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Advertising Mazda

Mazda ad wall watches the watchers with live head tracking tally

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By John Glenday | Reporter

February 9, 2017 | 2 min read

Vehicle manufacturer Mazda has put itself in the driving seat of crowd detection and facial recognition software in the form of a head turning billboard which keeps watch on who is looks directly at it and who walks past.

Erected within Toronto’s Royal Bank Plaza the video screen plays a 15-second loop of a MX-5 RF, enticing passers-by to give it a quick swatch. What is less apparent is that the display is equally observant, using discreet cameras to keep a running tally of those whose interest was piqued.

Ari Elkouby, creative director at J. Walter Thompson Canada, commented: “The billboard uses a combination of crowd detection and facial recognition technology. [The software] identifies when someone is in the vicinity of the board and then verifies through a number of separate algorithms that a person has turned their head to towards our hidden camera.

“To bring this idea to life, the video wall required a custom, industrial-grade computer upgrade that could process high-frame-rate video while rendering dynamic data in real-time.”

The display forms part of a month-long out-of-home campaign running throughout the Canadian capital.

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