Consumers now have more control over what, when and how they access content, giving way to on-demand and opt-in advertising models that are more targeted, contextually relevant and interactive. To reach this empowered consumer, marketers are no longer confined only on mass broadcast, but are now deploying one-to-many marketing strategies whether to serve information or entertainment. Ever-evolving technologies are redefining how advertising is sold, created and consumed. Yet, every post shared, every friend made and every link followed is tracked, recorded and converted into data which is used to show more ads. So, the general perception of advertising has still not changed. Ads are still seen as excessively intrusive, disruptive in an already cluttered marketplace and negatively labeled as ‘noise’.

What if, there was a future advertising system which allows for consumers to select and watch/listen to an ad when they choose to, rather than having to accept the ad only when it is live? As a consumer myself, the future I want for the advertising industry is one which is brand and ad-agnostic. Intelligent ads, 100% driven by consumer choice.

There is an untapped opportunity for this sort of direct-response, intelligent advertising – an uncharted territory even for the most sophisticated marketer(s) to comprehend, today. With new consumer monitoring technologies  entering the market such as facial and speech recognition, sensors and the Internet of Things, consumer action itself should be able to directly impact the price of an ad – driving bids up and down. Advertisers should be able to know immediately whether a spot or interactive experience is producing anticipated results. Likewise, media networks should know immediately if they have increased or decreased reach – with prices calibrating elastically. The definitions of “reach,” “effectiveness” and even “marketing” itself should change entirely.

When self-select ad systems do become a de facto standard, consumers will be able to obtain information that he/she considers most relevant befitting their mood, needs or interests at any given time, place. It will be the day consumers seek out brands, that ads become more interesting and will receive detailed processing. It is when consumers will be more likely to remember the ads that engage them the most, having a disproportionate positive influence on them. It is extremely important that advertising, beyond all the fanfare, has to remain functional. The day consumers take full control of advertising – when ads empower, not overwhelm.