Month: March 2011

In the future, advertising might know what people want before even they do. Advertisements will scan passers-by and based on a store of data will be able to modulate themselves to target individuals. As the sharing of personal information spreads, the focus of advertising is becoming much more precise and intrusive. Advertisers are acquiring much of what is shared on the web in many ways, and often times through transactions where services are exchanged for the disclosure of personal information. Information becomes currency in the digital era.

A report by the Center For Future Studies imagines that this transformation in advertising is not too far off. In fact, a Japanese based company, NEC has already created age- and gender-guessing advertisements that are tailored to that data. This type of advertising is already being called a “Gladvert” and it is characterized by a technology that will be able to read a person’s emotions.

With such a wealth of personal data available so easily, it’s difficult to imagine that it wouldn’t be utilized by advertisers. Social media in many cases is practically defined by users’ indifference to sharing as much about themselves as possible. However, such pervasive advertising could reveal the drawbacks of revealing so much in the future. While detractors see the technology as endangering privacy, supports see it as providing a more interactive experience.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Perry (@perrynow) at Dare and this video gives you a taster for the kinda crazed genius he is and the work he does. Actually having a magician on stage in the video was an excellent touch.

Perry and I worked together on Remote Palette, with the accompanying video, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pMS5IMOxCA) an excellent bit of additional supporting content being a parody of Andy Warhol eating a hamburger, the brainchild of ECD Flo Heiss (@floheiss). A great, small and nimble team. It turned out to be a roaring success after we got the likes of Wired, Gizmodo, Creative-Review, Contagious and many more all on board. They all understood the vision and absolutely loved it.

AdAge over in the US listed it in their ‘Campaigns Creativity Loved’ (http://j.mp/gQHJyf) nestled firmly between Mitsubishi and Nike ‘Write The Future’. It has since been nominated for Webby and One Show Interactive awards. Nice.

Having the freedom to work on projects that aren’t for clients is an incredible privilege to have and to just get it out there as soon as it was ready was pretty liberating.

The video is longer than your average 2 minute video on YouTube but i’d highly recommend sitting down (or standing if you so wish) and watching it when you get the chance.