Making its way around the virality of nearly every social network lately, is this very cool billboard that IKEA put up in Stockholm. The billboard has 3 different messages on the same panel, but it is lit by 3 different colored bulbs. When the red bulbs are lit, it displays one message, when the blue bulbs are lit, it displays a different message and then again when the green bulbs are lit, a 3rd unique message is seen. The core message of the billboard is about making good use of limited space. It’s an ad for IKEA, makes perfect sense and it’s cool enough that it is getting it’s intended viral resonance as well. Now, the technology we’re talking about here isn’t new; in fact, it’s as old as light itself, but the way they used it is interesting. On the heels of that story, there was a free-standing board advertisement on a subway platform that used sensors detecting sound from an approaching subway train, and when the train pulled up the video on the board had a woman’s hair blowing from the wind generated by that train. A little more advanced, still pretty cool. Technology is moving forward so fast and finding so many applications, and it is fascinating to see, but I still want more!
I want this; A billboard fitted with a telescopic camera that can see into the cars driving past, recognize the face in that car, search a database of social media profiles, web history, and online shopping patterns, and show an ad to that person that fits their lifestyle. If you’re a home remodeling company, you have no interest in renters as an ad audience, homeowners are all that is important to you.
