Metropol

As with all great ideas, this one started in a pub.

I was talking with a mate who is just about to finish his Masters in advertising/marketing/PR... that sort of shite.

We were discussing the ways in which advertising could become more relevant and useful to the masses, and I'm curious what you lot think of it all.

So, here are some ideas, and feel free to add your own.

Next 5 years or so:

In-your-face, overkill ads, but with incentives to watch. For instance, TVs fitted in the back of train seats displaying silent moving advertising images and video, encouraging you to buy products and such-like. BUT, only on certain seats. So, you pay, say a tenner less than you would on a regular seat to sit in a seat when a little telly displays adverts to you during your journey. You could customise these ads to you own needs.

Same with taxis... they're already putting advertising in taxis, but why not have 'Ad-Cabs', where fares are lower if you're prepared to sit for ten minutes and be bombarded with advertising.

Next 7-8 years:

''Headset'' advertising in supermarkets. Think about the way those museum headsets work - with little sensors around the place, to work out where you are and give you relevant info. Put on one of the headsets, get a fiver off your shopping. In theory, the advertising should redeem your price cut. So, you walk down the cereal isle and the headset tells you that it's buy one get one free on Shreddies, or whatever, and tells you that you can go left for the cleaning isle and get 100 extra points on your loyalty card if you buy some Cif Oxy Gel, etc.

Next 10 years:

Personalised advertising.

Your mobile phone contains information about you, your likes, wants, ambitions, income, etc. Advertising TVs containing bluetooth search out your phone as you come within range and switch to adverts that are relevant to you.

That headset you wear in a supermarket automatically adjusts to give you deals that you want. So you'll no longer get told that it's 3 for 2 on chicken breast if you're a vegetarian, or that B&Q have offers on shrubs and decking if you live in a first floor flat, etc.

Those adverts you watch in those cheap train seats and discount taxi rides are no longer random, and adjust to your age range, your income, your job. If you're fat, you'll get told about Slim Fast, if you're a gym-freak you'll get information about exercise equipment and sports drinks, and so on.



So what do people think? Likely? Good idea? Bad idea? And would you be prepared to sit in a seat on a train that bombarded you with adverts if you got a tenner off your journey?

I'd be happy with the idea of personalised advertising so long as it removed anything vaguely similar to the Crazy Frog...

But I think I'd rather pay to avoid adverts. I hope the Licence Fee-BBC is still around 10-20 years in the future.

Would I mind if I got a discount? Probably not.

The likeliest eventuality is that ALL seats will be equiped with rolling ads and NO-ONE will get a discount.

Edinburgh has lots of these ad cabs running. It's something to look at en route I suppose, but Edinburgh cab journeys are short by their nature as it's such a compact city. A long train journey might be a different story. Perhaps they would use info-mercials with longer running times.

I think the advent of RFID labels on every product in in the supermarket will see customised ads being generated in store. If shop scanners detect you have particular products in your trolley then they could sensibly point you to promotions and the like. Expect this in the next 2 years, not ten. RFID is already rolling out in the UK.

I noticed over the weekend when visiting Tesco Wolverton near Milton Keynes that they had small screens along the aisles advertising products in store and these were different per aisle.

I haven't seen these before (well in Tesco Extra, Stockport anyway) so they might be a trial but it does seem like something in this direction.

The didn't encourage me to buy anything, the only reaction was simply, what's that for!

Interesting to note that Supermarkets have had specific radio ads in stores since the 1980s at the least which is a sort of forrunner to this

Gareth

Gareth wrote:I noticed over the weekend when visiting Tesco Wolverton near Milton Keynes that they had small screens along the aisles advertising products in store and these were different per aisle.

I haven't seen these before (well in Tesco Extra, Stockport anyway) so they might be a trial but it does seem like something in this direction.

The didn't encourage me to buy anything, the only reaction was simply, what's that for!

Interesting to note that Supermarkets have had specific radio ads in stores since the 1980s at the least which is a sort of forrunner to this

Gareth

They've had them for ages in Tesco Extra in Southport - big widescreen tellies down the central aisle all showing the same (silent) thing, more big silent ones behind the various counters (fish, meat, etc) showing the same thing, but different to those down the central aisle, and then little ones down the normal aisles each showing different things, with sound.

And all that amounts to yet another reason why I refuse to possess a mobile telephone! Doesn't anyone care about anonymity anymore?

As for the train seats - already happening, but if it got to a certain stage a little imagination with some tape and black card couldn't hurt!

I don't actually find Tesco's ones too intrusive... they blend in rather than standing out.

cdd wrote:And all that amounts to yet another reason why I refuse to possess a mobile telephone! Doesn't anyone care about anonymity anymore?

Well, there was one web site where you could enter a mobile phone number in, and it would willingly show you the rough location of where it was. Not with pin sharp accuracy, mind, but good enough for partners who suspect their partner is cheating.

Big Brother eat your heart out.

cat wrote:As with all great ideas, this one started in a pub.

I was talking with a mate who is just about to finish his Masters in advertising/marketing/PR... that sort of shite.

We were discussing the ways in which advertising could become more relevant and useful to the masses, and I'm curious what you lot think of it all.

So, here are some ideas, and feel free to add your own.

Next 5 years or so:

In-your-face, overkill ads, but with incentives to watch. For instance, TVs fitted in the back of train seats displaying silent moving advertising images and video, encouraging you to buy products and such-like. BUT, only on certain seats. So, you pay, say a tenner less than you would on a regular seat to sit in a seat when a little telly displays adverts to you during your journey. You could customise these ads to you own needs.

Same with taxis... they're already putting advertising in taxis, but why not have 'Ad-Cabs', where fares are lower if you're prepared to sit for ten minutes and be bombarded with advertising.

well as far as i can see, once advertisers wake up to the potential of public space broadcasting, we will see screens everywhere. rather than dishing out silent adverts, the preferred route at the moment seems to be provision of news/short features in between advertising, like on tesco tv, asda tv and central trains. while other more ambient systems like sub tv in student union bars are just advertising.

the potential for public space broadcasting for advertisers is great. captive audiences on trains/buses with relatively cheap content. the train companies can get key messages to their passengers, entertain them for "free", introduce text-in competitions and give advertisers the opportunity to come in to contact with an attractive audience.

but the train business model, at the moment allows for 4 high-mounted LCDs per carriage and the money is far from rolling in, so individual seat displays would further limit the reach of the system.

I seriously WOULDN'T want to put on a headset while walking round the supermarket that Joe-chav has been wearing before me.

I'd rather pay a little more for my products that be constantly bombarded with adverts...

Gavin Scott wrote:Would I mind if I got a discount? Probably not.

The likeliest eventuality is that ALL seats will be equiped with rolling ads and NO-ONE will get a discount.

Edinburgh has lots of these ad cabs running. It's something to look at en route I suppose, but Edinburgh cab journeys are short by their nature as it's such a compact city.

Yup. There's absolutely no sign of any discounts for getting ads in your face. Anyway, it's complete luck of the draw if you hail one of these taxis. Bad luck that is.. I often use cab journeys to make a quick call on my mobile or get some taxi driver banter (usually ends up on how many roads are being dug up at the moment, but amsuing none the less.)

Trouble is, the 'Cabtivate' taxi adverts are so noisy you can't chat or make a phone call without sounding like you're in the middle of a movie at the cinema... Examples at http://www.cabtivate.com/demo.html

But you're forgetting - as these schemes stand they're as avoidable as they come. You don't HAVE to physically put a headset on you, you don't HAVE to choose to stare at this display in front of you (and nobody can stop you covering it up), and I'd be tempted to indulge in a little minor vandalism if sound started coming into it!