Being in attendance at Manchester Digital’s ‘Digital Revolution’ event on Friday we (as expected) gained quite an insight into Manchester’s current digital situation and where it’s heading. There were some excellent speakers present, discussing the sector including; Tony Fogget, Chair of Manchester Digital and CEO of Code Computerlove, Simon Wharton, CEO of PushOn, Jeff Coughlan of Matmi, Jamil Khalil, founder of content management site Wakelet and many more…

One speaker, Graham Pearce, head of technology media and telecoms at KPMG, presented us with a survey on how different countries react to what they believe is important and will progress in the digital world over the coming years. An example of this is that a larger percentage in China think that driverless cars will be a hit whereas in the US they are not so convinced. Graham spoke of his experiences working in New Zealand and his introduction to ‘Artificial Intelligence’. This doesn’t mean UFO spotting, but more along the lines of intelligent advertising boards on the sides of bus stops. They have the ability (technology) to read your gender and height and analyse body language, this will then translate to a tailored advert specifically designed to promote what you want to see. If that isn’t enough to excite any marketer, the advanced analytics used on these boards monitor how long you look at specific ads in order to evaluate what you will be most

interested in and then display this directly to you. Mind blowing stuff!

We were surprised that this kind of technology is already being tried and tested and being heavily involved in the marketing industry- we think it’s really exciting. We decided to do some research of our own and found that the Smart Interactive Advertising Board (SIAB) is very much a real thing and has already been designed and developed into prototype stage. Here’s a more detailed explanation we found into how the board works… “A Smart Interactive Advertising Board (SIAB) has been designed and developed. This board is capable of interacting with humans in close proximity. A number of sensor devices are used in the board where sensors inputs (Bluetooth IDs and distance sensor readings) create an innovative form of user interaction with the board. The SIAB display is determined by user position, location, and movements.” We certainly hope it isn’t too long before this becomes a popular form of advertising worldwide, opening the doors to a whole new way of monitoring and targeting demographics. After a fantastic event, we would like to thank all the speakers and panellists in attendance for providing us with their insight into where we are and where we are heading as a city.

Simon Wharton, CEO, PushOn Gez O’Brien, Stardotstar Andrew Thomas, The Greenfield Jeff Coughlan, Matmi Roberto Simi, Topspin Digital Paul Smith, co-founder, Ignite 100 Al Mackin, Formisimo Ben Hookway, Relative Insight Paul Stacey, Fatsoma Chris Garrett, Beatroot Jamil Khalil, Founder, Wakelet Michael Taylor, Thinkmore Paul Bason, MMU Katie Gallagher, Manchester Digital Graham Pearce, Head of Technology Media and Telecoms (TMT) for the regions, KPMG Tony Foggett, Chair of Manchester Digital and CEO of Code Computerlove