While it may be true that many new inventors are subconsciously inspired by the science fiction of their childhoods, this form of inspiration is hardly seen in the world of outdoor media. Not so for OfferMoments – a company offering facial recognition-powered, programmatically-sold billboard tech directly inspired by the 2002 thriller, Minority Report.

OfferMoments has previously been in place at the Manchester Arndale centre, where the likes of Waterstones, New Look and Adidas were among the 200-plus advertising partners that signed up. It installed four screens in the centre in return for demographic data of its shoppers.

As for 2017, the startup is in talks to launch in “a very large shopping centre in London”, as well as some smaller outlets further north. Whether or not the big media players will respond to the tech with flattery, vengeance or imitation, only time will tell.

OfferMoments has so far been funded by angel investor Michael “the Shellmeister” Edelson, director of Manchester United and former director of Asos. The company also won the People’s Choice award at Prince Andrew’s Pitch @ Palace programme, and has attracted both interest and wariness from the big players in the media space.

“I think billboard companies only see us as a rival if we were to launch our own network,” Alim said. “The only thing they don’t like about what we do is the pricing. They hate the pricing with a vengeance: you have to start the bidding from a penny and they think we can’t offer an impression for a penny.