Looking For Emotionally Ready Viewers -- Or Perhaps The Most Vulnerable Ones?

TV Watch

A media critique by Wayne Friedman Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013

Forget about what marketers what to know about you on a purely analytical basis – such as what type of pets you have in your home, or your car or food preferences.

Future messaging may look to figure out how you feel on a particular day. Maybe you don’t feel like some generic shopping? What if you are blue? Perhaps an ad or message from a therapist would be in order. Perhaps a smiling face, or a piece of chocolate.

Much has been made of brain-wave technology in consumer research. But the real secret in seeking consumers’ dollars may be new emotion-detecting advertising.

In recent research, inserting ads into videos based on users’ emotions was looked at on a scene-by-scene basis. This proved more effectivethan relying on "textual" cues.

Other media connections already exist. For example, Apple’s motion-sensing chip in its new iPhone can, in effect, tell if a user is "stationary, running, walking, or driving.” That could mean better targeting for a specific ad message. Ford has been messing around with heart-rate monitors built into the driver's seat -- no doubt to calculate all those near-misses from road-rage drivers.

At much lower levels of detection, TV and other media platforms right now can suss out usage history and deliver recommendations concerning new comedies, new dramas or other content – such as displaying an automobile ad after someone searches online for a new car.

But apparently that’s child’s play. The key to future messaging will be getting consumers when they are most ready -- detractors would say most “vulnerable” -- to be affected by a marketing message.

There is still a long way to way. An obvious strategy for marketers would be to run current messaging in shows where viewers already have strong allegiances.  But it’s hard right now to get consumers to see current advertising in a time-shifted show on their DVRs.

On other time-shifted platforms however, such as video-on-demand services, some movement is happening. Comcast, for example, wants to deliver advertising from a recent episode of ABC’s “Castle” onto a “Castle” episode from three seasons ago.

But what is my emotional state during that episode -- or when a GEICO commercial or Apple iPhone ad appears? That can be important -- to some marketer down the road.