Saturday, May 07 2011
Immersive Labs makes ads relevant through facial-recognition technology
Alessio Signorini via Flickr
Date Founded: December 2010
Founders: Jason Sosa, Alessio Signorini, and Christopher Piekarski
Concept: Brings Minority Report to life by using facial recognition technology to make OOH ads relevant to passerbys. The smart ads will be able to estimate a user’s age and sex to display a relevant message (like beer or tampons).
Location: New York, NY and Boulder, CO
Funding: Raising $740,000. Techstars is an investor.
Why You Should Care: Immersive Labs garnered a lot of attention as a TechStars NYC startup that’s tapping into a big market.
“Digital signs and OOH is a $3.5 billion business,” Sosa says. It’s the fastest growing advertising opportunity next to internet advertising. By 2016, OOH advertising spending is expected to reach $6 billion.
A company that can minimize waste has the potential to own the industry. Also, Immersive seems to work. Sosa says the technology has been store tested, and it increases the time viewers spend looking at digital signs by 60%.
