NFC smart poster campaigns ahead for UK marketers

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By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on May 16, 2007

NFC smart poster campaigns ahead for UK marketers

In the UK, marketing technology provider Glue4 has launched a full-service solution for NFC-enabled (near-field communications) smart poster marketing campaigns, allowing brands and media owners to reach consumers through the novelty of contactless technology in the High Street.

Glue4's solution is aimed at media owners and brands that want to explore the potential of so-called 'smart posters', and includes the technology and consultancy required for the personalisation of smart posters and mobile phone handsets, including the deployment, operation and analysis of usage data.

Outdoor interactions Using both mobile and interactive outdoor marketing technologies, NFC smart posters include a range of advertising media tagged with an NFC chip. NFC is a sub-set of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, in which the poster's chip can pass information and multimedia data to the consumer's NFC-enabled mobile phone (or other portable device) on demand.

The information sent to the consumer could include media, links to product information to be accessed through the mobile internet, or even money-off vouchers. The possibility also exists for a wide range of more advanced applications ranging from voting to buying event or entertainment tickets.

According to Dr Neil Garner, managing director for Glue4, the new Glue4Touch platform brings together a range of marketing and connectivity technologies to deliver an almost unlimited range of smart poster campaigns to the consumer's mobile phone, including vouchers, promotions, viral marketing, interactive advertising, and even direct m-commerce.

Back end technology At the back end, the system is partly based on a mobile phone handset application and partly based on an ASP hosted system. The data the system gathers from consumer interactions is digitally tracked and recorded, and can provide brands with metrics and insight into who is viewing their adverts, at what times, and what they do next. For example, a brand could find out not only where the consumer redeemed a smart poster's voucher but also who they forwarded each download to, how many tickets they bought, and to what events.

And, of course, as the infrastructure for contactless payments is rolled out around the UK, more and more brands are seeking to explore the marketing potential of NFC technology. Garner pointed out that contactless technology is rapidly becoming a well understood and trusted technology thanks to everyday uses such as the Oyster card, and the recent contactless payments trials with MasterCard and Visa, among others. Good press about contactless payments and their benefits has also been coming from the US, which now has a rapidly growing market for contactless payment cards.

Potential for viral marketing Actual consumer usage is quite simple: With NFC smart posters the consumer chooses to interact by tapping the NFC smart poster with a mobile phone handset to trigger the chip and receive the information. The information they receive can then be passed on to others with NFC-enabled phones using the same simple touch-based mechanism - a system which has true viral marketing potential.

The first Nokia NFC-enabled phones are expected to be available in the UK during May 2007, with other handset manufacturers planning to introduce NFC models later in the year. But, rather than waiting for the market to catch up with the technology, Glue4 is also offering brands and media owners a variety of cost-effective methods for NFC-enabling consumers' existing mobile phone handsets.

More Info: 

http://www.glue4.com