The New York Times is reporting that marketers plan to address drivers by name on billboards using RFID to identify the vehicle and thereby the driver inside.
Each day, it seems, marketers go further in their quest to deliver messages so engaging and personalized that one cannot help feeling special. The latest step will be seen today in four cities when Mini USA begins delivering custom messages to Mini Cooper owners on digital signs the company calls "talking" billboards.
The boards, which usually carry typical advertising, are programmed to identify approaching Mini drivers through a coded signal from a radio chip embedded in their key fob. The messages are personal, based on questionnaires that owners filled out: "Mary, moving at the speed of justice," if Mary is a lawyer, or "Mike, the special of the day is speed," if Mike is a chef.
The Times article answered a couple questions we were thinking. Like what happens if several cars with RFID's arrive at once?
What happens if several Minis arrive at the same time? (The sign picks up the nearest car, then switches after 10 seconds.)
Can it be hacked?
Can the system be hacked so that unexpected messages appear? (No more so than a digital billboard with no RFID links.)
That's a yes on the hacking then -- any digital billboard can be hacked. You can imagine the kind of personal message a hacked RFID billboard might deliver.
The article says som experts are concerned drivers could be distracted and get into accidents because of the name calling signs.
The experiment adds a new wrinkle to the wrangling among marketers and safety experts over whether drivers might be dangerously distracted by messages flashed on the growing number of digital billboards around the nation. Some communities have forced billboard owners to modify or turn off such signs, and the federal government has said it will soon publish a review of the research on the subject.
Safety experts should be very concerned. What's more distracting for drivers than addressing them by name on a huge billboard? Everbody pays attention to their own name. That even beats billboards that distract by being sexy like the Pretty Polly billboard and the Wonderbra Eva Herzigova Billboard.
