There's been a lot of talk lately about "billboards that watch you back." Some of the news comes from the trade side, with new companies announcing products that identify individuals (either uniquely or generally along some demographic lines), and then serve them targeted content or record their presence. However, a growing part of the discussion is taking place in the mainstream press -- the likes of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal -- who are starting to wonder what effect all of this covert surveillance and tailored advertising is having on society. Since these entities are commercial and ad-sponsored themselves, I wouldn't count on them for an unbiased review. But one thing's for certain: people are starting to realize that we're entering the age of surveillance, and that for better or worse, this transition will change the way we work, play and shop.
Should you be worried about who's watching you?
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Maybe. When it comes to shopping and marketing at-retail, people generally like personalization. We know that loyalty card holders spend more, and that they rate their visits as more pleasant. (There's some self-selection going on there, of course, but that can't be helped.) We know that trade promotion and sampling programs work well and score high on customer satisfaction polls. And we know that people like getting personalized coupons, and are more apt to use them compared to generic coupons. But at some point, it seems like it will all break down. I'd probably be OK with a digital signage screen identifying me as a clean-shaven male and playing back a spot for new Gilette Ninja Xtreem Ultra Pro shaving gel. I'd be less comfortable with it knowing that I was shopper #12345, and that my Dr. Scholls might need replacing. And if it knew my name and started telling me about any of the more unmentionable products in the health care aisle, I'd turn around, leave the store, and never come back.
Where do we draw the line? Well, I've been getting calls and emails from tech vendors, journalists and privacy advocates asking what kinds of services can be offered at retail to help the shopper without seeming pushy, creepy, or violating their privacy. I let these requests stack up for a while now because, quite frankly, I just don't know. After thinking it over some more, I put together this chart to help illustrate the challenge:
Worried yet? Yeah, me too, a little. But let's take a step back and consider how the whole idea of the Uncanny Valley came to be, and how this relates to privacy and personalization.
When machines become too much like us: Exploring the "Uncanny Valley"
Image credit: BradBeattie
Back in the 1970s, sci-fi was entering mainstream culture and the field of robotics was just getting off the ground. In this early period, Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori first described the Uncanny Valley. As Wikipedia tells us, "When robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The 'valley' in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot's lifelikeness." Basically, the more human-like something tries to appear or act, the more we scrutinize its non-human characteristics. This is the effect that allows It's Christmas, Charlie Brown! to be cute and endearing, but makes The Polar Express seem creepy and... well, creepy. But...
How are new technologies influencing marketing and consumer privacy?
As I started thinking about this, I discovered that Seth Godin already had it all figured out. As usual, Seth also explained the issue more eloquently (and less loquaciously) than I could:
We love cute dogs, cute monkeys, clairvoyant websites, smart voice mail systems.
But we get totally wigged out when a website knows too much about us, when we start talking to a voice mail attendant like she's a real person or when a photo or a robot is just too good. A magician is fine, an actual mind reader we burn at the stake.
The relevant issue here for marketers is what happens when our databases and predictions get too good. I don't want the hotel to automatically serve me the same breakfast that I ordered during my last trip, or for the doorman to pretend he's my friend just because he read a database entry about me.
How can you navigate this environment -- and what's the upside?
The Uncanny Valley begins and ends in different spots for me than it does for you. Heck, you might even have liked The Polar Express for all I know. But ensuring that marketers don't overstep their bounds and shoppers continue to trust and enjoy their retail experiences is going to require a real, ongoing dialog between those that sell products and those that buy them. This will have to go beyond mere disclosure of surveillance practices or robust opt-in and opt-out policies, though those will certainly need to exist and be enforced too. But there's real upside to be had, if the graph above is to be believed. At some level of personalization, we ought to be able to get through the valley and deliver higher levels of service that people will genuinely appreciate. While personal shoppers are probably going to be off-limits to all but the super rich for the near future, there may be some low-cost, low-touch method out there that gets past the valley, boosts sales or loyalty for retailers, and leaves shoppers with a warm, fuzzy feeling all at once.
Where does your Uncanny Valley begin? What in-store technologies are you looking forward to as a shopper, and which ones do you think are just plain creepy? Click here to leave a comment What's WireSpring's Blog All About? WireSpring provides hardware, software and services for digital signage and kiosk projects. But our blog is a labor of love. Our posts cover everything from case studies to creative briefs, and are authored by some of the industry's most well-respected leaders.
Mobile marketing might be the only industry surrounded by more hype than our own right now, and that's really saying something. The mobile marketing folks have conferences, launch parties and industry associations that make the digital signage bandwagon look cautious and reserved by comparison. Yet when it comes to showing real, meaningful results and genuine conclusions, they're in the same boat as we are. Thus, I was extremely amused to come across a recent blog post that humbly declared "digital signage is dead." The killer? Mobile marketing.
Well, I'll be the first to admit that some areas of digital signage are pretty sickly these days, but really... dead? Of course, I'd be willing to be swayed by a sound argument, but there I found the blogger's argument to be somewhat lacking:
My point is, there is an emerging market that is interested in emerging technology. The fact is, (as I heard it said recently), digital signage is not an emerging technology.
...[With mobile marketing] all that is necessary is to explore and invest in methods to deliver a message or a useful tool with pertinent content to the device. There is no commitment to hardware screens and player solutions with a shelf life, that has been put off onto the end viewer who now owns the system, and carries it with them wherever they go. That alone is a deal breaker for traditional methods of narrowcasting that have been, in recent years, re-packaged as "Digital Signage".
Why mobile won't kill digital signage
Image credit: John Manoogian III
To be frank, a scenario where the iPhone and other handheld devices eliminate the need for digital signage seems very unlikely, and I'll give you three reasons why:
Numbers: Apple has sold about 10 million iPhones since the device's debut in 2007. Assuming that all of them are still in the US (which is mostly true), that means about 3% of the population has one. Since the device and its required service are expensive, those 10 million people will naturally clump together in the high end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Now, how many of those 10 million have done something to make themselves available to mobile marketers in the first place? (I'd be surprised if even 5% of users have done so). In contrast, Walmart TV had over 130 million viewers each month, and that was way back in 2005. Today, something like 80% of Americans shop at Walmart, giving it a reach that mobile -- even spanning all "smart" devices -- won't be able to match for a decade or more. And that's just one digital signage network.
Context: Enter a store and you are, by definition, entering a place of commercial enterprise. You're probably there to buy stuff. But even if you're just browsing, there's an understanding that the retailer wants to sell you things, and you have some interest in seeing what's available. There is a shared expectation that the store will contain marketing content, and you're at least mildly interested in consuming it. Because of this, the retail store is the most natural environment for advertising that you'll ever find. And provided that retailers steer clear of using digital signage in ways that compromise viewer privacy, this mutually-beneficial relationship should remain in effect for many years to come. Don't like the content? You're free to leave, and as soon as you do, the ads are gone too. I wish all ads were so contextually relevant. TV commercials would only show up when I was in the mood to make a purchase, and newspapers would be full of -- gasp -- news.
Control: Digital signs give the marketer complete control over when, where and how a message is delivered. Mobile devices on the other hand, remain in the control of the consumer. While that's as it should be, there might be a hundred different, non-commercial reasons why I whip out my cellphone. Maybe I want to check sports scores. Perhaps I'm looking up an address. I could even want to call someone. Unlike an in-store digital sign that has a fixed purpose and is operated by the store as a retail fixture, my mobile phone is mine. Unless I request the content specifically by visiting your website or sending a text message, you have no way of reaching me through my phone unless I'm part of the tiny minority that has enabled you to do so whenever you wish. (Yes, I realize that there are whole demographics that might fit into that tiny minority, and that mobile is a great medium for reaching those people. I'm talking big-picture here.)
Digital signage and mobile marketing are natural allies
People love their cell phones and are becoming more dependent on them every day. In time, more cell phone users will be willing to accept mobile marketing. It'll happen a little bit this year, a little bit next year, and in seven or eight years, the available audience will be pretty big. In the meantime, mobile marketing will focus on those niche audiences that have a natural propensity for buying the latest gadgets and giving out all sorts of personal information in exchange for a chance to win a pair of Kelly Clarkson tickets. Billboards, posters and digital signs will continue to use "easy" mobile marketing like SMS text messaging to engage viewers and measure audience interaction.
One thing is clear, though: as long as most people either don't want ads on their mobile phone (or are unable to receive them), that medium simply can't displace well-run digital signage networks. Likewise, as long as there are brands who need a guarantee that their messages will appear at a certain place and time, there will be a need for a media channel that the venue can control. Digital signage and mobile marketing are natural allies when considered in the context of multi-channel marketing campaigns, but there's simply no way that one can do the job of the other.
What do you think? Is digital signage on the verge of being replaced by another medium? Or, will emerging media actually make digital signs more important and effective? Click here to leave a comment What's WireSpring's Blog All About? WireSpring provides hardware, software and services for digital signage and kiosk projects. But our blog is a labor of love. Our posts cover everything from case studies to creative briefs, and are authored by some of the industry's most well-respected leaders.
I have read two or three gadget blog pieces about a Japanese company that plans to blend biometric technology with digital ad boards.Most of the descriptions are going off in one direction, but when you actually read what's planned, it's nowhere near the nightmare Minority Report-Blade Runner thing at least some commenters are trying to conjure up.It is being described as an intrusive digital billboard that will spit out ads by gender as people walk by.Reports CruchGear: A Tokyo-based company called Comel has teamed up with Yahoo and is responsible for the hardware. NEC Soft provides the facial analysis technology. Yahoo Japan will start using a total of 500 billboards in train stations and shopping malls in Fukuoka (Southern Japan), displaying content like news, weather and - of course - ads. The post also notes: Starting this fall, these camera-equipped billboards will take pictures of people walking past by them, detecting a person’s age and sex. Once these characteristics are determined, the billboards will display content tailor-made (as good as it can get) for the person in question. This is a creepy and intrusive way to use digital signage technology, but it’s most probably more effective than static billboards. It's pretty obvious from the picture and the description that this thing is just an information kiosk, and what it will do is have a little camera attached that can look at what's standing in front of it, trying to get some information, and skew the returned information according to the best guess of male versus female, and possibly by age. In a place like a train station or mall in a busy Japanese city, an ad board that was actually trying to tailor ads to people walking by would be trying to change ads by the millisecond and the unit would be a smoking, melted ruin within hours.The CrunchGear report also shows a screen shot, which clearly shows how this kiosk will make something like a dining recommendation, using Yahoo Japan content.Is this interesting? Yeah, sorta. Touchscreen interfaces will get people to what they want to see without needing help from a camera sorting out who they are. But what the cameras can do is track how long people spend in front of the screens, and how many walk up but don't even engage the things. They can also do an imperfect version of the whole presence and notice audience thing.Is it intrusive? No more so than most advertising. I'll take this every day of the week over some field marketing team getting in the way of people at that train station or mall, trying to hand out perfume swatches to all the young women stampeding their way through. Is it an invasion of privacy? Well maybe if the camera actually captures and archives the bracketed faces, but most if not all of the audience technology stuff I know about just counts and discards the image captures. I also have a pretty strong sense Japanese train stations are littered with surveillance cameras that ARE watching and remembering what's going on.Update: Engadget has also posted, with a different pic, and yet another Minority Report reference. On the plus side it does confirm face captures are discarded.
Venco Electronica, an electronics solution provider with more than 25 years in the Spanish industrial electronic market, has announced the integration of TruMedia’s iCapture audience measurement solution into its digital signage screens. Venco’s DS for Digital Screens division produces turnkey DS solutions, including HD resolution screens, platform, audience measurement, and communications. Venco screens are the [...]
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 Corp is counting on a new digital signage system that determines the age and sex as well as other “attributes” of the people standing in front of the scree. The system uses facial recognition software and sends a gender and age appropriate advertisement to the screen. Tech-On reports: “Participants stand in front of the [...]
The title of this post says it all: digital signage (and other out-of-home media) networks must guarantee viewer privacy, unequivocally and without exception. This needs to happen automatically, without requiring consumers to opt-out of anything. The fact that the matter is even up for debate right now is astonishing to me. Granted, I’m a bit [...]
Sunday, April 12, 2009
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