The Ad That Chooses You

I have always been fascinated by guerilla marketing.  Although it is not especially prevalent in the U.S., and I was not aware of it until I left my home in Hickville, Connecticut, it has captured my fullest attention.  Of course its attention-grabbing and cool, that is the entire point, besides the more technical definition found in the American Psychological Association Journal:  "The basic tactics of guerilla marketing are to substitute innovation and creativity for the staid and status quo methods of advertising" (Galer-Unti, Regina A. Guerilla advocacy: Using aggressive marketing techniques for health policy change.  Health Promotion Practice, Vol 10(3), Jul 2009, 325-327).


Beyond that, this article talks about a new type of guerilla marketing used in a recent campaign in London, England set up by a not-for-profit organization in the UK called Plan UK.  The overall goal of the organization is to raise money and awareness for children in third-world countries.

To truly target their female audience, the organization set up a new type of outdoor advertisements--an ad that decides who it will show itself to.  Through a high-def camera and advanced facial recognition technology, the ad (pictured above) recognizes the gender of the person and shows the ad only to women.  The point is to show men what it feels like to have their basic choices taken away, something that many girls in third-world countries experience everyday.


Imagine that, advertising so direct that IT chooses YOU.  What can be done with this technology elsewhere?  Gender specific ads for men and women's products on the streets of New York.  Especially for the beauty industry, with advancements to the technology, imagine standing in front of the ad and it telling you the exact products you need?  Industries in the US could truly benefit from following suit with more aggressive guerrilla marketing campaigns.