Entire UK town in QR code, NFC advertising trial

QR code and near-field communication technology is being put to the test in the UK's first large-scale out-of-home advertising trial involving 13 top brands and an entire city.

by Helen Leggatt

Out-of-home (OOH) media agency Kinetic has joined forces with JCDecaux and technology provider Zappit to trial the use of QR codes and near-field communication (NFC) in advertising. They pinpointed Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, as being one of the UK's most tech-savvy towns and, as of this week, have taken over all the six-sheet poster and bus shelter sites.

Advertising on those sites are 13 brands, including EA Games, Morrison's, H&M and Mercedes, all of whom have integrated QR code and NFC technology with their creative. Each brand will provide exclusive content and promotions via the QR codes and NFC such as coupons, offers, music and games.

"This is the first large-scale deployment of NFC technology on the street and is bringing the future of out-of-home to the here-and-now in Reading," said Nick Mawditt, Director of Insight and Marketing at Kinetic. "NFC is widely regarded as a technology that could transform the way consumers use their mobile phones to interact with their environment."

The trial, called 'Test the Near Future' runs for four weeks from Monday 5 March, 2012. Not only will the trial test the mobile technologies it will also provide valuable insights into how and when consumers interact with the ads in different urban situations.

Last year JCDecaux in Australia signed an exclusive two year agreement with NFC marketing specialist Tapit and created Australiaʼs first dedicated NFC OOH ad network.

Tags: advertising, barcode, billboards, brand marketing, mobile technology, near-field communication, out of home, outdoor advertising, outdoor media, QR code, trial, UK