Not quite on the supermarket shelf but the image projector device called a gobo certainly forced us to look down on the floor ahead of looking up…

Pushing our trolley down the aisles of Hi-Lo Cross Roads supermarket last week, Thursday Food stumbled upon several rotating advertisements on the ground before us. Our eyes instinctively darted upward, at which time we realised the ads’ origins came from projectors affixed to the ceiling. Naturally curious, we did our homework. We soon discovered the image projector device – called a gobo – is from Konnect Marketing. Kevin Bourke, who fronts Konnect, disclosed that he has a five-year exclusive contract with the Hi-Lo supermarket chain to use the image projectors in their stores. The gobo projector, he explained, can be either metal or glass, and ad images are burnt onto it then reflected onto the ground. “It alleviates the clutter and gets the message right through,” the marketer notes. Currently the Hi-Lo stores in Cross Roads, Manor Park and the Pavilion Mall showcase this new marketing venture. Jamaica Broilers, Nestlé, Ramson and Grace Kennedy are among the mass retailers who have to date, signed on to this new advertising bandwagon.