For a feature I’m working on about digital out-of-home technology, I had the opportunity to speak to Barry Salzman, CEO of YCD Multimedia. Last week, I read a story in the Wall Street Journal which highlighted the company’s new facial recognition technology for in-store marketing — which some have likened to the futuristic technology featured in 2002’s Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise. The technology can identify customers’ approximate age and gender and then show in-store promotions for products that might appeal to them. It does sound a little creepy, to be honest, but Salzman pointed out that it’s only a small part of what the company offers and could work well in specific applications in which folks of different ages prefer different upsells, for example. The point of the latest in in-store media, he says, is “to give the shopper the information they need to make a decision in real time.”
Check out the entire feature in our September 8 issue!
