Recently I wrote about the virtues of hyperlocal SEO, and now it's time to dip into hyperlocal ads. They're on the grow, as they say, and StreetFight has a fantastic essay on why that is.
The only difference is that these are offline ads, not online ones. Remember that world outside the Internet? Yeah. Good times.
This is what we're talking about here, from StreetFight: "The next time you are in your doctor’s office, at the mall or at the local sports arena, the ad that you see on a plasma TV display or a digital kiosk could have been purchased and placed there using the same type of system advertisers are using today to buy and place online display ads."
It's being referred to as the "fourth screen," presumably because in theater there's a "fourth wall" separating the performers from the audience. The fourth screen will be unavoidable because it will be everywhere we go. We will learn to love it, or we will learn to tune it out without even realizing it's there.
According to Jeremy Ozen, the co-founder of Vistar Media, the company at the forefront of building this system, it's still an emerging technology but has very awesome potential. The obstacle will be assuring that the venue the ads are featured in may not be downloaded and updated often enough.
"Even if I knew the specific person was in front of the screen, I couldn't get them an ad quick enough," Ozen told StreetFight.
It's kooky, interesting, Minority Report-type stuff, and worth a read, if only to be aware of what's coming around the bend.
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a comedy-writing instructor for Second City. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.
