At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity today, Microsoft introduced a new kind of Kinect-powered advertising to the marketing world. "NUads," short for natural user-interface ads, allow consumers to yell and/or wave at advertisements and affect what they do.
In the brave new world of NUads, when you see a commercial for a particularly fly pair of sneakers, you can be like, "Damn, those kicks are hyper-double radical to the max!" and you'll say, "Xbox Tweet!" and all your twitter followers will know that you think the hypothetical tennis shoes are the bomb. Or even the bomb-diggity!
"Simply put, NUads break down the barriers between consumers and content on the TV screen. NUads make traditional linear content— like a 30 second TV spot— irresistibly interactive," Microsoft advertising GM Mark Kroese said in a blog post.
Microsoft showed off five NUad scenarios, but the possibilities are endless. Here's a list of what they demoed:
1. When a user says "Xbox tweet," he or she can immediately tweet something about the brand.
2. Saying "Xbox More" lets users request additional information or a coupon to be emailed to them.
3. Saying "Xbox Near Me" pulls up a Bing map that locates the nearest retailer, and sends the user a text message with the location.
4. Saying "Xbox Schedule" sends the user a calender reminder about an upcoming show.
5. When prompted to vote at the end of an ad, the user can wave his or her hand to give feedback.
Here, check out the video yourself:
Is that irresistibly interactive or what? Sadly, if you yell "OH MY GOD, SHUT UP!" at annoying advertisments, it won't affect anything, but try it anyway; it can't hurt.
The first NUads are expected to roll out in spring 2012.
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Weleepoxypoo
I dare say, I'd rather not.
They seem to believe that I find advertisements interesting and engaging.
In truth, there's nothing like a 30 second ad spot interrupting my experience to piss me off.
L3ST3RMZRGS
I remember the days when Nike would pay you to wear their clothes now we have to pay companies to advertise for them?! So ridiculous if it comes to that and you do not have control over it i am going to get rid of my kinect! I do not really use it anyways it's just like an expensive microphone I paid for!
Redd75
This idea seems great...for kids, tween girls and soccer moms. Basically the demographics that Kinect was made for in the first place.
dann140
would we get paid to tweet their ads, you could even pay people in ms points
Aerindel_Prime
I want to kill myself.
zhongkyo
zhongkyo's comment is abusive and has been removed.
gavinfeasel
Hmm. lets take 2 seconds to think about this idea. People always complain about ads on youtube. Why would they not complain about ads on their effing xbox?! Next time, maybe the people at MS should think about how to use the Kenect better for games rather than annoying advertisements
theantigzus
theres already ads, its not forcing it down ur throat you have to select the ad first, but its millions more for microsoft to keep adding more stuff to xbl some cool some not so much
Fiddytree
Microsoft has officially gone bat-poop crazy
Scalfer1
OMG THERES WILLY WONKA'S IDEA WITH THE CANDY AND THE TV!!!!!
Arm3g3don
Why would any one want to "interact" and waste time on an advertisement? I sure know I won't. If Microsoft keeps implementing useless and wasteful "ideas" I will most definitely find a great reason to not waste my hard earned money on Xbox anymore. SMH.
mittens1231
I'm paying a sub fee to interact with ads.......
DPsx72
Well M$ finally found something to offer that the other consoles do not. An advertising scheme you PAY for! Losers, the whole lot of you idiots. Yeah you get what you pay for... My ass.
Symicide
Still. No control. No possibilities.
DPsx72
Well M$ finally found something to offer that the other consoles do not. An advertising scheme you PAY for! Losers, the whole lot of you idiots. Yeah you get what you pay for... My ass.
Twitchin
So when I'm at a friend's house I can scream out "Xbox Tweet" during a tampon commercial?
Taboo5289
As long as it ends in a "fist bump!" moment they may be good.
IHateChrisGore
Wow, more garbage for Kinect. How about we get some features that don't involve movies, TV or advertisements and focus on actual games.
azura20
I'll just record myself giving the command to make an ad go away, and save my vocal chords some trouble.
crocodilius
are nuads anything like numetal?
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