Personalised Ads Coming To A BluScreen Near You

BluScreen, an interactive advertising technology that identifies passers-by using their Bluetooth-enabled cellphones, is being tested at the school of Electronics and Computer Science at Southampton University in the UK.

The BluScreen system has a unique way of determining the ad shown; it holds a microsecond auction in which different advertisers can see the characteristics of the person and then bid on showing an ad. The "winner" of the auction selects the advertisement and pays accordingly.

Obviously, passers-by must have Bluetooth turned on, and profile information marked as available. Participants could influence ad content by the content of their profile.

Developers of the system are interested in having sensors in other parts of the building to build a profile of each individual, to better present them with information (ads) that are relevant to their recent experiences.


SOURCE:
TechNovelgy.com

Definately creepy in an uber corporate way, but none the less cool.


Comments, Opinions?

Very cool, but since customers can influence the ads it kinda makes its redundant. Soon enough everyone with a bluetooth phone will have their profile 'tweaked' so that they can choose the ads that are shown (or they will just turn their bluetooth off completely). How embarrassing would it be if you were borrowing your girlfriend phone and everywhere you walked, ads for women's underwear kept popping up.

Soon enough everyone is gonna be 'chipped' anyway so that all of our privacies are lost. NWO anyone?

I would much rather have this than the previous idea of sending ads directly to the cellphone. This is far more discreet... you aren't 'forced' to view the ad.

And let us not forget the advertising scheme demonstrated in the movie I Robot: advertising selections based on retinal scan.