The future of Visual Search

by Sriram Swaroop CFO Of Adhuntt Media

What is the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the words visual search? Is it that Reverse Google Image Search that had a popular phase a few years ago? Or does it connect with Pinterest Visual Search tool which works so amazingly well in finding out what you exactly need?

Visual Search has been here for around a decade or so but has not caught up mainstream appeal. Pinterest has nailed this perfectly and it is the best visual search tool for the general public out there that actually works.

Pictures vs Words

Let us start thinking about this entire concept in another way. Imagine the drawings in the Sistine Chapel. All the amazing works by Michelangelo stand against the tests of time. Now you are standing in the middle of the Chapel, and pointing your camera towards the ceiling you take an epic picture of the masterpiece. You love the picture and so now you feel like it would be great to share with your friends on Instagram. Here is the catch, what are the hashtags you would put for this:

#sistinechapel #vatican #roma #italia #michelangelo #michelangelobuonarroti #art #artwork #ceiling #amazing #breathtaking #arts #travelphotography #travel #travelblogger #travelgram#artes #chapel

All this look familiar? But if you were to put your own hashtags, I bet you have a few better ones up your sleeve. A single picture is capable of a thousand words. In reality, a thousand words is an understatement. A picture like that is probably worth a million words. Now think about the visual search tool. How do you think the algorithm can translate all those images into workable data to compare with other images in the database.

Where are we right now?

You might think that the entire concept of image recognition is something that we have been working on recently. But in reality, recognizing an object is a really hard thing to nail down. Engineers have been working on handling the problem since the 70s'. According to the IEEE( The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), there are apparently 15,000 product categories. And all that is just the product categories. Imagine being able to find out, quantify and calculate what the product is and then categorize it into one of the 15,000 folders. That is hard work!

But no worries, recently this technology is being streamlined and funneled into a more usable form. Latest technologies are able to identify simple objects and search them against others on the web. But by all this, what do you think this holds for the future.

The future?

Shopping is a sector that can be entirely flipped over if this technology is implemented. Image going into a shop and finding a pair of branded jeans that you seem to love. You use a dedicated shopping oriented image recognition software to search all about it. The app suddenly shows you that you can get the same jeans at a shop two blocks away for half the price! This is where you get practical benefits out of it. There could be sensors in your mall that recognize the brands you are wearing and show you targetted ads that fit your style!

The future of technology-powered marketing is a bright one. But one thing that we tend to misjudge is how horrible things can go too. I just told you about those sensors that help in displaying you targetted ads right? One that technology is put in, the same sensors will be able to judge you as a customer based on your appearance. It will be able to tell a high-value customer from a low-value customer. If you decide to go shopping in your hobo clothes( which is the way I do it), no one in the mall is going to even bother talking to you. We are sure to bump into such scenarios in the near future.

What can this actually mean for branding

Let's say you take a picture of yourself drinking a beer by the lake with your boys in the summer. A visual search engine goes just beyond finding what the picture is about. It searches every pixel in there and rummages for quantifiable data. Within moments the tool will be able to come up with the following information.

The picture was taken near your friend Paul's cabin near the Niagras.

The people in the picture is you, your friends Paul, Harry, and Kumail.

Kumail has 2500 followers on Instagram and he is obsessed with Manchester United.

The brand of beer you guys are enjoying is King flyer.

King flyer is one of the most selling beer brands in the world and has a net value of $2 billion.

The other people who have visited near Niagra falls all have a similar interest in this particular brand of beer.

The last person who had taken a picture near Paul's cabin is Karen Schmit.

Karen had taken the picture in 4 days ago and she had come her fishing with her husband whose first name was also Paul.

This can go on and on, but now you do realize that Visual Search is either a zero or all-out out 100% blast of data. Once the data is in, there is no value for data. Just from a single picture, the tool can calculate everything from the husband of the person who was there last time. The brand owners of King flyer will know that their brand is kind of popular in that area and start a franchise nearby.

Finishing touches

Reading this article must have made you more skeptical of this search tool than anything. But is important to understand the intricacies such a tool has and make sure that your privacy is protected as well. How about you invest in safe branding technology that can help you and your customers better. Adhuntt can help you get more information about this topic and guide your marketing in a more self-sustainable way. Keep up with the trends and learn more every day. Until the next time, Ciao!

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