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Envisioning a Media of Things
2010 December 03 By Larry Johnson

In a previous post on how brands might take advantage of the coming Internet of Things (wherein most of the everyday objects in our lives are connected and equipped with sensors gathering data about the world around them), I introduced a notion I called the "Media of Things." This post envisions this new idea in more detail.

Take your average city. Imagine all the advertising media plastering its streets - sidewalk kiosks, bus shelters, billboards, posters, screens in malls and on top of subway stations. The occasional bit of video aside, all this out-of-home media is static. Closed. Unconnected. A one-way broadcast.

Now, what if you were to take that media and add the technologies behind the Internet of Things: ubiquitous connectivity and suddenly cheap sensors streaming out data. Suddenly you've turned every billboard and bus shelter into an intelligent, communicative node in the Internet of Things. You've just created a wildly-versatile infrastructure for new advertising ideas.

I saw a first glimmer of the Media of Things when we worked on Chapter 2 of the Fiesta Movement with Undercurrent + Team Detroit. As part of that program, we asked people to check-in at Fiesta billboards using FourSquare - turning each billboard into a crude "people sensor." We then reflected that check-in activity on the Movement's website. That's a Media of Things idea - albeit in cardboard and duct-tape form.

Since it's a bit of an abstract notion, let's bring it to life in a simple scenario which I'll call: Go Giants Orange (Apologies, we're still psyched about our World Series win.)

Go Giants Orange
On display-equipped bus shelters around San Francisco, we'd ask fans to show their orange. A camera built into every board would capture the responses. (This camera would be just one of the many sensors - proximity, touch, temperature and more - packed into each placement. Finding new ways to combine these sensors and derive meaning this data will be a key creative skill.) Since the board is connected to the web, the feed from the camera is easily sent to software searching for the Giants signature shade. As people flock to the boards wearing their orange, this data - gathered from all the placements all over the city - could feed a growing visualization of SF's collective love for their team.

Sure, you could do this as a one-off custom-built billboard yesterday. But that's the point. The media of things is an infrastructure, where concepts like this can be executed easily, on a huge scale.

So, to break it down:

  1. Connect out-of-home media to Internet

  2. Pack sensors of all kinds into it

  3. Provoke interactions and gather data

  4. Use that data to create interesting, interactive stories and experiences

  5. Do it again, but totally different this time

This scenario is just one idea - if you have any thoughts about how you would utilize the Media of Things, or any other thoughts on the matter, I'd love to hear them.

Comments

  • Tim says:
    Posted: 12.03.10

    I love this idea of connecting the built environment. I wonder what it might look like through the lens of utility as opposed to communication. Maybe I'll walk over to your desk to talk about it.

  • JasonM says:
    Posted: 12.06.10

    Digital signage networks (where the signs talk to each other) already exist and some are also connected to the Internet. From what I’ve seen while researching digital signage/kiosks for one of our clients this space is exploding right now. Your notion of equipping signs with sensors and recognition software to analyze the input is the next logical step on the path to the inevitable Minority Report future we all simultaneously fear but secretly wish for. Those signs will recognize you then poll your data from Facebook and then talk to your connected things and then generate an advertisement for you and then email you a 10% off coupon. And you will love it.

  • Larry says:
    Posted: 12.06.10

    Tim: Yeah, this scenario imagines the media of things used for marketing communications, but you could certainly take the same infrastructure and offer something useful. JasonM: I hadn't thought about the sign talking to your connected things...that could be pretty fun actually. A privacy nightmare, but fun!

  • Katharine Norwood says:
    Posted: 12.06.10

    This is a very interesting extension of the Internet of Things, for sure. Thanks for sharing. I would add two things: First, The best out-of-home media is never static, in a fuzzier cultural sense. Though it might not blink and speak back or allow us to speak *in*, though it may be “closed” in that particular sense, great creative resonates, travels, takes on a life of its own in the minds of those who experience it and in their respective worlds. It has a sort of psychic life in the larger culture. I would hate to see new interactive bells and whistles replace good low-tech creative, just for the sake of being shiny and new. That said, I think it’s very exciting to think about the various creative ways in which these new technologies could enable people to create their own stories and experiences. And this, to me, is the most potentially interesting benefit of these technologies for brands. How can such interactive media enrich our lives, enable us to play, enable us to connect with each other and share our own stories? When brands become vehicles for this type of interpersonal connectedness – instead of just using the Media of Things for data mining – they will be loved. Otherwise, and despite all the new bells and whistles they will become just another loud and ephemeral means of broadcasting meaningless messages while harvesting our data. *Bleck*.

  • Larry says:
    Posted: 12.06.10

    Katherine: I definitely (pretty much) agree. Blinking screens and data mining is not at all what this ought to be about (though we're sure to see that happen - sigh). That's boring - a dead end. On the other hand, gathering data about the real world and using it to tell interesting stories: that's a place where you can create new ideas that, to your point, resonate and travel in the culture.

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Larry Johnson

Associate Director of Strategy

  @happy_tomorrow

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