Want to buy milk? Check your local billboard!

Google has filed a patent for a system to have digital billboards connected to the inventory at a nearby store for advertised products. So when you are out driving for milk, you can check the billboard to see if the nearby store has stock! Isn’t that cool? When I read that last week on New Scientist, i was wondering about the business potential for such an idea? My doubts were erased by a report in Livescience today, that says Digital Billboards are likely to become a $10B market by 2010. Way to go Google.


Comments

  1. Anonymous said January 18, 2007, 9:45 pm:

    The problem with billboard is it can advertise just milk. Not lactose free, not 1% reduced fat, not 2% reduced fat, not fat-free. A location aware cellphone could do all of this based on personal preferences. But just incase I missed that hit, there is always a huge billboard around the corner reminding me the whole look-how-helpful-Google-is. Any case, its easier to find some discount on milk.

  2. Anonymous said January 18, 2007, 10:15 pm:

    Good point Kesava. I just used milk as an example. Maybe its a bad one. I think this idea is powerful and could be used for better things. Say Wii game console in the nearby store – last 2 in stock or something like that could drive traffic to your store.