As you may know, one of Winter Mushroom's innovations is to give you the ability to choose who you display your content to, based on the gender and apparent age of the people passing in front of the screens. To do this, we use a sensor that analyses the shape of the face of everyone who walks past our screens.

 

But if this sensor uses the shape of your face, what about your privacy?

 

The founders of Winter Mushroom created this sensor with the aim of offering an alternative to the highly data-intensive advertising that exists on the web, in particular through players such as Facebook® or Critéo®.

 

To do this, they created an algorithm based on the only data that people usually expose to everyone: their physical appearance, and in particular their face. Having said that, we have gone further: our algorithms do not save any faces, and face data remains in our system for less than 1/20th of a second.

 

Furthermore, the face data is not exported, nor can it be exported to the internet, so that no one, not even Winter Mushroom employees, can view it.

 

No link is made between the face and the identity of the person, which makes it totally impossible to geo-locate someone because they have passed in front of one of our screens, or to offer a product based on the private data (such as previous purchases, or hobbies) of the person.

 

Why not go all the way and offer screens without any targeting?

 

Our solution offers several advantages for shoppers who are exposed to our screens:

 

- The content displayed on the screens is more likely to be of interest to them, and therefore their experience is more pleasant during their visit to the shop

 

- Our solution requires fewer screens to be effective from a communication point of view (we remember better a message that is aimed at us, rather than a generic message). Shoppers are therefore exposed to fewer but more relevant advertising messages.

 

- We don't do mass marketing where we encourage a customer to buy a product, not because they need it but because there is a promotion. Our aim is to put the product and the customer's need back at the centre of advertisers' and shops' concerns. Winter Mushroom is opposed to waste and refuses to push customers to over-consumption.

 

But then, what is the interest for the shop or the advertiser to use Winter Mushroom rather than a competing solution?

 

For advertisers too, Winter Mushroom has advantages :

 

- The in-store customer experience is enhanced by customising the displays for each customer group. A pleasant environment away from mass consumption encourages the customer to stay longer in the shop.

 

- The messages displayed are more effective because they are more likely to be relevant to the person viewing them.

 

- Messages are delivered directly to the point of sale. Where the customer can make a purchase immediately if they are interested in the communication.

 

- By choosing different segments of the population, more content can be distributed than the usual loop of 10 visuals shown to everyone. The impact is maximised for the shop or the advertiser.

 

- The advertiser knows how many people have viewed its message and has metrics similar to those it already uses on the web, all without having used personal data.