In last week’s article, we looked back at how the movie Minority Report predicted that face recognition technology would target ads to the customer by the year 2054. The reality is, of course, that this is already happening in the year 2019. Huge corporations are already signing up to use emotional analytics to gauge a person’s mood when they see various ads, videos, articles, and other stimuli. In that article, we began to look at face recognition and its application in advertising. In this article, we will expand on this idea and see more examples of face recognition’s use in marketing.
Emotional Analytics Allows the Customer to Play a Role in Advertising
As AdWeek points out, most people love to be the star of the show. With the latest smartphone capabilities, face recognition apps and marketing experts are making this a possibility for them by allowing them to actually be a part of advertising. The article asks its readers, “Brands are always looking for ways to make their advertisements more engaging. Well, what’s more engaging than having the customer play a central role in the advertisement?” This can be done with the use of face recognition technology.
Ad Blocking Will Push Face Recognition’s Growth
The article in AdWeek predicts that the market for face recognition software and face recognition systems will grow to at least $7.76 billion by the year 2022. It is believed that a portion of that growth will result from new advertising initiatives that are being forced into existence by ad-blocking features. As more and more potential customers use ad-blocking apps and technology to remove ads from their social media and internet experience, marketers and advertisers are being forced to find other ways to gain the attention of their potential customers.
Traditional Ads Sometimes Pushed Customers Away
One thing that advertisers are learning is that people hate intruding ads. Google’s ad-blocking features for Chrome made it possible for users to remove those huge auto-play ads and full-screen ads that seemed to be shoved in the faces of potential customers all over the internet. This type of advertising did not entice people to buy the product or service being advertised, and in some cases even pushed them in the opposite direction.
Face Recognition Could Draw Potential Customers In
Having seen that their approach of large ads and auto-play videos was not having the desired effect on customers, marketers are now trying a completely different approach. With face recognition software and augmented reality features, advertisers can now draw customers instead of pushing them away. Marketers can now create “immersive advertising experiences” without having to pay for time for new application codes to be written or spend money on expensive architecture to create new ads. How is this done?
Try It Before You Buy It
The article calls it “try it before you buy it” capability, and augmented reality along with face recognition make this possible. For example, face recognition on iPhone X uses infrared light that is invisible to the user’s eye to map his or her face. Beauty brands can then show the user how a makeover using specific brands of cosmetics would make his or her look. With traditional ads, all the advertiser could do was plaster the face of a model online, interrupting the user’s social media or internet experience to show them how the model looked in their products. In that ad, the marketer might offer a free makeover at a local beauty store. And then it was a waiting game for the few customers who showed up. Now, that free makeover can be available in the palm of the customer’s hand, almost as real as if they were sitting at the beauty counter at the local store.
It is easy to see how face recognition has the potential to bring much more focused and enjoyable advertising to your potential customers. Next week we will take a look at face recognition and its application in retail.