• by Karl Greenberg , December 12, 2011

Not all 3D experiences are digital. But it is a little ironic, perhaps, that digital giant Microsoft is launching a campaign for its Windows platform via Clear Channel Airport (CCA) that puts the old-fashioned kind of 3D experience in lots of airports around the country this month. 

Starting this week, Southwest Airlines and Windows will offer free holiday photos to travelers passing through a total of 21 airports nationwide to support a year-end campaign called “The Picture Perfect Holiday.”

Okay -- it's not entirely real-world, as the program includes an online element giving travelers who participate the tools to edit, share and store the photos via Windows 7 and Windows Live. Clear Channel Airport handles the at-venue static media assets for 19 of the airports.

The Microsoft display areas, measuring about 15 feet square, are intended to be mockups of Santa's workshop. They include a real Santa (though, obviously, not the real Santa), with a holiday backdrop and interactive kiosks.

Visitors to the displays, which are in Southwest Airlines gates, can have their photo taken with Santa. After that a “Windows 7 Elf” shows participants how to edit, share, print or store the shots using the Windows products that Microsoft has running on the kiosks.

The airports include Chicago Midway, Denver International, Detroit Metro, Boston's Logan, Philadelphia International, San Francisco International, SeaTac, and Louis Armstrong in New Orleans.

Separately, High Point, N.C.-based furniture maker Phillips Collection has extended its deal with Clear Channel Airport after its products, featured in a 3D display at Piedmont Triad Airport in Winston-Salem, N.C., ended up on Friday’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The company's participation on the two-part ABC special, hosted by Ty Pennington, was the result of the show's designers catching the concourse display while in transit at Piedmont, per a spokesperson.

The design team then visited the Phillips Collection headquarters in High Point to find pieces to use in the two-part episode, which follows the “Extreme Makeover” team to Maryland to help the family of a teen who lost his hand in an accident.

The CCA spokesperson said Phillips’ new multi-year agreement is in another area of the same airport.