Microsoft's Dennis Durkin raised an interesting ad concept for the company's newly launched - and wildly successful - Kinect game at an investment summit: the gaming device's camera could pass data to advertisers about its users, such as how they look, what they wear and even speak.
Even more detailed information may be possible, such as the number of people are in a room when an ad is show and how they react to it. Or how engaged, exactly, are they with that game. (via Engadget). "We can cater what content gets presented to you based on who you are," he said. Microsoft quickly back peddled from this vision, assuring the public that it would ever engage in this behavior. "Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE do not use any information captured by Kinect for advertising targeting purposes," representatives told Engadget.
It is doable, though, OC Weekly noted. The Kinect sensor is placed in front of the TV where it can watch, recognize, and listen to whoever is in front of it. The sensor is plugged into the XBOX 360, which is almost always online. Kinect would never send raw video of a user, OC Weekly speculated - but it might use the information and send it along to advertisers in the form of charts and numbers. After all, such data is not that far off from what Facebook is doing, as a user's favorite books, movies, music, marital status, and age can all be used for the site's marketing purposes.
In short, whether Microsoft is planning it or not, there are clear signs the industry is trending to advertising tailored by data that has been derived by motions or other, well, kinetic action. Some analysts believe that Microsoft is preparing a line of sophisticated movement recognition products via its acquisition of Canesta, which designs microchips that it says enable computers to see images in three dimensions. Canesta's CMOS 3-D chips allows users to even more quickly react to the actions or motions of individuals and objects in their field of view.
Real-life, related applications include Tava Touchpoints in Toronto, which partnered with Planet-Tek Systems last year to test shopper-focused ad screens in Canadian and US locations of Whole Foods Market. They used audience-measurement technology - sensors and automated biometric face detection tools - to count shoppers who look at screens and then provide audience analytics that break down how long people look at an item, and parse the audience numbers by such things as time of day and gender.
Other stores are deploying video cameras, motion detectors and other sensors to study consumers for behavior, shopping and product preferences and other insights that will lead to more marketing opportunities and increase sales.
And while not exactly a retail application, Japan is testing a billboard in subway stations around Tokyo that can tell the difference between male and female faces - and display appropriate ads accordingly. In general advances in digital signs - including those in retail stores - have been steadily moving towards developing technology that can make judgments of the people standing before them, such as their age or what item of clothing would best suit them based on their body type.
