DOOB gets personal with 3D printing

Move over, Madam Tussauds. Instead, become your own action figure at the DOOB pop-up shop in Santa Monica. Pick your size, from 4″ to 14″ ($95 to $695) listed on the menu board as Buddy, Bestie, Doobie, The Boss or Diva. Step into the 3D photo booth (alone, with friends, family or pets), get snapped, then go about your business while the likeness is printed in color at their NYC store and shipped to your door.

DOOB, based in Dusseldorf, knows we can’t get enough of ourselves but also knows that the global selfie phenomenon comes with a halo of narcissism that we’d like to forget. So their proof-of-concept partnership with Uniqlo was brilliant. The Selfless Selfie Project asked people to pledge to help others. Selected pledgers were scanned and their DOOB-lications included in exhibits popping up in major cities in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

The DOOB Group isn’t the only 3D printing company out there, but they’ve so far got the biggest marketing chops, leveraging emotional connection to make a technology personal. Their software ecosystem and technology is already busy in the medical sector and works as a platform for other 3D printers. But why hang out in the lucrative shadows of the B2B world when there’s so much mindshare available? By going after the consumer market, they grab a place in the broader cultural conversation. That’s how brands surpass their own offerings and become assets unto themselves.

Selfless Selfie: http://www.theselflessselfieproject.com/
#GetDoobed: http://www.doob3d.com/