So we know that the UK spends more on CCTV cameras per capita of any country in Europe. But, have you heard the latest way the authorities are going to use them? Brands beware …
The UK authorities have been struggling to make their facial recognition software work. Apparently its not as easy as we see it on 24 or Spooks … you can’t just cross reference 60 million people and find a perfect match in a few seconds. Often a hoody’s hood gets in the way - or the camera angle isn’t right and the suspect gets away. It takes your local CID hours to trawl through CCTV footage to find the crim they are after, and this costs them resources they don’t have.
So, they are planning to adapt their facial recognition software to search and recognise logos and emblems on suspects clothing instead. “We say to the machine, ‘there’s a Coke logo, go and find it’,” said David McIntosh, of Omniperception to the BBC. “The technology is like a bloodhound. You give it a smell and it will go off looking for it.” This fiendish tech is already being used by brand sponsors of sports events to track the visibility of their logos during TV coverage. But how will good corporate citizens feel about this latest twist?
Does the CMO of a big friendly brand say “Okay, my multi million dollar logo is being used to fight crime”. Or, does he say “Shit. Social menaces are maligning my mighty marque”. Either way, brands clearly have no choice. But it is an excellent example of brands being forced to let go in the digital age. To take themselves less seriously. To go with the flow.
Imagine a league table of the brands most popular with binge drinking girls. Or happy slappers. Imagine an underground communications campaign based upon the infamy that these statistics create. Heaven forbid, imagine user generated content on the subject! And worse still - a start up clothing brand with a purposefully hard to recognise logo. I can see a highly profitable line of ‘camera evasion’ leisurewear being mass produced in Guangzhou as I write.
Loading ...
Post a comment