In stark contrast to online advertising campaigns, advertisement in the urban space has lost attention and seems to be stuck in the Gutenberg era. The emergence of hybrid urban spaces, however, allows for novel possibilities to bring back customers’ attention and interest. In this publication we review current interactive advertisement campaigns, investigate the use of implicit (age, gender, location) and explicit (2D and 3D gestures) interactions of the user to adjust the ad, and discuss novel questions and responsibilities that are driven by these new advertisement formats. To evaluate different aspects on the behavior and acceptably of such novel kind of advertisement we have built a prototypical system and put it into a shopping mall. The conducted user study includes 98 random visitors of the mall who have first tested the system and then filled out a questionnaire.

1. Interacting with Ads in
Hybrid Urban Space
Prof. Dr. Matthias Wölfel

2. It‘s more than simply a technological revolution;
it‘s a cultural revolution we‘re undergoing now.
“ Joseph Grima
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3. Our goal was to evaluate
different aspects of
responsive advertisement in
hybrid urban space
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4. Definition
HYBRID URBAN SPACE
 For this presentation we refer to hybrid urban space as the digital
augmentation of space, blurring the borders between physical and virtual
or analog and digital space.
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5. ... raises a lot of questions
RESPONSIVE ADVERTISEMENT
 How to protect personal data?
 How to prevent unwanted market manipulations?
 How to prevent competition for user attention, leading to distraction and
“visual noise”?
 How to address personal topics, without being offending and making
people ashamed?
 How to determine if somebody does not want to be addressed?
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6. ... cannot be taken for granted
INTERACTION PARADIGMS
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 If it comes to interacting in a HUS, traditional interaction paradigms known
from mouse and keyboard interaction – such as pointing – are not working
anymore.
 Besides other challenges, the interactive device needs to
1. first get noticed,
2. demonstrate its interactivity, and
3. motivate to interact with it.

7. Using Implicit Interaction
URBAN ADVERTISEMENT
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 Implicit Interaction describes the
interaction of a user who isn’t actually
aware of the interaction.

8. Using Inadvertent Interaction
URBAN ADVERTISEMENT
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 The interaction of a user who is
not actually aware of the
interaction and has not realized it
at first, suddenly realizes the effect
and now uses his/her “new
possibilities” fully aware.

9. Using Explicit Interaction
URBAN ADVERTISEMENT
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 Explicit Interaction describes the
interaction of a user who
operates a system knowingly to
achieve a certain goal.

10. Example of Implicit and Inadvertent Interaction used in our Installation
URBAN ADVERTISEMENT
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 Age and gender estimates determine the
shown mannequin.
 The mannequin is resembling some actions of
the user.
 After noting, this is used to control the
mannequin to see the clothing from different
viewing angels.

11. Example of Explicit Interaction used in our Installation
URBAN ADVERTISEMENT
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 Sliding the right hand to left in front of the
head: The next top slides into the image and
gets pulled on the virtual mannequin.
 Sliding the right hand to left in front of the belt:
The next bottom slides into the image and gets
pulled on the virtual mannequin.
 Sliding the left hand to right in front of the
head: The previous top slides into the image
and gets pulled on the virtual mannequin.
 Sliding the left hand to right in front of the belt:
The previous bottom slides into the image
and gets pulled on the virtual mannequin.

12. TECHNICAL SETUP
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Projection Area
RGB Camera Kinect Camera
Area of Interaction
Gender & Age
Estimation
3D Gesture
Recognition
Image Generation

13. 13
Interactive Shop Window
SHOWREAL

14. PARTICIPANTS
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30
25
12
12
10
11
10 .. 20 20 .. 30 30 .. 40
40 .. 50 50 .. 60 60 ..70
40
58
Male Female
Gender Age
98 randomly selected people participated in the survey.
They got recruted in a shopping mall.

15. Online Hybrid Space
FINDINGS
15
29
43
20
5
45
45
6 1
Adaptive advertisement is helpful for me.
strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

16. 31
54
11 1
FINDINGS
16
I feel better informed.
strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

17. 19
58
13
5
FINDINGS
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My buying interest is raised.
strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

18. 11
18
43
26
FINDINGS
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I care how my personal data is used.
strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

19. 3D GesturesTouch
19
20
34
24
FINDINGS
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I feel uncomfortable using … in public.
3
12
47
35
strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

20. It is not far-fetched that personal and interactive advertisement in
the hybrid urban space is coming – if not already here. In what
format and for what purposes, is as always, up to us. What is
technologically possible is not necessarily socially and legally
permissible. What is at stake isn’t purely a matter of annoying
ads – it is a deep set of customer protections. Consumers will
soon have to decide what they are willing to accept. Some will be
turned off by constant deeply personalized ads as it has seemed
to be happened already for online advertisement. Others will
enjoy the greater relevance of the new offers presented to them.
It is time, already, to start a discussion.
“ Matthias Wölfel
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