If you are driving in the Atlanta area, a digital billboard may warn you of a hidden danger in your car…your innocent looking vehicle could be a Decepticon! Or, if you’re lucky, an Autobot. It’s all in fun to promote the latest Transformers movie, “The Last Knight,” due in theaters June 21st.
Paramount Pictures has teamed up with Lamar advertising for the campaign. The latest in vehicle recognition technology is being employed to pull it off. A camera equipped with the technology is mounted about 1,000 feet in front of the billboard. It scans the grills in the oncoming traffic and when one is recognized, the generic message on the billboard changes to specify the make and model of that vehicle. The message then reads as shown above, “Warning: Your Nissan Altima may be a Decepticon.” or “Attention: Your Honda Civic is an Autobot!”
The system even takes into account the speed of the traffic and calculates the exact moment and length of time to display the personalized message.
The campaign is running in several major cities until June 25th. In addition to Atlanta, the campaign is also running in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Oklahoma City.
This isn’t the first time this type of technology has been used…last year it was used as part of a campaign for Chevrolet, targeting drivers of that brand and delivering relevant content at the right time for them.
Ian Dallimore is Lamar Outdoor’s Director of Innovation and Sales strategy. He says he’s excited about the campaign. Dallimore says, “Data based technology is taking digital out of home to a new level. We expect this campaign to generate a lot of buzz for the movie and we can’t wait to see how fans react.”
I’m heading out to see which side my car is on. Hopefully it will be an Autobot and I’ll run into Bee somewhere along the way!