interactive dog park.

Digital signage is turning a New York City subway station into an interactive dog park where commuters can play fetch with virtual dogs.

The new interactive branding campaign for Nestle Purina PetCare Company's Beneful brand dog food launched by Inwindow Outdoor kicked off recently in New York City's Columbus Circle subway station, and similar installations will roll out this month to Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and St. Louis.

The Columbus Circle installation features a 64-foot-long interactive, motion-tracking digital billboard owned by CBS Outdoor. According to a release from Beneful, the billboard's virtual, animated dogs will start following commuters as they pass by, pawing at the screen and yipping to get passersby to stop for a game of virtual fetch. The campaign also has a social media aspect, as participants in the promo "can also customize the dog of their choosing and access their photo using a mobile device to share on their social networks and on Facebook.com/Beneful," according to the announcement.

"Beneful really wanted to talk about how their brand should be associated with play," Inwindow Outdoor CEO Steve Birnhak told Mashable. "People can walk past and are 'assigned' a dog that will try to engage the passerby and when they do, there will be a pile of tennis balls on the screen."