Commentary

Visual, Digital And Environmental Signals Target Personal Messages

ADVIA Partners has developed technology that CEO John DeCaprio believes will become the answer to personalizing messages based on age and gender.

The technology combines visual detection, digital signature and environmental signals in a specific location to determine the size of an audience, behavior and demographics as well as gender and age of a person viewing an outdoor screen to change and personalize the real-time message of an advertisement on the screen.

In a movie theater, for example, beacons recognize the mobile phones interacting with the technology. The cameras in the digital billboard take a photo of the people it identifies, and the technology recreates a mathematical algorithm of the faces to pinpoint age and gender.

For example, an electronic poster may display an ad for the movie "Independence Day: Resurgence" when an adult stands in front of the digital sign, but switches to "Finding Dory" when a child steps in.

While it all seems that messages will increasingly become personal, the biggest challenge will be personalizing those messages based on internal preferences and a whole bunch of data signals, rather than solely what the camera sees -- especially as society becomes more accepting of femininity in men and masculinity in women. Targeting technologies cannot solely identify content to serve people based on external factors.

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So when asked how targeting platforms will change in the future based on transitional gender preferences, DeCaprio said, "you only run into challenges if you try to hyper-personalize advertisements, and that's not really the focus. It's really about driving engagement and providing the correct information."

The initial focus on sports and entertainment will eventually make its way to healthcare, hospitality, out-of-home media like street signs, and retail. The company can make a case for any market where consumers are willing to exchange information to achieve a more personalized experience.

DeCaprio said the company has experimented with lights, scent and sound. It also can pick up traffic patterns.

An initial pilot with PGA Tour identified the use of the hospitality tent, which was not obvious in the past. Women were buying more beverages and food than the men because they stayed in the tent to watch the event on the screens, whereas the men left and came back in frequently. The screens served ads heavily focused on males, not females.

ADVIA has several pilots running tests such as Norton Outdoor Advertising, a Cincinnati-based outdoor out-of-home advertising firm. 

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