emerged media

do you remember this fantastic scene in stephen spielberg’s “minority report” when tom cruise’s character is stalked through a subway terminal while advertisements are served up on digital billboards based on retinal scanners and facial recognition software? 

prior to making the film, spielberg actually met with a group of futurists to discuss what types of technologies would be used in the not-so-distant future.  according to his personal think tank, facial recognition software and retinal scans would be used to serve ads to consumers based on age, gender, race, and their consumption habits.  pretty cool and not that far fetched.

the current online digital advertising format allows for ads to be served based on some of this insight and collected research, but it lacks the ability to move with us in the physical world where we live and breathe.  this type of insight coupled with the ability to actually “fish where the fish are” presents advertisers, media companies, and brand marketers with a range of endless possibilities and tremendous power. 

japanese electronics company NEC has actually developed a technology using built-in cameras to instantly judge a person’s age and gender as they walk by an outdoor  billboard.  each billboard has a small camera with a flat-panel monitor built in.  the billboard has a facial recognition system that scans for information about the shopper, including their age to within 10 years and their gender.  the information is then sent to an internal computer that stores the data.  the longer a person stands in front of the poster, the more accurate the information gathered and displayed will be.  the technology is currently being tested in tokyo and NEC hopes to deploy it in the United States sometime this year.  stay tuned!