From the AudienceCount Blog

http://www.audiencecount.com/audience-measurement/nec-digital-signage-ad-targeting-screen/

I ran into this article at The Times Of India webpage and was surprised to see that my long time notion about large companies was correct; these big name companies are working behind the scenes in building their own measurement / targeting tools.

The article talks about how big name NEC has created a technology, which through the use of a camera placed on top of a large Plasma/LCD display can identify the number of males/females and age ranges of the audience. After identifying the audience, the system then automatically targets them with suitable advertisements. NEC Corp said that this new form of targeted advertisements will be featured at an annual festival in Tokyo by Fuji Television network. The festival will run till August 31 and Fuji hopes to draw more than 4 million visitors to beat last year’s record.

When the system identifies the age ranges and gender of the viewers standing in front of the digital screens, the system will tally which of the audience demographics is the largest and will dynamically target ads to them,

For young women in their 20’s it may show ads for the latest iPhone, and women in their 40’s it may show Prada handbags.

“Conventional advertisements may show cell phones for young women to men over 60,” said Hiroshi Takahashi at NEC’s solution business promotion division.

“Changing advertising products in accordance with the viewer would bring advertising closer to the purchaser,” he said.

But the system is seen as having growth potential as companies struggle to win the attention of customers who are increasingly bombarded by advertisements throughout the day.

The underlying technology behind this or any other form of digital signage ad targeting system has to be an audience measurement system; whether it’s a proprietary technology from NEC or a third party technology solution licensed by: Quividi, CognoVision, TruMedia, VideoMining, Xuuk, or Wututu. The main purpose for using these technologies is that there needs to be some face detection in order to process audience demographics in real-time and the only technologies that currently perform these are audience measurement tools. There are obvious alternative applications for these customer centric measurement tools. I’ve read in articles, whitepapers, and blogs that the sales cycle for digital signage deployments is long and for audience measurement probably a lot longer. In the meantime I’d like to see more audience measurement technologies powering large digital signage ad targeting networks, if the sales cycle for audience measurement deployments is long, why not try another channel of distribution.

Please share your comments, ideas, or thoughts on this article.

Wallflower Global of New Zealand are in the final stage of installing Wallflower Dynamic Digital Signage software for Health TV, the largest Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) channel in New Zealand.

Some of the network (of several hundred displays) were installations that were upgraded to Wallflower to replace an existing software package. Health TV is New Zealand’s largest health & lifestyle television channel reaching an audience of 6.8 million viewers annually. It is installed in over 200 medical center and hospital waiting rooms nationwide.

The Wallflower deployment includes the Symantec Altiris network management package to help aid accurate and efficient delivery of media and schedules to displays.
Health TV produce targeted health related content, which can be delivered and customised for each individual display location. Each screen is effectively its own TV channel allowing relevant content to be delivered to the right location.

All displays are permanently connected to a central management point using the newly de-regulated Unbundled Bitstream Access service.
Future plans for the system include Health TV displays using the Wallflower Alive! Facial Recognition module to provide audience measurement analysis.

According to this article NEC has developed a system using a face recognition technology that determines the general attributes of a person standing in front of a digital display and outputs advertisements, according to their profile, to the persons FeliCa-enabled handset. NEC calls this system the “Digital Signage Solution,” combining their advertisement delivery and display system with their advertising value measurement system.

The new system can deliver advertisements in accordance with conditions such as geographical areas, time and attributes of target clients. And it can measure advertising effect, focusing on whether the people who saw the advertisement showed interest or whether the advertisement stimulated the viewers’ purchase activity, for example.

This seems to be a very cool build on the Fujitsu UB Wall concept. Looks like we’ll have to head-out to Odaiba and take a ride on that sometime in August!

Digital adverts that watch your face to register if you are looking at them or ‘talk’ to you on your mobile could be the next big marketing innovations to hit the Middle East, says a leading industry observer.

“TV-like networked digital signage – also known as out-of-home advertising networks or narrowcasting – can increasingly be found in airports, hotels, malls, concourses, hospitals, doctors waiting rooms and supermarket checkouts,” said Spencer Felix, Exhibition Manager for the Signage, Imaging and Media (SIM 2008) trade show which takes place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from 25-27 November.

“The technology can be found virtually anywhere people can be found - particularly if they are waiting - as advertisers seek out better ways to reach their target markets,” he added. “The very latest digital signage can also incorporate cameras that scan the faces of watchers to measure not just how many are looking but what kind of people they are and the level of their interest.

“While the digital signage and out-of-home advertising market is on a rapid growth path, until now the audience has been largely anonymous. This type of technology is dramatically changing the dynamics for advertisers.”

SIM 2008, the most comprehensive trade show for the regional marketing communications industry, will be providing a special focus on the latest technologies in digital signage which can range from simple text to full motion video with or without audio.

“The technology is now moving into areas that were once the realm of science fiction,” Felix said. “Facial recognition technology, for example, can determine the gender, age range and ethnicity of the viewers, information which can trigger a different advert for a 50-year-old white male than the one displayed for a 20-year-old Asian female.

“A further development is combining the networked digital signage with mobile media enabling the user to interact on their Bluetooth phone with the signage or advert to obtain more local information about the product or subject.”

The world’s largest supermarket checkout digital network is in the United States where one company has more than 19,000 screens running promotions, targeted advertising as well as a scrolling news ticker.

On a smaller scale, in the United Arab Emirates the Movenpick Bur Dubai Hotel has just installed a digital signage network to provide guests with current information on hotel promotions, services and local attractions.

“But while the Middle East and the rest of the world remains an emerging market for digital signage technology, China is the clear global number one with more than 100,000 displays installed and a collective market capitalisation of over US$10 billion,” Felix added.

“One company alone has set up a digital signage network across six major Chinese cities and is installing 11,000 screens in Beijing’s government offices, banks, hotels, hospitals and stadiums for the 2008 Olympics. The network has major contracts from McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Mercedes, Adidas, Nike, Siemens and Lenovo to name a few.

“To illustrate just how versatile digital signage networks can be, China’s network was pressed into service in the aftermath of the devastating May earthquake in the Sichuan Province, with over 300 large screens across the six cities providing TV programming and information on how to donate to China Red Cross relief and recovery efforts.”

SIM 2008 is a combination of three events under one roof providing access to important decision-makers from across the marketing spectrum throughout the Middle East. The focus sectors of SIM 2008 include printing; signage; banners and posters; pre-press; digital imaging, capture, storage and processing; electronic media; advertising production; marketing and public relations; outdoor media; new media and entertainment.

Arab Media Group, the largest media organisation in the UAE, has confirmed headline sponsorship of SIM 2008 and Xerox are the platinum sponsors.