Imagine walking into your local grocery store to buy more coffee and just as you enter, a screen at the door flashes an ad promoting your favorite coffee brand. How did they know? You go down the aisle, pick up a can of tomato sauce and a screen on the shelf displays a recipe for homemade spaghetti and a coupon for pasta. Is this Candid Camera? No, it’s targeted digital ads.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that advertisers are spending more of their money on in-store marketing. Companies are clamoring for the attention of consumers and traditional media is just not as effective as it used to be. In store marketing is proving more influential and now its going digital. Using targeted ads takes it to another level where we can communicate more directly with the customer.
Dunkin doughnuts is testing this technology already. At the cash register of two test locations, ads appear on a screen based on the customer’s purchase. If you buy coffee in the morning an ad may recommend that you come back for another cup in the afternoon or offer you a hash brown with that. At the shelf, Proctor & Gamble is testing radio frequency identification tags on products. When a customer pulls product from the shelf, ads on the screen will change to relate to the chosen product.
Facial recognition technology even takes it a step further by using cameras to analyze facial features and determine demographic characteristics of customers. Ads would then run based on gender and age identifications. Dangerous territory. It’s impolite enough to incorrectly judge a person’s age. Imagine a young woman being mistakenly targeted for a senior’s ad.
The jury is still out on just how much technology can add to the in store marketing interface. It will be very interesting to see what results will yield from the stores already testing the waters.
