Augmented reality, facial recognition and NFC interactivity. The world of out of home is rapidly growing in sophistication and engagement. Over what seems like a year, we have seen innovation in this medium explode to the point where we never question the potential possibilities in this space.
As part of an initiative we have here - the Mediabrands Innovation and Knowledge Exhibition (which we lovingly refer to as M.I.K.E) - we recently showcased some of the latest innovations in this space. On display were digital panels that enable consumers to connect with and control content on the screen via their mobile, Kinect-enabled novelty experiences, and panels featuring live-streamed video and audio. This isn’t a sell for M.I.K.E, more of an explanation as to how I was exposed to a particular innovation – one that, as sad as it may sound, gets me really excited.
Facial recognition is not a new concept in out-of-home, with many different campaigns using this to help drive engagement and active interaction. However, one panel takes this technology to a whole new level. Using complex back-end technology, it can not only distinguish between people in an area, and people who are actually looking at the screen, but can profile them - offering a gender breakdown and an age profile that are scarily accurate (give or take five or so years). This unlocks a whole range of opportunities for communications, not least of which being able to serve creative based on the actual audience viewing the panel.
For me, where this gets really sexy (investment peeps, grab those Kleenex) is the way it uses facial recognition to report on actual reach and engagement. Using this tech, the panel captures an array of valuable data and actually offers us analytics that are beyond the current capabilities of digital platforms – in real time! While we have IP data, Mosaic profiling, registration data, comprehensive audience surveys etc, our ability to confirm exactly who is engaging with our communications at this point in time is limited as we can’t definitively tell who is on the other side of the computer, and/or where their eyes are focused. This data can not only tell us who is consuming our media, but can show us where their eyes are focused, inform us about what creative they engaged with most, and detail how long on average they spent looking at a specific message. This is particularly ground-breaking, as outdoor is one of the hardest channels to provide tracking and engagement data on; we have MOVE data, but I’d argue that relying on a survey/study that gets conducted annually isn’t ideal.
So what does this mean? I’m going to be bold and outline where I see the world of outdoor going over the next two-three years:
Short term – We’ll begin to see an increase in campaigns using analytics to report back to their clients on engagement and to inform future activity.
Medium term – We’ll be buying audiences, rather than panels and environments.
Long term – We’ll be able to buy outdoor like we do digital, bidding in a live auction environment across a range of assets to reach a specific audience. If we combine this, with tech that can track individual people, we will even be able to dive into retargeting in an outdoor environment. Scary and a bit ‘Big Brother’ for some, but exciting and full of opportunities for us.
Christopher Colter
Trainee strategist
UM
The AdNews NGen Blog: The next out-of-home frontier
8 October 2013