Aussie startup launches dreamvertising: next step of wearable tech

By AdNews | 1 April 2015
 

An Aussie startup has scored major venture capitalist funding to get its fledgling dreamvertising wearable device off the ground.

G-Knight has developed the wearable SleepBit wristband device. It uses sensors to capture vital signs and adopts elements of neuroscience to track users' dream sequences. It can use the data to serve advertising based on dream content and subconscious triggers.

The founder of SleepBit believes serving ads based on pre-prescribed behaviours, such as online activity, search or purchase history or even self-reported behaviours, is an archaic way to personalise advertising messages for individuals.
He claims targeting based on subconscious desires only accessible through dream analysis offers advertisers a way to offer consumers what they want before they even know they want it.

The SleepBit device is due to go to market this year, and the startup has already secured seed funding.

"Dreams are the key to what consumers really want," said founder of G-Knight, Barney Bartholomew.

"If advertisers can tap into that through the SleepBit, it's the most genuine user data they will ever access."

Adam Ferrier, chief strategy officer for Cummins&Partners, told AdNews that tapping into the subconscious is the “holy grail for marketers” as it's where most decisions are made.

“Everyone will be sitting up and watching this as this kind of marketing is the future,” he said.

“I've been toying around with similar concepts myself, and should have something ready for market soon.”

Hallway CEO Jules Hall told AdNews that the technology was the "breakthrough" marketers and advertisers had been searching for.

“It was Sigmund Freud that taught us about the power of 'unconscious cognition' and the potential of dream analysis for understanding, and influencing, decision making," Hall said. "This could be the game changer we’ve been looking for – a quantifiable way to influence the subconscious. What a breakthrough."
 
UPDATE: 12:01 – this story was published on April Fools Day. Thanks Adam and Jules for playing along.

 

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