Mini Introduces RFID-Activated Billboards 138
frinkster writes "MINI USA has placed interactive billboards in 4 US cities (Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco) and invited a few hundred MINI owners in those cities to join their targeted 'advertisement' pilot program. The owners sign up on MINI's website and receive an RFID keyfob in the mail. When that MINI owner drives by the billboard, a targeted message appears. Each owner tells MINI what to show when they drive by, such as 'Jim, you are one sexy beast.' If the pilot program is successful, MINI plans to put up more billboards in more cities and allow every owner to participate. MINI swears that no personal information in contained in the keyfobs and that all communication between the MINI and the owner is subject to their privacy policy and thus the program is completely safe. But how well will they keep their billboard logs away from the prying eyes of law enforcement or private detectives? And what are they doing to prevent 'hackers' from changing the personal messages to insults, such as 'Jim, nice to see you finally emerge from your mother's basement'?" MINI calls the interactive billboards "Motherboards."
What range? (Score:5, Insightful)
If RFID is readable at distances of 50-100 feet or so, that's opens a bunch of issues people have been saying can't happen.
Anyone with any more detailed knowledge about RFID care to chime in on this?
Re:You get a RFID tag IN THE MAIL? (Score:2, Insightful)
"Jim! TURN HERE-> "
And the question is, ???WHY???? (Score:3, Insightful)
This makes as much sense to me as signing up for a free poke in the eye.
Re:Ya... (Score:2, Insightful)
KeyFobs still linked to PID (Score:4, Insightful)
Doesn't really matter. All you need to know as a marketeer is the unique ID of the FOB. When the FOB was registered your name, etc. goes into the master DB in the sky and from that point forward any POS or PO-Advertisement that sees your FOB will have access to your personally identifiable consumer portrait.
The "see some stupid phrase on a billboard as you're driving to your lifeless cube" game is just a way to train various peons to be good consumers and hang onto their FOB.
Brilliant marketing (Score:3, Insightful)
I welcome our targeted advertising overlords. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You get a RFID tag IN THE MAIL? (Score:3, Insightful)
Ok, but it's still advertising by Mini regardless of what vehicle is near it. What difference does it make which vehicle triggers it?
And I'm betting a number of tags will mysteriously get lost in the mail and end up on eBay.
What makes you say that? I've never had anything stolen from my mail, which I actually find kind of remarkable considering how many people have access to it. In either case, the post office has pretty good security... why would you expect this to be stolen more than any other package?
If it's a keyfob, then it will also trigger the signs when someone is driving their OTHER non-Mini vehicle. Many families have two cars, and people drive other cars.
Ok. And?
It's still kind of cool, and it's still eye-catching advertising for Mini (regardless of which specific make and model of car is driving by) so I don't see why this would even be an issue.
The article says "When the boards detect that you are about the drive by, they deliver a personal message based on the information you originally gave." In other words, when you're driving 70mph down the road, make sure you look up for your important message from your car manufacturer -- and then miss your turn.
If you frequently miss turns because of billboards, even animated ones, you're probably not fit to drive in the first place. Again, I don't see why this would be an issue.
Opposite extreme: you're stuck in traffic for 50 minutes underneath the sign.
That would be the exact same as if you didn't have the keyfob, except perhaps mildly less boring. Once more, I don't see how it's an issue.
You're not very good at this whole "let's make up some issues so I sound smarter than the entire ad agency" post thing.