Media and advertising will be everywhere

“Add this to the endangered species: blank spaces,” opens an article in today’s New York Times on pervasive advertising. Some of the innovative ways it mentions in how advertising is filling the blank spaces in our environment include:
* Eggs in supermarkets are being stamped with CBS TV show titles
* US Airways airsick bags and seatback trays
* Chinese food cartons promoting Continental Airways
* Examining table covers in doctor’s surgeries
* Video screens in taxis
* Turnstile gates
* Interactive floor displays that respond to people walking on them
* Toyota and Unilever projecting ads on building sides
* Dry cleaning bags
Absolutely. This is how we described Media is Everywhere, one of the five ideas transforming media that we included in our Future of Media Report 2006:

In the future everything from walls and table-tops to cereal packets and clothes will be screens and video will be everywhere. E-paper will add video and audio functionality to the formerly static pages of newspapers, and books will play commercials for the author’s latest novel. If the advertisers have their way, there will be no respite outside your front door.
Implications: Consumers may respond aggressively to the commercial invasion of public and private spaces. Devices such as TV-B-Gone will be used to shut off or shut out clutter.
Opportunities: Getting messages closer to consumers. For example, since 70-80% of purchasing decisions are made in-store, ads will be in shops and malls rather than on TV at home. Producers of quality video content will reap a bonanza.

Of course there will be pushback from consumers and local government. But within whatever boundaries are created, there will be more experimentation, especially in micro-spaces, which will gradually be filled with moving images. And in time we will grow to accept media and advertising being literally almost anywhere we turn our attention.