focused on community development and servicing the underbanked or unbanked,” he noted. 

“Joyful ATMs have a strong channel presence and wide customer reach, with tens of thousands of locations, and valuable real estate, with machines located in convenient stores, gas stations and community centers, that is tremendously attractive to advertisers,” Provision President and CEO Curt Thornton said in the announcement. “We look forward to further expanding our footprint across the retail market with our 3-D holographic display technology, in both the U.S. and internationally. We are confident that partnering with Joyful ATM and Prosperity Investments will enable robust penetration into a ubiquitous retail channel to capitalize on this compelling opportunity and breakthrough the clutter with the use of augmented reality.”

This isn’t Provision’s first foray into 3-D advertising. The company had an agreement to install 3-D kiosks in thousands of Rite-Aids, though that deal stalled in 2016 as Rite-Aid focused on its merger with Walgreens. The fate of that contract is still unclear, according to the company’s August 9 shareholder letter, but the company has also recently entered into a five-year partnership with Coinstar. 

In that deal, the companies will divide the net monthly advertising revenues after deducting promotional retailer commissions. Provision said it has targeted up to 300 Coinstar locations for rollout by the end of 2017. The company also has its eye on at-home consumer products and telemedicine.

“Like Coinstar, Provision will design an attractive ‘topper’ assembly for the 3-D holographic display which will be integrated on top of the ATM, and also develop the software integration platform for the coupon and loyalty application.  We expect engineering efforts to begin in September,” Provision said in the shareholder letter. 

Provision said its network had a 17.4% average coupon redemption rate.

The company is expected to name its primary supplier later this month, according to the shareholder letter. The supplier is “a leader in the global ATM industry with well over 100,000 conventional ATMs actively operating in the global marketplace,” it said.