I've been thinking a lot lately about what advertising will look like in the future. Not the "next year" future or the "100 years from now future," but the reasonable future. Say, 10 years from now. With two intriguing announcements this week, now seems the perfect time to introduce a new series on "The Future of Advertising."
First, as reported by Digital Spy: "Nokia has filed a patent application that would involve users having vibrating magnetic tattoos that alert them to incoming mobile phone calls or text messages."
I'll give you a minute to think about that.
The alerts would consist of "vibrations of "one short pulse, multiple short pulses, few long pulses... strong pulses, weak pulses and so on", said the patent filing." The obvious question: Who would want such a thing put on their body? Well, at first blush it doesn't seem that it would provide enough of a benefit for consumers. But taking a deeper look at the technology makes me wonder about other applications. How could a band use this during a concert to send this sort of haptic feedback to the audience? How could a brand like Nike use this during a marathon to alert or encourage runners?
It's difficult to see it right now, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this come to market with some edgy, ambitious company.
Next up is Google, who, according to this headline from The Atlantic: Just Patented Background Noise. That might be stretching it just a bit, but "The technology would be mainly used, Google said in its filing, for (yes) "advertising based on environmental conditions." There we have it. Via sensors in your phone, Google will know if it is hot, or what show you are watching, and serve you relevant ads. So while the patent has just been granted, it's not far fetched to imagine that a few years down the road, ad agencies will be trying to figure out how to leverage this.