Digital Personal Space – the evolution of Human Interaction.

Of all the established media platforms, nothing is more effective for outdoors or out of home (OOH) advertising, as the ubiquitous Billboard. Whether on a bus shelter, a unipole or indoor locations such as malls and underground tubes or metro stations, the billboard is the single most effective way of attracting public and consumer attention.  However, just as people have accustomed themselves to “tuning out” to television adverts, many people today, automatically tune out to billboards, while walking on a city streets. Unless the billboard is of a sizable display, it does not easily catch the attention of passers-by.

Advertising and Marketing agencies are soon finding out that people’s lives are greatly influenced by all things “Digital” and this is where advertising and media delivery focus has shifted to. It makes complete sense that if eye-balls are glued to either a laptop screen or some other such personal digital display, such as cell phones, then Digital Advertising has come off age. The key phrase here is “personal displays”. As technology gets cheaper and more widely accessible, another interesting phenomenon gets noticed, the concept of “personal space” takes on a whole new meaning.

It is interesting to note human behavior in a typical city today, from walking on the street, to riding a bus or metro. People who are not tethered to a digital device such as an Ipod or a cell phone or their net-books, are the only ones who look around them, at other people and may maintain that invisible little boundary around them – personal space. Meanwhile people who have a pair of headphones on, or are accessing some sort of information on their smartphones or laptops, effectively tune out to the world and the older concept of personal space, and switch on their Digital Personal Space.  In effect they do not mind as much, being jostled around a bit on a crowded bus, and do not mind crowds whizzing past them on a street – as long as their Digital Personal Space has not been invaded or disrupted!

Successfully breach this digital personal space, and you have a chance to get their attention, or eyeballs.

Mixing Reality  - Injecting Digital Advertising IRL:

To borrow a term from the initial days of social interaction on the internet, when “chat” was not as advanced as the multimedia voice and webcam sessions of today, IRL was the term used to abbreviate “in real life”. People were very aware that there were two distinct worlds. The online world was where internet relay chat rooms (IRC) allowed people to communicate faster than email and in real time, and IRL was when the computer was shut down and people returned to real life. Back then there were no Smart phones and 3G and wifi were not common household terms, therefore there was no real connectivity once you shut down the PC and the modem connection.

As we know today, there is a very blurred line between Digital and IRL. We are connected, or tethered 24/7 to the internet. IRL and the Digital world has seamlessly blended. Social Media and applications such as Facebook have made social interaction a completely different experience.  People get satisfied getting a virtual Birthday cake or virtual teddy bear, bought with real dollars, on facebook. These virtual gifts have become as fulfilling as would their IRL namesakes.

Yet people live in the real world. They (still) walk in the real world, but as we are witnessing, spend the better part of their time “connected” to the digital world while in the real world. What does this mean to the smart Advertiser? How does a Digital Advertising and marketing agency take advantage of this Digital dependence? One clever way is to inject Digital Content into the real world. Use Digital Advertising IRL. This is the foundation that Augmented Reality is based on and what Mixed Reality experiences are all about.

Mixed Reality Advertising – Case Study Seed Ideas:

Does all this sound too Sci-fi? Digital Advertising depends on one thing – access to connectivity. Internet access is getting cheaper by the day in civilized and non monopolistic societies. There are cost effective flat data rate and mobile broadband packages that let people be connected while on the move. Smart phones such as the IPhone and Google’s Android are set to be essential tools when going outdoors, just as comfortable shoes are needed to get around a town or city. These devices are what allow people to define and enable their personal digital space.

Advertising and media agencies, previously smug in the fact that they knew everything about Media  and delivery are today realizing that established platforms such as Television are being usurped by Digital technology such as time-shifted live Tv, that lets users skip by advertising. Magazines and newspapers are being replaced by twitter clients on smart phones for up to the minute news headline delivery and mobile television now allows people to be entertained while on the move.

The last media delivery platform still holding some ground is the Billboard. Though as mentioned, people have learned how to tune out to these as well, but it is this very established media platform, that can be revamped and “infected” with Digital content IRL, that will make people want to occasionally shift gaze from their personal digital space and re-fuel as it were their craving for digital content, from outdoor billboards. There is no denying that traditional and even Digital Advertising Agencies need a dedicated Think Tank. Such a department in the ad agency can come up with innovative ideas of how to inject Digital Advertising into the Real world billboards, via Augmented Reality.

Outdoor Billboards – Fuel Stations for Digital Content:

How would this be done with Billboards?

Take a typical Billboard on the side of a Bus Shelter – These billboards are visible to people passing by the bus stop and people waiting for a bus at the shelter. They are almost invisible to a commuter who has his/her Personal Digital space turned on.  i.e, someone using an ipod or smartphone. The idea is to allow people to re-fuel on digital content that they can “consume” while waiting or passing by such a Billboard.

Each Billboard can have a unique AR identifier or marker, that allows digital content to be consumed by a person, by aiming their smartphone camera at this marker. Any kind of content can then be streamed depending on the advertiser, directly to the smartphone for consumption by the user. Some ideas for content:

• A flash based menu – with graphical buttons that the user can click on with their finger to choose digital content, such as starting a music stream if the advertisement is for a music artiste. Music can stop streaming if the unique marker is not detected again with the camera phone within 5 minutes (inviting human interaction with the advertisement and thus brand recall)
• A PDF file of a product can be downloaded, such as an automobile being advertised on the Billboard
• An entertainment video (short film) can play – The AR marker or even a Quickcode can trigger such a video by aiming the smartphone camera at the Billboard.
• Using in-built sensors such as the digital compass on Iphones or Android phones, complete graphical visual directions of bus routes can be overlaid on the live camera view of the phone so tourists can visually see routes in context to their location
• Unique promotions can be run based on location of the billboard, for example people would have to take a snapshot of the Billboard and the AR marker on the advert will superimpose a 3d visual graphic of a discount coupon based on random discount amounts. These snapshots can then be shown at the product/service outlet to avail of the amount seen in the snapshot. This makes people interact with the advertisement displayed on the billboard and builds brand awareness and provides metrics of audience engagement.

The future of Mixed Reality Advertising:

Technology and equipment is getting cheaper and more compact by the day. Today, Media owners can breathe new life into their outdoor Billboard locations, or OOH billboards in other public spaces by using nothing more than a cheap note book or smartphone and enabling wifi peer connectivity to establish a private network within a set radius around the billboard. All media files and content can thus be stored offline on this “server”, and powered by the same power line that back-lights the Billboard. This saves data connection charges to the end user.

Typically today, there are no established standards for accessing the mobile camera in smart phones, so the same private wifi network if setup can automatically offer the smart phone user a small application to download to start the experience depending on the smartphone operating system identified by the AR Billboard.

If needed and depending on the intention of the advertiser, content such as free music album streaming, can be made to stop if a person goes outside a certain radius of the billboard IRL. Further, DRM can be used to protect content, and increase stickiness of people visiting the outdoor advertising location.

With the start of the year 2010 and a new decade in digital advertising, injecting digital media into the real world has only just begun.

Can Virtual assets enhance the real world? For example a Virtual talking avatar manning an information desk on location and responding to voice requests from the user, while being seen via the smartphone camera and augmented over the real world is already possible. Can such a scenario be applied to an Animated tour guide pointing out places of interest for tourists in situ and on-location?

The possibilities for usefulness and branding are limitless.

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