There is little denying the huge impact the new MGM-AEG arena will have on the Las Vegas scene. Without this arena, the potential NHL team would have no chance compared to the fight it’s putting up currently. The 0 million arena is set to be on the cutting edge of technology, but a few feel it may go too far with what is being done for advertising.
In an era where people have become increasingly concerned over the government tapping into our personal lives, and with very little left in terms of privacy, it will be interesting to how people react to being scanned inside the stadium for advertising purposes. Toshiba has signed a decade-long deal with the building and will implement technology to document visitors’ gender and age, digitizing facial images, and tailoring an ad experience for the crowd.
The Big Brother aspect is sure to make a few feel uncomfortable, but Scott Maccabe, president and CEO of Toshiba America Business Solutions, half-jokingly said it’s no different than what the NSA is probably doing anyways. Toshiba Chief Marketing Executive Bill Melo made it a point that no data is recorded. The cameras will measure “dwell time,” also, which Melo said is the amount of time a fan is looking at the screen in the venue.
An example being used is that if the crowd scans a young (under 21), female crowd, it wouldn’t make sense for the arena to show beer and alcohol ads. On the other hand, if it were for a boxing match, those same ads would definitely be used.
