Here’s a way to put a bug in someone’s ear. Is it a great new marketing technique, or really, really creepy? The Boston Globe has the story.
Marketers around the world are using innovative audio technology that sends sound in a narrow beam, just like light, making it possible to direct messages right into consumers’ ears while they shop or sit in waiting rooms.
The audio spotlight device, created by Watertown firm Holosonic Research Labs Inc., has been used to hawk everything from cereals in supermarket aisles to glasses at doctor’s offices. The messages are often quick and targeted — and a little creepy to the uninitiated.
Court TV recently installed the audio spotlight in ceilings of bookstores to promote the network’s new murder-mystery show. A voice, whispering, “Hey, you, can you hear me? Do you ever think about murder?” was beamed toward customers as they browsed the mystery section in several independent bookstores in New York.
Has anyone heard of this before? How come the Globe article is the first I’ve heard of it? I can imagine it’s very, very effective, but frankly, if a marketer sent me some creepy message while I was shopping and I didn’t like it, I’d go ballistic.
A little restraint will be necessary. Just because marketers can do something doesn’t mean they should.
UPDATE: Greg Harris at Mobivity found this demonstration. Forget the cheeky British voiceover and cute library demo; put this in the hands of a ethically challenged Marketing Director and it’ll be super-creepy.
