Sony Patents an Interactive Commercial Concept - The UpStream

Sony Patents an Interactive Commercial Concept

posted Sunday Aug 26, 2012 by Scott Ertz

Sony Patents an Interactive Commercial Concept

Sony has filed a patent for the most interesting and ridiculous use for the PlayStation Move we have seen yet. The patent filing describes it as a "system for converting television commercials into interactive networked video games." What it really means is that Sony has found a way to make commercials fully interactive, but not in a way that makes the commercial more memorable, but instead making the customer jump through hoops, possibly literally, in order to speed up or skip the commercial entirely.

While technologically the idea is pretty cool, there is little chance that an advertiser would want to get involved. One of the examples, pictured after the break, shows the example of someone shouting "McDonald's" at their television in order to skip the rest of the commercial and get back to the program. There is little to no chance that a true advertiser would be interested in giving the people they are trying to convince to be their customers the ability to skip the commercial experience they worked hard to produce.

Want to see how throwing a pickle at your television factors into the equation? Hit the break to find out.

In addition to skipping the advertisement by yelling at your television, Sony also imagines a day where you could interact with the advertisement itself. Similar to Prize Monkey, you would use your PlayStation Move to throw pickles at your television in order to finish a burger and speed up the commercial. Now, minus the speed up, if you were to implement this at, say the restaurant itself, you could be rewarded with a coupon or something of the sort. You could even offer a promo code through the PlayStation if you were to interact.

While the idea is interesting, the skipping the commercial isn't really going to win with advertisers unless Sony can figure out how to keep engagement. I really do like the innovation coming out of Sony, though.

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