Targeted ads are coming to a billboard near you
Source: Hannah Francis
Smart billboards are watching your wheels. Photo: Supplied
Science fiction is fast becoming reality if trends in automotive advertising are anything to go by.
Carmaker Lexus is set to unveil a series of intelligent, super-sized ads on billboards in key locations across the country on Monday. The billboards can tell what type of car you're driving, and will tailor a message just for you.
Equipped with cameras, the smart ads take a snapshot of your car as you approach, measure its features and match it against a database to determine its make, model and colour.
An algorithm then matches this with contextual information such as the time of day, weather conditions and traffic conditions to generate one of 80 configurations, such as: "Hey black Merc driver, the heavens have opened. This is the new Lexus."
All this happens in a split second in order to grab your attention as you zoom past on the freeway.
M&C Saatchi, the advertising agency that worked on the campaign alongside APN Outdoor and TMS, is calling it "direct messaging on steroids".
A similar but less sophisticated advertising campaign was launched by Porsche last week. The smart Porsche billboards serve ads to Porsche drivers.
If you've ever seen the film Minority Report, here's where the Lexus ad campaign gets a little weird.
In the film, a 2002 remake of a Phillip K. Dick science fiction story which is set in the year 2054, Tom Cruise's character walks through a corridor peppered with digital ads that call out to him by name. Eventually he enters a GAP clothing store, where a holographic shop assistant greets him and remembers his last purchase.
The first ad in that scene is a Lexus ad.
An APN Outdoor spokesperson said there was scope to refine the technology used in its billboards to target ads even further. For instance, targeting drivers of luxury cars who are three to five years old and are likely to buy a new one soon.
Reg Bryson, chief executive of strategic branding agency Brand Council, said bringing targeted advertising into the outdoor space took things to a whole new level, and may be a sign of things to come.
"It's all right to see something [personalised] pop up on your computer screen, because you expect that," Mr Bryson said.
"When you're out and about and walk past a shop window and suddenly the mannequin in the window pulls you aside and talks to you - I think you'd be a little unnerved."
The Lexus ads are located at Sydney and Perth domestic airports, Kew Junction in Melbourne, George Square in Brisbane and Gouger Street in Adelaide.
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