Chado-Design.com

Japan has recently introduced new digital advertising billboards for a trial run that utilizes exciting new technology that could potentially change the face of visual advertisements. Although it is still in its test phase, the new technology fits billboards with specialized cameras that can read the gender and approximate age of its viewers and tailor the message displayed. This ensures the ad space is being used to its fullest potential and the message is delivered to its intended audience. The project was launched last month with twenty-seven displays in multiple subway stations around Tokyo. Further testing and analytics can take the ads a step further adding another variable for increased accuracy in audience targeting: the time of day. Different demographic groups are more likely to use the station at certain times of day so the available ads in circulation can change for increased precision.

This type of targeting is already being used online with Facebook tailoring advertisements based on the user’s gender, age, and interests, but using cameras could be seen as too invasive. There has been some backlash at Facebook for saving user data for advertising so there are already many ethical considerations surrounding this new technology. The operators claim that the cameras do not record images, they only collate data about the groups it is targeting to improve the system. Depending on how the trial run proceeds, we could soon have these “smart” advertisements in American subway platforms displaying only relevant ads to commuters.

I find this particularly interesting because, besides a few exceptions, billboards have never really changed. For decades they have remained the same, untouched as relics of old-world media before the digitization of advertising. By incorporating new technology it may ensure the lasting survival of the medium or, based on the public’s perception of its potentially invasive nature, destroy the public’s acceptance. With security cameras already prevalent in most major cities this wouldn’t seem like a hard sell for the public’s acceptance, but it may be seen as more surveillance and the next step in an increasingly Orwellian future.

Tags: Advertising, billboard, Camera, facebook, Japan, new, Targeting, technology, Tokyo, visual

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