VD Robotics, NUS, and Supermarket Jointly Demonstrate Robot Ad Effectiveness

Will robots change the future of marketing? An AI advertising showdown unfolds at large supermarkets. An intriguing experiment to gauge the future landscape of the retail market is set to begin. VD Robotics, a domestic service robot company, has teamed up with Professor Na-kyung Kyeong's research team at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and major domestic supermarkets to fully verify the 'effectiveness of robot-based advertising.' This will be a significant attempt to scientifically prove whether robots can transcend simple assistive roles and become powerful marketing media capable of inducing actual consumer purchasing behavior. From August 4th for one month, consumer reactions and sales volumes will be precisely compared and analyzed for the same product across three large supermarket branches in Seoul and Gyeonggi regions. The experiment methods are as follows: * **Gwangjin-gu Branch:** VD Robotics' advertising robot 'KettyBot' will be deployed. The robot will display Pepero advertisement videos on its screen and carry actual products on its tray, moving around the store to capture customers' attention and encourage purchases. * **Yongsan-gu Branch:** A traditional 'human sales promoter' will directly introduce the product to customers and promote sales. It will be noteworthy to see how the communication skills of experienced humans compare to robots. * **Yongin Suji-gu Branch:** As a 'control group,' the product will simply be displayed on shelves without any advertising or promotional activities. This will serve as a baseline for measuring the effectiveness of robot and human promotions. The core of this project lies in the direct participation of Professor Na-kyung Kyeong's research team from the National University of Singapore's Department of Computer Science, who will analyze multifaceted data such as purchasing responses by gender and age group, conversion rates relative to product exposure, and sales growth rates compared to the previous month and same period last year. Based on the collected data, the research team plans to conduct an in-depth analysis of the effectiveness of robot-based advertising and publish the results in an academic paper. Shin Hyun-il, Director at VD Robotics, emphasized, "This experiment will prove the quantitative effect of robot advertising in retail settings and, through verification by a world-leading academic institution, will serve as an opportunity for robots to establish themselves as new marketing media." Indeed, VD Robotics has a successful case where advertising robots operated at Emart Everyday last year led to an average sales increase of over 90% compared to the same period of the previous year. This project will be a significant milestone, offering a glimpse into how robot technology might transform the future of retail marketing.