Ambient Monitoring in the Consumer Space: Innovative Service or Corporate Big Brother?

Abstract

Imagine if your living room was completely tuned in. It sees that Freddy is watching football so he gets only humorous ads, which is what he likes. It can see that Mike and Maria are fighting, so it turns down

the volume and serves ads for romantic restaurants. It knows that 6-year old Billy turned on the game system, so it turns on the parental filters and starts the game at novice level. Some people react to these

possibilities with excitement. Some recoil in horror. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between and is much more complicated than yes or no. It depends on a mix of technological, legal, procedural, psychological, and design factors. It needs to be fully under the control of the user, transparent enough to clearly communicate privacy and security implications, and yet still work effectively to deliver an

engaging user experience. Research into these issues is just beginning, but is critical to this emerging field.

The Past

In the past:

• Targeted marketing was based on demographic profiles that rarely

got more specific than zip codes or blocks.

• Even when cable systems could serve different ads to each house, it

didn’t know that much about each household.

• There was no way to know which household members were

watching at the time.

The Creepy World

In the creepy world:

• The monitoring system notes that Sally and Grandma are watching

Grandma’s preferred soap operas.

• The monitoring system notes that they are happy, suggesting an

impulse purchase.

• The highest bid for this situation comes from a candy company and

the targeted ad is served.

The Future

But when customer preferences, acceptability, emotional design,

and smart marketing are included, the situation gets much better.

• The monitoring system notes that Sally and Grandma are watching

Grandma’s preferred soap operas.

• Parental controls filter out all junk food ads. So do smart

marketing principles.

• Grandma and Sally are smiling and having a great time together.,

suggesting a toy ad with a happy theme.

• But first the system looks at the individual profiles and verifies that

this is appropriate. Sally’s birthday is coming up and Sally loves

Hello Kitty. This ad is selected.

• Demographics are added to ensure that the Hello Kitty product fits

the profile of the family – it is in their income bracket profile.

My son might

like this beer

commercial.

Grandma, why

is her bathing

suit so small?

Ugh!! It’s almost

like they knew

Sally was watching

my soaps with me!

I want candy!

I want candy!

I want candy!

That would

make a nice

birthday gift!

Oh, I love

Hello Kitty !!!