Imagine a world without the need for a keyboard and mouse? Computers and devices are moving ever closer to being able to recognise human interaction in an everyday, natural manner. This paradigm shift in interface interaction, is imminently affecting the way people use and perceive devices, and this has an important knock-on effect to how digital advertising should be implemented in our near future.
A very high percentage of devices connected to the Internet device contain at least the basic sensors, such as a microphone and camera. Even more common place however are smart devices, such as the IPhone and IPad that build up on this technology base to include more information on the device itself, such as compass, GPS, accelerometer, and much more. What’s more impressive is the enhancements to these sensors can be greatly increased by the addition of commodity technology such as Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360 (which retails at a cost of $200) can now allow devices to be fully aware of humans standing in front of them, and the poses they are forming, they can also receive high quality data on 3D objects, and have highly accurate speech recognition engines all built in. Looking back 5 years, much of this technology seen in today’s home was exclusive to the military, or academia due to costs associated.
When our homes are filled with devices that can see us, hear us, and track our movements, the applications we perceive in terms of marketing should consume, adapt, and innovate beyond the experiences that are common place. Digital signage and interactive store fronts should no longer be static mediums that require touch screen interaction to be engaging they should instead be able to see people walk past, listen to their speech and respond accordingly. The augmentation of the physical and virtual world should start to become standard practice in online campaigns, especially with the increase in bandwidth and access to video. Why not use facial recognition in loyalty campaigns, or mood recognition in banner advertising? Devices should also not be siloed, and data should be able to intuitively jump between your IPad, to signage, to a web portal all the time being a natural and fluent interface that requires no second thought or explanation around how to interact with the technology.
The world and technology are changing so we need to think about how we will interact with devices in 6 months’ time and rather than sticking to convention we should aim for revolutionary campaigns that allow technology to flourish.
Lewis Benge
Creative Technologist
Whybin\TBWA\Tequila
SOAPBOX: The changing use of technological innovation within campaigns
13 October 2011