In an experiment, advertising giant Dentsu Inc. plans to bring so-called targeted advertising, an increasingly popular sales method in cyberspace, into the physical world.
Dentsu's team, with support from chipmaker Intel Corp. and three other information technology companies, will start running outdoor digital ads as early as June that collect and analyze people's interests and instantaneously promote products to them based on their data.
Targeted advertising is already in wide use on the Internet. Based on such data as web browsing history and purchase history, advertisers are looking to judge consumers by demographics or personal traits so they can hawk the items or services most likely to attract them.