News

Who's who: Bradley Walker

Nanonation's president said the kiosk industry is changing because of the younger generation, and that digital media is the driver.  

June 20, 2004

"Running a party of 5-year-olds is tougher than starting a company," laughed Bradley Walker, founder, CEO and president of kiosk and digital-signage vendor Nanonation, about a recent birthday party for his daughter, Cecelia.

Young crowds may be a little difficult to control, But Walker isn't afraid of entertaining slightly older consumers. In fact, it's the young set in which he's quite interested. He said the kiosk industry is changing because of the younger generation, and that digital media is the driver.

"We want to connect with younger demographics. Gen X and Gen Y are completely savvy with the Internet, watch high-impact media on plasma screens during the day, and play Xbox at night."

Walker said his company puts all of these interests together: information from the Internet; sharp, immersive messages, and rich media.

He pointed to a Nanonation client, Minnesota Wild, as a good example, since the kiosks in executive suites at the team's sports complex run high-definition video, which he said is an industry first.

Another exciting example of self-serve technology envisioned by Walker is a "living" kiosk at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Beadle Center for Genetics & Biomaterials Research. The steel structure is designed in the shape of an 11-foot tall DNA helix. The unit houses multiple mini-monitors that display a variety of media loops that constantly change the look and feel of the sculpture. A 22-inch touchscreen enables users to interact with various information sources, from video clips to Internet resources to maps of the University campus.

Walker divides his time between working with prospects like the university on their business models, business development, and "riding shotgun" on units deployed in the field.

Bradley Walker, president and CEO of Nanonation

What's in a name?

Ask Walker where he got the name for his company, and he laughs. "It was the result of a brand brainstorming session. I spent a lot of time thinking about the industry."

In the end, the name "Nanonation" came from Walker thinking about the nation connecting in small (nano) clusters of people. He formed the company in March 2000 in his Lincoln, Neb., his hometown - the place where he and his wife are raising two small children and where he still has all four grandparents.

Walker said his business is communicating a brand experience, or offering consumers a satisfying, emotional experience connected to a particular product or service.

"The business case is different between kiosks in the executive suite at a sports complex and kiosks at a Petrol station that truckers use to earn loyalty points. But the goals are the same: to make customers love and appreciate the brand."

Walker wasn't always so brand conscious. At the University of Nebraska, he was a speech communications and political science student. He made it to the NCAA final four as a debater. "I thought I'd have a career in government, but it turns out that wasn't really my thing." He worked at the U.S. Department of Labor as an economic research analyst. And that's where he caught the "computer bug."

Prior to launching Nanonation, Walker was a founding partner in UNIDENT, LLC, a software venture in healthcare technologies that was merged to form PracticeWorks, which was recently sold to Kodak.

Walker holds two U.S. patents for computer system designs and has pioneered product development in electronic health records, interactive voice input systems, and PDA data collection applications.

He has served numerous industry groups including the ANSI DICOM Standards Committee for digital imagining in healthcare.

His big brush with self-service technology came while on a business trip in Eugene, Ore., during which he stopped into a cybercafe. The shop had a bank of computers sporting a Windows desktop. "The lady wrote my name down and the time I sat down at the computer. That's how she was keeping track of what to bill me. I knew there was a business problem there."

Plus, Walker said his computer savvy helped him surf the Web on the computer there. But he thought about the people who didn't know how to find things from a Windows desktop.

Walker and a few engineers started work on software that would help people from all levels interact with computers in the third wave - or in public places like retail outlets, sports centers and cybercafes.

Today, Nanonation's software architecture is very much the same. Walker loves pairing technology with his client's brand insight.

"I enjoy this industry because I could be learning about a professional sports team in the morning, a university center for physics in the afternoon, and an Internet portal at the end of the day. It's a nice mix of challenges."

He said the biggest challenge is that, while the market is maturing, not everyone has an idea about what self-service technology can do. There is quite a bit of education still."

He said it can even be true of the vendors. "People may not have thought through the importance of the customer experience beyond the technology."