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Imagine a poster advertisement with a miniature camera that can see if you are a man or woman — and change accordingly to suit your tastes.
This poster-sized high-definition TV screen can change dimension — depending on whether you are two feet or 20 feet away — to pull you in. There might also be an augmented reality screen next to it, with images beamed from a digital projector onto holographic glass (see picture).
Then you can browse a drop-down menu on the side of one of the screens, scroll through to different “pages” to explore the brand, and send details such as a “money-off coupon” to your phone or Facebook account.
At the same time, the advertiser can use that TV camera to measure footfall and “dwell time” on a minute-by-minute basis so that if consumers aren't attracted to the poster, it can be changed or updated remotely with the flick of a button.
Welcome to the futuristic world of outdoor advertising which was on display at a trade fair in Earls Court this month. Some of these ideas for interactive posters have been around for a while — for example, ads which appear only at certain times of day, known as “day-parts”, or where you can interact using BlueTooth phone technology. And doubtless not all of the newest innovations will prove popular when they come to market. But it's still a fascinating glimpse into what could happen to outdoor advertising.
The concept is simple: in the modern, media world, it's harder than ever to reach consumers with conventional advertising. These interactive screens are meant to be attention-grabbing, engaging and topical. Another benefit for outdoor advertising companies is they can save money since digital maintenance can be done remotely and at scale — rather than having to change each traditional poster manually.
Computer manufacturer Intel and software giant Microsoft are among those hoping to cash in on this digital signage market, which is estimated to be worth around $3.5 billion (£2.4 billion) and set to grow by a $1 billion a year worldwide in the next three years. The fact that neither Intel nor Microsoft has been involved in this field until recently is an indicator that technology companies — as well as advertisers — see potential. Experts talk of “screen bloom”. As the cost falls, we are seeing a big surge in high-definition digital-poster sites.
Jose Avalos, director of digital signage for Intel, argues that the investment in digital has clear benefits: “For big retail brands, when they do a really large advertising campaign, there is a lot of risk. The creative content may not reach the right audience, it may not work, which is potentially a waste of a ton of money. But actually the creative element is pretty inexpensive. With digital, you can try five different things — multiple creative content — test it very quickly and see if it works.”
Intel has introduced a tiny TV camera at the top of some of the poster screens to help advertisers monitor who is looking at them. Avalos insists all information is collected anonymously and its Microsoft-powered software does not use face recognition.
What the camera does is identify sex, age, the number of viewers (judged on an eye count) who are looking at the screen at any one time, and the length of time they look at it.
According to Avalos, digital screens can dramatically increase the number of viewings and “dwell times” and some studies suggest sales can rise 50%. On this basis, it's also easy for an advertisers to remove ads that aren't working — theoretically, within seconds.
Dani Zeevi, chief technology officer of YCD Multimedia, showed off similar technology with a 20-foot-wide digital poster site at Earls Court, which features a series of small HD TV interactive screens which can be linked together or used individually by different consumers at the same time. “You can actually measure the campaign effectiveness in every frame,” says Zeevi, whose screen was used by cosmetics firm Bobbi Brown in department store Bloomingdale's in New York. “We know it's working, we know products [featured on the screen] go out of stock.”
Shopping centres, restaurants, airports and other travel hubs such as the Tube are all seen as likely sites for these outdoors screens. Plainly the risk of vandalism makes them impractical in some public places.
So look out. That advertisement could be watching you.
