Astral Media, one of the largest media firms in Canada, is adding NFC to its street furniture in Toronto and Montreal.

In Toronto, NFC capabilities will be added to Astral Out-of-Home’s network of bus shelter advertising displays while, in Montreal, NFC will be included in its city centre network of Columns and MegaColumns.

Astral is using Gauge Mobile’s Scanvee NFC advertising platform for its deployment. Gauge’s technology is already being used by Canadian indoor advertising provider Newad at University and college campuses across the country.

“Using NFC cutting-edge technology will give smartphone users the opportunity to watch the trailer of an upcoming movie, get a discount coupon for a boutique or restaurant, visit the virtual showroom of a car dealership and much more just by touching the chip on NFC-enabled faces with their smartphones,” says Astral.

“Consumers are very active and increasingly demanding, and our NFC-enabled street furniture will allow them to quickly get relevant information about products that they like,” explains Debbie Drutz, Astral’s director of media innovation. “For its part, the advertising community will have at its disposal the most advanced technology to prolong its interaction with consumers.”

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