Castrol uses cameras and digital billboards to talk directly to motorists

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 21-Sep-09, 08:40

LONDON - Castrol is combining speed camera technology with digital roadside billboards to tell around 200,000 drivers what the best oil for their vehicle is in a new ad campaign.

Ogilvy Advertising conceived the idea, which is an innovative recasting of Castrol's pre-existing 'Right Oil Right Car' service.

This allows anyone to find out what is the best Castrol oil product for their car by telling Castrol what their registration plate number is via mobile or online.

The idea involves setting up registration plate number recognition cameras at five slow-moving traffic sites in London, which will operate for two weeks from today.

The technology was provided by the Create division of digital billboard owner Clear Channel Outdoor. Media space on the billboards was bought by Mindshare.

When a camera picks up a registration plate number it searches the DVLA database for the make and model of the vehicle and then delivers the correct oil recommendation for the vehicle on a 48-sheet digital billboard further down the road.

Each recommendation will be displayed for 7.5 seconds, and due to data protection, no registration plate data will be stored.

Rob Stroud, marketing manager at Castrol, said: "We're confident that the campaign will not only excite and intrigue drivers, but serve its purpose in helping motorists to understand the right oil right car message.

"If the campaign proves successful, we may consider a roll out to further sites including areas with longer dwell times such as forecourts."

The five locations for the billboards are at Stamford Street in Blackfriars, Vauxhall Cross in Lambeth, Fulham Palace Road in Hammersmith, the Chiswick roundabout in Hounslow and Warwick Road in Kensington & Chelsea.

Comments

HLG CDT - 28/09/2009

This sort of surveillance-for-profit raises serious privacy issues. The UK government is scanning license plates for security and traffic congestion, and now the advertising industry is mirroring those practices for targeted marketing. At what point does privacy cease being an expectation and instead becomes a fundamental right? Unfortunately, license plate scanning is just the tip of the iceberg. The Center for Democracy & Technology recently wrote an article on new ways that digital billboards are monitoring consumers. That article is here: http://blog.cdt.org/2009/09/10/digital-signage-and-consumer-privacy/ This is only the beginning.

Rob Scutt - 15/10/2009

oh dear...privacy issues...same old same old...Has your car got something to hide...what would be a better campaign is all cars that don't have MOT, Insurance or Tax are flagged and that way stop people driving around thinking they have not been spotted! I think this is a great way to be relevant, so many people have no idea what oil to put in their car, and if you don't drive past one of these I guess there is a website where you can find out as well...good work Castrol!