Talk about interactive advertising. NiagaraFalls, ON-based digital signage company, OneSmart uses an LCD screen that can sense when someone is standing in front of it, triggering interaction. After saying to you: ‘Hey, I just noticed you standing there, just wanted to say hi,’ the screen then signals your presence back to the server. This then activates the ads. ‘It detects, verifies and then sends back a message that someone is there and looking at the ad,’ says Dale Marion, president. LCD screens sit atop a convenience store’s ATM (two pilot systems are currently in place, one in St. Catherine’s and another in Hamilton) and while you’re getting your money out, you’re being sold to. Current clients include the International Online Gaming Club, which was so impressed by the system that they brought on a sister company to OneSmart. Local small- to medium-sized businesses round out the client list. Marion says the system’s next phase is the ability to recognize gender and age. After that? Logo and brand recognition. ‘So if you’re wearing something with a Nike logo, for example, it will be able to detect it and customize its message to you.’ Marion won’t commit a time frame for this, though he’s confident it will happen within the next year. While the company utilizes a pay per display model (one 15-second direct to consumer display costs 90 cents), Marion says a month-long campaign that reaches 70,000 people per system runs for about $350.
