By Doug Stephens<\/p>\n

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I saw a tweet last week that caught my attention.\u00a0 It linked to an article that outlined a new line of retail store signage equipped with anonymous facial recognition software – \u00a0software that detects the facial characteristics of the person standing in front of it, determines their gender and age and serves up video content that\u2019s appropriately targeted to their likely interests.\u00a0 The Tweeter asked readers if they thought this sort of technology was \u201ccool or creepy?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve heard that same question asked. \u00a0In fact, I think I’ve even asked it myself on occasion. \u00a0We\u2019re seeing an awful lot of pretty mind-bending technologies these days, many of which are testing the boundaries of our sensibilities.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s location aware technology like Foursquare Radar<\/a><\/strong>, facial recognition technology like Cognovision<\/a><\/strong>, or social ads<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>that seem to be popping up just about everywhere, <\/strong>or any number of other new technologies, networks or platforms,\u00a0<\/strong>it’s easy to get caught up in the \u00a0\u201ccool or creepy\u201d debate.<\/p>\n

But \u00a0we’re looking at this the wrong way. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I mean, imagine how creepy the voices on the other end of the first telephones must have sounded. Or how unusual the first human image that appeared on a television set must have looked.\u00a0 Think of how weird it must have felt to be propelled along in the first automobile or airplane.\u00a0 The truth is, most of the technologies that we can’t live without today began as being sort of creepy, \u00a0strange or uncomfortable. \u00a0And by the same token, much of the stuff we all thought was so cool, like Palm Pilot’s, Segways and 3-D television for example, didn’t have nearly the kind of profound popularity many would have expected.<\/p>\n

And so we have to get beyond the whole cool or creepy thing. \u00a0It’s irrelevant and unproductive.<\/p>\n

The most important questions that we, as retail and marketing professionals, need to be asking when a new technolgy hits the radar are, \u201cIs it relevant?\u201d \u201cDoes it honestly solve a real consumer problem?\u201d \u00a0and \u201cWill it create genuinely better and more gratifying consumer experiences?\u201d<\/p>\n

The point is, we\u2019re just barely across the threshold of a remarkable period of innovation and technology in retailing.\u00a0 A lot of what we\u2019re going to see in the months and years ahead will seem compelling and uncomfortable all at once \u2013 so we have to stop fixating on our subjective feelings about things and focus instead on asking what’s relevant and what’s not. What’s useful and what’s useless?<\/p>\n

History is pretty clear; if a technology solves a deep-seated consumer problem, whether it\u2019s cool or creepy won\u2019t matter a bit. \u00a0It will be embraced wholeheartedly!<\/p>\n

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