A range of ultra modern in-store and outdoor digital advertising signs have been making a massive impact in Japan recently
. The signage systems are able to identify the age and gender of the person looking at them. They can then match an appropriate advert with the person viewing.
The systems can measure the sex, age and overall engagement of those watching them and they are innovative as they are only being used in Japan at the moment. Signage systems do not keep any of the data they capture-the processing is momentary and the systems do not have memory.
Software apparently identifies the gender of the viewer correctly 90% of the time and the age is predicted correctly (within a ten year window) at a 70% rate of success. The figures are high which means that the success of the adverts should also be high.
Already 100 units have been shipped to Japan and the demand is expected to increase dramatically as more and more people see the success. The signage systems have the potential to advertise an unlimited variety of products and services.
This latest technology gives advertisers the opportunity to visibly see who is interested in their products rather than just relying upon guess work. Although images are not kept a record of gender etc is. There are plans to develop the signs further to allow them to select appropriate items for people at vending machines for example.
Research into the machines has suggested that Japan was responsible for 8% of world public signage display shipments in 2009- this figure is expected to double this year. These particular digital signage systems are fairly unique in Japan although it is expected that many other countries will soon wish to follow suit.
The digital sign market is estimated to become worth 128bn in Japanese Yen by 2015 whereas in 2009 it reached 55.bn Yen. This shows how powerful the prowess of digital signage marketing.