5G’s emergence to add potential applications in OOH

Sophie Harding, Future Director, Mindshare shares consumers’ attitude to emerging areas that 5G will affect, such as virtual reality and visual search.

Sophie Harding, Future Director, Mindshare showcased a range of findings from Mindshare’s Futures Programme, which explored consumer attitudes to emerging areas that 5G will affect, such as virtual reality and visual search.

She shared that 55% of respondents to the Future of Search study said they felt visual search (the act of pointing your phone at an object and receiving additional information on it) was a positive thing – we believe 5G-enabled visual search has tremendous potential applications in OOH, as consumers could ‘magically’ be presented with a wealth of additional information if they look at a billboard through their smartphone camera. But further down the line, there may be opportunities with voice too – as more cars may incorporate smart technology.

5G also brings promise of spending more time in alternative realities, whether virtual (fully immersed through a headset, such as Hololens) or augmented (where a smartphone screen layers additional content on top of the real world, in real time).

Cognitive Scientist, Dr. Alastair Goode, looked at how the human brain reacts in virtual environments, demonstrating that consumers did have a more positive reaction to a brand message when presented in a more immersive, realistic AR environment, compared to a flat, static image on a screen.