The London transport system is known for being saturated with print ads, with the tunnel walls, sides of escalators, and bus and train carriages plastered with the latest campaigns from global brands. Now, it has been revealed that commuters will soon be presented with targeted content, thanks to beacon technology.

For travellers who let their apps access their location, push notifications will be sent to them whilst travelling on any of the 500 buses that have this technology installed. The advertising company behind this initiative, Exerion Media, plans for this to monetize around 300,000 bus users each day. Messages will be sent in-app via Bluetooth, and based on the user’s travel location- if a traveller happens to pass a participating brand store for instance, they could receive timely alerts such as sales news or discount codes. In addition, discussions are in place to display adverts within buses themselves, alerting travellers to the new technology, how to use it, and which apps to download.

But some members of the public have found beacon usage invasive, particularly if they are unaware it is being used in the first place. Last year for instance, there was uproar amongst New Yorkers, who were left shocked and angered to receive location-based push notifications. Unbeknownst to them, the city had agreed on a collaboration with an advertising company to install hundreds of beacons inside phone-booths. These then used Bluetooth technology to allow advertisers to target passing smartphone users with messages based on their location, and other personal data such as age and gender. What concerns us most, is the “Big Brother” effect of this technology, especially if travellers don’t know where beacons and placed, and how they’re monitoring us. The good news is though, that if we are made aware of their presence, we are able to opt in or out of being targeted as we please.

Of course, beacon technology is already in place in the public domain, with retailers such as House of Fraser having fitted devices installed in store mannequins in order to send out information about the products displayed, to passing shoppers. There are around 50,000 public beacons in use currently, but this figure is set to rise dramatically, as more and more retailers test out and implement the technology. And its not just business marketers who have a use for beacons, we imagine that it will also soon have a firm place in the Internet of Things for instance, when manufacturers consider how to tailor their products to a consumer’s exact needs. For example, we can see this being used to recommend content on a user’s smart TV or smart fridge for instance, based on preferences within their apps such as Netflix or MyFitnessPal.

What do you think of the news that beacons might soon be used to target commuters? Do you think location-based ads will help inform our travel and purchasing decisions, or be an unwelcome addition to a transport system already saturated with ads? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.