Eye to create world’s largest NFC out-of-home advertising network

The Sydney-based media owner is to equip all its 8,300 out-of-home media sites in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK to support NFC, QR, SMS and augmented reality campaigns.

Australia-based out-of-home (OOH) media owner Eye has announced it has begun converting its 8,300 sites across Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK to support NFC, QR code, SMS and augmented reality-based advertising campaigns.

Eye
EYE: Adding to NFC to 8,300 poster sites

The media sites — located at airports, shopping centres and universities — will use a new platform called Amplify, developed by Eye, which is designed to be technology-agnostic and to complement, in the US, its existing Bluetooth and WiFi-enabled offering.

“The conventional approach the industry often takes is to push whatever the latest technology happens to be which quickly becomes outmoded and doesn’t start from a client’s perspective,” says Gerry Thorley, CEO of Eye. “The Amplify proposition means that we can always start with the client challenge and recommend an appropriate solution using whichever technology platform is most appropriate rather than pushing the latest widget.”

“With the exponential growth in smartphone penetration, advertisers recognise the power of mobile but the technology itself can often be the barrier to trial,” adds Jeremy Corfield, the company’s global commercial director.

“With Amplify, we have removed that perceived complexity. Whether it’s mobile coupons to drive product trial, movie trailers to encourage viewing, loyalty programs for ongoing connections, augmented reality for creative amplification or simply a call to action to drive web traffic, our Amplify solution delivers all in one. The scale of our investment opens up the opportunity for major advertises to create meaningful campaigns.”

Eye plans to “progressively activate” the network from 1 June 2012. Launch clients in each market are currently being confirmed.

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