Happy New Year! Hopefully, you all had a good Holiday Season considering how challenging and abnormal 2020 has been for all of us. We are now looking forward to a much better 2021 and it’s exciting to see what 2021 has in store for digital marketing. The first blog of 2021 will address digital marketing and facial recognition. Exciting topic!
Who remembers the 2002 movie “Minority Report” with Tom Cruise in which he plays Police Chief John Anderton in the year 2054? There’s an interesting scene in the film where John Anderton is exposed to hyper-targeted ads via facial recognition technology.
Let’s take a look at this scene as a refresher:
It is astonishing that the movie predicted this marketing technology already in 2002. However, this technology is not without controversy. Companies like Intel are attempting to bring some credibility to facial recognition technology. Walgreens is experimenting with this technology. Digital screens can be found on cooler doors with embedded cameras and sensors. The digital screens target smart display ads to individual customers. Sensors and cameras sense your emotions, what you’re looking at in the cooler, pinpoint your age and gender, and also establish the temperature outside, i.e. the weather. The company Cooler Screens conceived this concept. Check out their site for more information. This technology creates another high-intent point-of-sale, enhances the consumer experience, and can increase sales.
As mentioned above, this technology is not without controversy, and consumers will continue to be suspicious of facial recognition technology for use in marketing. However, if the technology can keep people safe they are more apt to embrace it. Look at the table below from eMarketer for more information:
Transparency is a keyword for advertisers moving forward. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Of course, facial recognition technology is not new and the brand Garmin has used facial recognition technology for its OOH (out-of-home) campaigns already back in 2013/2014. But technology improves and data gets bigger. With the rapid development of AI’s capability to process large amounts of data, advertising campaigns will become more hyper-personalized.
Time will tell how far advertisers will take facial recognition technology. Currently, I believe that AR (Augmented Reality) will show more advertising promise in 2021. ModiFace, for example, has created an augmented reality buzz for beauty brands and I believe this concept will take off more. IKEA has an app called IKEA Place where you can virtually place furniture in your rooms. More brands will adopt AR in 2021.
Facial recognition technology also has promising possibilities for advertisers but the privacy kinks still need to be worked out before consumers trust it. It is an interesting development to keep an eye on. For now, stay safe out there and we all want a much better 2021. If you want to drop us a line or give us a call just contact us here. Cheers!
