billboards that look back - outdoor digital advertising

These days, in the ad, brass rings are given to those who can measure everything --
How many people see a specific ad when they see it and who they are.
All of this is easy on the Internet and easier on TV and print.
The billboard is a different story.
To a large extent, they are still ancient relics.
World media, the best guess about the number of viewers comes from the number of walking traffic or the highway report, neither of which guarantees that people passing by are really looking at billboards or that they are the ones found.
Now, some entrepreneurs have introduced technology to solve this problem.
They are equipped with miniature cameras for billboards to collect details from passers-by —
Their gender, approximate age, and the time to watch the billboard.
These details are transmitted to the central database.
Behind the technology is a small start --
Ups said they did not store actual images of passers-
So privacy should not be a problem.
They say the camera uses software to determine a person standing in front of a billboard and then analyze facial features (
Such as the distance between the height of the cheekbone and the nose and chin)
Judge the gender and age of a person.
So far, the companies have not taken race as a parameter, but they say they can and will soon use race as a parameter.
The companies say the goal of advertising is to customize a digital display for people standing in front of it --
Show an advertisement to a middleman
For example, an older white woman is different from a young Asian boy.
The ad "everything we do is completely anonymous," said Paul Prandoni, founder and chief science officer of Quividi. year-
An old company based in Paris is preparing billboards in the United States and abroad.
Quividi and its competitors use small digital billboards to attract specific audiences, which tend to play short videos as advertisements.
On the Memorial Day weekend, a Quividi camera was installed on a billboard on Eighth Avenue near Columbus Circle in Manhattan, which is playing the trailer for Andromeda Strain
Series on cable channel A & E
"To be honest, I didn't see this at all," said Sam Cokes, 26. year-
Old lawyer, when the reporter pointed out the camera to him.
"This is too disturbing.
I would like to say that this can be said to be a violation of personal privacy.
"Organized privacy groups agree, although so far the practice of monitoring billboards has been too new and too few to raise too much opposition.
But placing secret cameras in public places has always been a bright spot in London, where cameras are used to look for terrorists, and similar moves have been made in lower Manhattan.
Although surveillance cameras have become commonplace in banks, shops and office buildings, their presence has a different meaning when they intend to sell products rather than fight crime.
Therefore, while Billboard technology may solve a problem for advertisers, it may also be in trouble due to issues accepted by the public.
"I think if you walk into a closed shop, you will most likely be watched, but on the street? ” Mr. Cocks asked.
There should be at least one sign, he said, to alert people to the camera and its use.
Quividi's technology has been applied in Ikea stores in Europe and McDonald's restaurants in Singapore, but it has just arrived in the United States.
Another Quividi billboard is at a commuter station in Philadelphia with an advertisement for the indoor soccer team Philadelphia Soul.
The Philadelphia billboard was installed by Motomedia in London.
Companies that turn retail and street space into advertising.
It partnered with N Butler Pearl Media to install A & E BillboardJ. , company.
The ad "I think a big part of the reason it's accepted is that people don't know about it," said Li Tian, a senior staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation of the civil liberties organization.
"You can make them stand out," he said of the cameras . "
"But no one really wants to do that because the more people know, the more they are afraid of it, or they may try to avoid it.
The problem gets even more tricky: companies like Quividi and TruMedia Technologies that make these systems say a little more technology, they can easily store photos of people who look at the camera.
These companies say they don't intend to do so,
Tian said he did not think their intentions were important.
The companies do not currently store video images, he said, but they can store video images if a court order forces them to store them.
"Now, there's nothing you can go back and see," said George E . "
Murphy, CEO of Murphy edia, worked as marketing director at Daimler Chrysler.
"It just needs to look at the audience, handle what they see, and convert it into a numeric field that we upload to the server.
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TruMedia's technology is a branch of the Israeli government's surveillance work.
The company's slogan is "every face is important" and the company is testing cameras in about 30 locations across the country.
A TruMedia client is Adspace Networks, which runs a network of digital screens in a mall and tests the system at a mall in Chesterfield, Missouri. , Winston-Salem, N. C.
And menorville of Pa.
Adspace's screen displays a variety of content, such as the top retail deals at the Mall of the day, and advertisements for DVDs, movies or consumer goods.
In the advertising world, these camera systems are considered a popular answer to how to measure the effectiveness of billboards and how to figure out the long-standing questions that viewers see billboards.
On TV, for example, Nielsen ratings help marketers determine where and when ads should be played.
As for the signs on the highway, marketers tend to use traffic data from the Transportation Department;
For pedestrian billboards, they may hire someone to stand nearby and count the numbers as they pass.
However, the Internet raises the metrics, and publishers and media organizations can track people's clicks for advertising purposes on the Internet.
It is now pushing the billboard to the 21 st century.
"From who is looking at our ideas, the numbers do change the accuracy we can get," said Guy slytheri, senior vice president of marketing for A & E, Internet advertising.
With Mr. kuivedi.
Slytheri says he wants to say out from advertisers-of-home market.
Advertising, he said, "We are always interested in getting accurate data from the audience we are exposed to," for outdoor advertisingof-
Home, which guarantees the accuracy we are not used to seeing in this kind of media.
"Industry groups are scrambling to provide their own improved measurement methods --of-
Home advertising.
Outdoor Advertising Association, Traffic Audit Bureau, digital billboard & logo Association, Outdoor Advertising Associationof-
The home video advertising agency is working on more specific measurement criteria they plan to release in the fall.
Digital billboards will be criticized even without cameras.
In cities like Indiana and Pittsburgh, outdoor advertising companies face opposition from groups that say their logo is ugly, distracting drivers and wasting energy.
With regard to whether digital billboards play a role in road accidents, a unit of the Transportation Research Board is expected to complete a national study on the subject this fall.
The committee is part of the National Research Council, a private non-profit organization.
At the same time, concerns about camera privacy are also increasing.
There are estimated to be four in the UK.
2 million off-
TV camera
There's one for every 14 people.
The matter has become a political hot spot, and some lawmakers have proposed strict restrictions on the use and distribution of videos.
The reaction to Manhattan's A & E billboard was mixed.
"I don't want to be involved in marketing," said 17-year-old Antwann Thomas after being told about the camera.
"It's kind of creepy, I think.
I don't think it's safe to look at it.
But other passers-by shrugged.
"Someone on the street can watch you look at it --
Why not the camera?
Asked Nathan Lichon, a 25-year-old naval officer.
Walter Peters, 39, a dairy truck driver, said: "You can be recorded on the street and you can be recorded at the pharmacy, anyway.
It's okay for me.
Cameras everywhere.
"Picture title on Saturday, there is an article about billboards equipped with cameras, collecting details of passers-
In some versions, by reversing the identity of two people who look at the billboard.
On the left is Rick Rivera.
Nathan Lichon is on the right.
The article also misrepresents the name of an industry association that is developing standards to measure the impact of advertising methods such as digital billboards and logos. It is the Out-of-
Home Video Advertising Bureau, can't come out-of-
Video Advertising Association.
A version of this article appears on the print on Page C1 of the New York edition, with the title: reviewing past billboards.
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