Last week, Microsoft filed for an interesting U.S. trademark for ‘NUADS’, describing it as:
Advertising services, namely, promoting and marketing the goods and services of others through online interactive video games by enabling consumers to interact with third-party advertising content through voice or body gestures via computer game console and sensor devices.
Sounds like a new interactive advertising platform for Xbox Kinect indeed, as eagle-eyed tech blogger Manan Kakkar opined before the weekend.
A trademark application does not a product make, but it sure seems like Microsoft is plotting the introduction of a platform that will enable advertisers to run in-game ads that Xbox Kinect users can engage with through body motion and voice commands.
More opportunities for people to look like idiots in front of their TV screens!
But seriously, is Microsoft planning the next generation of intrusive ads? Or is this the inevitable future of advertising that they’re smartly preparing for? We’ll find out soon.
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Manan Kakkar