Today, there’s nothing out of the ordinary in having your fitness bracelet track your mileage, calories burnt and even provide sensible recommendations or switch the light on and off on a distance via Wi-Fi. But what about having your fridge automatically reorder the groceries based on its contents and your cooking patterns? What about your car choosing the best route to a meeting thanks to its connection to your calendar?
So far, this sounds like episodes from the science fiction movie, but in the nearest future they will be part of our lives. At least, this is what the rapid development of Internet and technology is rapidly moving towards. This is the so much talked about Internet of Things.
What is IoT? Basically, it is the concept of all sorts of devices connected to Internet and being able to interact with each other. According to Gartner, by 2020 there will be over 26 billion connected devices on the planet. The influx of data they will be using, collecting and producing is hard to imagine. And there is no way people are going to make anything out of it without the help of machine learning.
At present, businesses are still in the phase of figuring out how to leverage the power of IoT for their best benefit. Marketing and advertising industries are among of the first ones to see the promising opportunities in the proliferation of connected devices. They can uncover more information about customers, their needs, and peculiarities of using certain products. This opens the door to a refined customer experience, deeper engagement and more personalization which should drastically increase the effectiveness of advertising efforts.
Ways Internet of Things Can Influence Advertising
-
Interactive billboards
Isn’t it a dream of every marketer or advertiser to have each outdoor advert personalized and relevant for narrow segments of the audience nearby? This idea has already been put into life by Lexus with its campaign which addressed car drivers passing by the digital billboards, by identifying their car brand, model and colour.
-
Smart products
Companies are developing smart products able to interact with customers and collect data about their usage. An example of this is a Johnnie Walker Blue Label smart bottle, that can connect to a customer’s smartphone and lets record personalized message for a gift, as well as collects data about its location and movement from the warehouse to store to a consumer’s home.
-
Smart digital signage
This is an extensive area of using IoT which includes transportation, healthcare, education, retail etc. The ability to collect customer’s data thanks to their devices, using sensors to analyze the conditions like weather, demographics, traffic, location etc could make a great difference to making the people’s lives more convenient, safe and efficient.
Speaking about advertising industry, advertisers would really benefit from the ability to totally control the messaging not only within their online campaigns, but also out-of-home ones. For example, changing the advertisement that’s being rotated in a venue, whether indoor or outdoor, based on the time of day, business, events etc. with a few clicks. No need to contact your media platform operator, explain the goal and wait till everything is done. Sounds fabulous? Well, an online ad network Tracklam that specialises in out of home advertising and makes it accessible for everyone – provides you with this possibility. Thanks to its being actively developed, new exciting functionalities are going to be introduced in no time.
So, the key idea of using Internet of Things in advertising is to create products, which would compel users to interact with them and share their data. While this sphere is in its adolescent stage now, the maturity stage won’t take long to arrive. Therefore, make sure you don’t miss out on the chance to jump on the IoT train!
