# Tower28 turned a NYC billboard into a product dispenser and handed out thousands of hero-spray trials *Interactive OOH with a push-button demo collapsed the gap between brand awareness and first use.* By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC. Published 2026-07-23. Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/tower28-2026-07-23t09-2 Subject: Tower28 Tags: ooh, sampling, experiential, skincare, physical retail, trial --- In June, Tower28 installed a custom billboard in New York City with a feature most outdoor ads lack: a large red button that dispensed its SOS Daily Skin Rescue Spray directly to pedestrians. Press it, get a spritz. According to Glossy, the activation turned a static ad into a product trial at scale, distributing thousands of samples in a format that felt less like marketing and more like a vending machine for relief. The mechanics were simple. The billboard featured oversized product imagery and a call to action next to a physical button mounted at street level. When pressed, the unit misted a dose of the hero product onto the passerby's hand or face. The experience took seconds, required no signup, and left the person holding a tangible memory of the brand. Tower28's founder Amy Liu told Glossy the goal was to close the distance between seeing the ad and trying the product, collapsing what is usually a multi-step journey into a single interaction. It worked because it solved the core problem of physical-product marketing in a high-traffic environment: attention without conversion is expensive air. A static billboard in Manhattan might generate impressions, but a passerby who has felt the product on their skin and liked the texture has crossed a threshold no banner can replicate. The format also created a social moment. People stopped, filmed the button press, posted the mist to Stories. The billboard became content, distributed by the audience at no media cost to the brand. Tower28 effectively rented a sidewalk and turned it into a trial counter. The steal for a smaller brand is to take the dispensing mechanism and shrink the footprint. You do not need a Manhattan billboard. You need a place where your customer already gathers and a way to let them try the product with near-zero friction. If you sell a topical—soap, balm, spray, lotion—build a countertop dispenser and place it in a high-fit retail environment: a boutique gym, a co-working lobby, a farmer's market booth, a coffee shop in your category's demographic zone. The dispenser should be branded, one-button simple, and portion-controlled. Pair it with a QR code that leads to a cart with the product pre-loaded and a **10% discount** for anyone who scans within the next hour. Total cost: a small fabrication run for the dispenser (under **$500** for a basic pneumatic unit), product cost per trial (pennies if portioned correctly), and the placement deal, which in most cases is free if the venue sees foot traffic value. Run it for two weeks, track QR scans and conversions, and you will know if trial velocity justifies the next placement. For categories beyond topicals—anything edible, wearable, or tactile—the same logic applies. A snack brand can rig a sample cup dispenser with a button at a climbing gym. A candle brand can install a scent diffuser with a press-to-sniff valve at a design shop. The hardware is available, the software is a QR bridge, and the rent is a conversation with a venue owner who wants to add experience to their space. Tower28 spent what a billboard costs; you spend what a weekend booth costs, and you get the same thing: a person who has used your product and knows what it does. The broader pattern is that OOH is wasted if it ends at awareness. The highest-return outdoor play is the one that turns the passerby into a user before they walk away, and the cheapest way to do that is to put the product in their hand with a mechanism so simple they cannot resist pressing it. ## The takeaway Interactive OOH that dispenses product turns static ads into trial at scale; small brands copy it with countertop dispensers in high-fit venues. --- ## Publisher **Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339. Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**. - Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about - LLM context: https://www.pops4.com/stash/llms.txt - MCP endpoint, for AI agents: https://mcp.pops4.com/mcp - Client dashboard: https://dashboard.pops4.com/ - Catalogue: 70,000+ products, 200+ brands