Milestone integrates Axis and IBM for Porsche Australia

Milestone Systems’ open platform IP video management software (VMS) is the backbone of a new collaborative project that connects Axis cameras and IBM video analytics for Porsche in Melbourne, Australia. Porsche worked with billboard supplier oOh! Media, the largest audience-reaching digital advertising network in Australia, to develop a targeted campaign to attract the attention of potential buyers on their way to the Melbourne Airport.
 
oOh! Media used the Milestone open platform IP VMS technology as the foundation for integrating Axis cameras with IBM analytics on all oncoming vehicles to identify potential and existing customers. The system performance is fast enough to display targeted billboard content to those vehicles in just seconds.
 
John McGiffin, Managing Director at Intelliscape, designed the solution that includes Axis Q1615E network video cameras mounted on the billboard. The cameras feed into Milestone XProtect Essential VMS whose open platform enables interoperability with other systems. Intelliscape’s solution integrates the VMS with its proprietary tool for car recognition that can pattern-match the vehicles against a database of known cars. McGiffin also employed IBM video analytics, forming a powerful, tailored solution.
 
The custom-integrated solution immediately recognizes the targeted audience and delivers custom billboard advertisements in real time as they drive by the billboard. Axis cameras provide high-resolution shots of the cars, and the feeds are viewed and shared immediately with the Milestone software. The Milestone VMS manages different streams and resolutions with no delays or technical difficulties.
 
John Purcell, Commercial Director at oOh! Media and McGiffin both see this project as the beginning of an exciting new marketing trend.

“There’s a lot of interest in how to make billboards smarter,” Purcell says. “With technology such as this providing us with the ability to monitor and analyze traffic, we are looking at how this could create amazing new opportunities for our advertisers to connect to audiences.”
 
Purcell says that European companies have already expressed interest in purchasing the proprietary solution, and Porsche has been so pleased with the campaign that discussions about expanding the solution worldwide are under way.
 
“I’ve been swamped with offers to purchase the solution John has created,” Purcell says. “It’s an exciting time for digital advertising. There is a lot of potential to push it further, and Milestone video technology is right at the heart of it all.”