While marketers are always finding new ways to track advertising effectiveness, as of yet, there are few ways to measure emotional response short of filming reactions to outdoor displays or sifting through complaints on your Twitter feed. But Google might be about to change that. The company was recently awarded a patent for pay-per gaze advertising, a potential way to monetize Google Glass, the wearable computer the brand is currently developing.
The way this tracking function will work is by measuring not just the number of views, but how people react emotionally to an ad. An eye-tracking system would be used to determine what the Glass user is looking at. Google also claims that the tracking system can judge a person’s emotional reaction to an ad simply by measuring pupil dilation while an ad is being viewed.
Google has put a lot of money into the research and development of Google Glass, which might be released to consumers as early as 2014. Ad payment would be very simple with this technology. Every time an ad is registered as viewed, the advertiser gets charged.
Of course, filling out a patent doesn’t always mean that the technology is going to be put to use. Microsoft has applied for a patent that had similar technological features for its Xbox gaming platforms. But such technology has yet to see the light of day.
And it may not come to fruition at all. Some say that using pupil dilation to measure reaction is heavily flawed, so while Google would be able to measure how many people saw an ad, it would be hard to get an accurate reading on their reactions.
Topping it all off is the speculation on Google Glass on the whole. Many people think it will be used only by certain groups. Others think it will be the next ubiquitous gadget (Both England and the State of Virginia are already trying to ban its use by drivers).
Either way, the prospect of measuring emotional response in your target audience is interesting at the very least. Looking forward to seeing what develops.