When Advertising Searches You

[Chris]

Posting for dutter

Digital advertising has been appearing wherever a business can put up a TV screen; now, those screens may be able recognize you, at least as a consumer. Some will consider this another step down a slippery, Orwellian slope.

"You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."
-- Morpheus, The Matrix, 1999

Others will see a natural progression of technology and intelligence taking place. Either way, digital advertising stands to glean a little more about its audience.

First a quick look at digital ads. In the beginning, they were pretty dumb. Just a loop of ads and content put up in a store or an airport to give people something to look at while doing what most people do too much of: waiting.

The Wall Street Journal noted how Burger King has moved this along a bit. In 600 of its stores in Germany, two screens run ads based on the time of day. Early morning commuters see news stories and pitches for Croissanwiches.

By early lunch, programming focuses on mothers with young children, and later in the day shifts focus again to teenagers and Whoppers with cheese.

The next step looks like a change from time-based shifts to audience-based ones. The Journal reported on interactive tech firm LM3 Labs and its Catchyoo work with digital signage and web cams.

With Catchyoo, a web cam can tell if just one person or a group is nearby a digital ad, or even if they are children or adults. Today, the technology doesn't retain or identify individuals, just the number of people that pass by the Catchyoo sign, and how many stop and how long they stand in front of it.

Now we touch upon a possible future, one that will delight advertisers and marketers, and send privacy advocates to screaming fits. Face recognition technology exists, and has been used at venues like the Super Bowl and many other places. Imagine if a company like LM3 Labs or someone else integrated it with smart signs.

It would start as a friendly tradeoff between consumers and marketers: someone's picture gets them a coupon for a free burrito, etc. The concept catches on, enough so that several players enter the smart sign field.

Then, consolidation would take place. One or two companies at most would end up with the technology. All that databased information, as personal as it can get without latex gloves and a needle becoming involved. Again, a benevolent-appearing business could pull off the consolidation with enough PR spin to deflect criticism.

Later, what if another crisis, another terrorist attack took place on American soil, and the government decided that it needed that information, and access to the network for national security purposes?

Would it be worth the free burrito?