Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

Last year we wrote a series of articles in The Marketing Xfactor about “captive advertising,” or placing digital screens everywhere from taxis to veterinary waiting rooms. At the time, a number of technology companies were still developing tracking mechanisms for the displays, some of which included cameras to track movement, physical characteristics, and overall traffic levels.

Last month the New York Times wrote that billboards in major cities have been installed with that technology, recording every person who walks by and views the ad. Stephanie Clifford, the reporter who wrote the story, found that the public was largely unaware they were being recorded, and some people had a problem with the cameras being there.

In response, one of the tracking companies, TruMedia, issued a letter in the Times to state it does not store the images the cameras record, but merely the data those images contain like gender, time of viewing, and age. The digital out-of-home signage industry, like billboards before it, has struggled to justify the costs of using their products to marketers. Lacking the reliable ratings television has or the circulation numbers for print, this is the solution the industry has come up with. If any company is going to use digital signage to engage customers, they need to understand the privacy concerns and ensure customers’ rights are protected.

Have you ever walked by a sign and only later realized you were recorded? Have you ever gotten a message sent to you Bluetooth headset from a billboard (as we wrote about in another recent article)? What should be the line marketers can’t cross in these cases when it comes to privacy?