Source: Adweek
A big and flashy new billboard in London’s Piccadilly Circus is joining the trend of targeting individual passersby, both pedestrians and drivers, and then serving ads to them.
The digital LED screen, about 2,600 square feet in size and divisible into six ads, will feature about some 11 million pixels, Wired U.K. reports, and is the largest of its kind in Europe. Built-in cameras will analyze approaching vehicles—make, model and color—and serve pre-programmed ads aimed at the person it presumes is behind a particular kind of wheel.
The billboard will also be able to determine the “gender, age group and even emotions” of nearby pedestrians, too, and “deliver bespoke ad content” to them, according to Landsec, which will manage the board. The company tells The Verge, however, that it won’t collect or store any personal details of passersby.
Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Samsung and L’Oreal will be among the early advertisers to the new screen in Piccadilly, though it’s not clear yet whether and how they’ll use the recognition technology.
