See That Billboard? It May See You, Too

Sellers of advertising space love to know who will be looking thier ad spaces so that they can allow companies to target more and more specific audiences. Online, this type of aggregate tracking is easy, but OOH advertisers have been hard pressed to create hyper accurate demographic studies linked to particular public spaces. Until now, anything more than a guess required someone onsite to tally information like gender, age, race, and whatever other important insight can be gleaned from ones appearance. It seems Clear Channel has solved this problem by getting cell phone companies, and nefarious mobile app producers whose apps gather geo location content, to allow them to link thier advertising sites to very specific consumer profiles and patterns of movement around the city. Want to target 20-30 year old males who shop at Abercrombie & Fitch... No problem. They are found concentrated on the 405 between 830am and 10am as evidenced by hard data reported through AT&T. Looking for 35-45 year old single mothers of 2 or more children? They are highly likely to be visiting super markets and shopping centers between 630pm and 8pm Monday through Friday. 

The collusion between advertisers and corporations here is scary in that they are taking one step closer to be being in total and complete synchronicity. Each product, now finding the space in our city where it is most likely to be received by its intended audience and thus purchased. In the process, our conception of our consumer identity will be reinforced making its grip that much harder to resist. 

VIA: The NY Times

Pass a billboard while driving in the next few months, and there is a good chance the company that owns it will know you were there and what you did afterward. More [HERE]