Near Field Communications (NFC), Moving Beyond Payments

VANCOUVER, BC, December 01, 2012 (Press-News.org) NFC and Marketing: Bridging the Gap, an essential Whitepaper for mobile marketers

Vancouver, Wednesday, November 28, 2012: The Whitepaper, a first of its kind in Canada, provides in-depth research, analysis, and case studies on one of the most talked about aspects of mobile marketing: Near Field Communications (NFC). The document is a collaborative project between Gauge Mobile, Newad and Astral Out-Of-Home, and has been made available completely free of charge to the public at http://www.scanvee.com/nfc-white-paper.

"We found that there wasn't a lot of publicly available information on this exciting new technology, especially on how it applies to marketing. As a leader in NFC and mobile marketing in Canada we wanted to fill that void for marketers." Says Tony Vassiliev, Co-Founder of Gauge Mobile. "Our partners contributed immensely by providing relevant research, content, and Canadian case studies. It was a collaborative effort which we hope will provide clarity to an important, but sometimes confusing, area of mobile marketing."

70% of smartphone owners see NFC as an important feature in their next phone, according to a recent study by PosterScope and Clear Channel. The same study also found that 60% of those that have an NFC-enabled phone don't realize it. "NFC has many exciting use cases, but a lot of education is still required to help both consumers and marketers become aware of the enormous potential it holds" says Jerrid Grimm, VP Client Service at Newad. "This whitepaper is a step in the right direction."

About Near Field Communications (NFC):
NFC chips or tags can be embedded into "smart posters", product packaging, magazine ads, promotional items, etc. By simply tapping an NFC-enabled smartphone to a "smart poster", consumers can gain instant access to a world of rich media, including product information, videos, special offers, coupons, music, ticketing, etc. NFC can also be used for identification or authentication purposes (e.g. check in at the airport or a hotel).

Based on the latest numbers from ComScore, 15.6% of Canadian smartphones are already NFC-enabled, while the penetration in United States is at 10%, but growing quickly. Juniper Research suggests that 1 in 5 smartphones will have NFC by 2014.

About Gauge Mobile:
Gauge Mobile develops and executes proximity marketing solutions that allow brands to engage with today's mobile consumer. Their cloud-based analytics platform enables traditional media (TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, Direct Mail), to engage consumers through their mobile devices by using bridging technologies (SMS, QR Codes, NFC) to deliver rich content, gather feedback and process transactions. The data is then aggregated across campaigns and media channels to help understand consumer behaviour, improve customer experience with personalized offers and allocate the marketing budget more effectively. http://www.gaugemobile.com

About Newad:
Newad reaches the highest concentration of the Young & Affluent in Canada by guiding millions of consumers to four targeted platforms: Indoor, with 21,500 digital and classic boards in over 3,000 establishments and 36.5 million impressions delivered each week; Experiential Marketing, with the production of 250 promotional events per year; Publishing & Content, with numerous Web properties reaching 450,000 visitors each month and the production of branded content (photos & videos, mobile applications, contests, social media management, white label content); and Web, including the Newad OnLine advertising network delivering, each month, 125 million pages views and 7.4 million visitors. Newad's 350 employees set the trends in its Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Moncton offices. http://www.newad.com

About Astral:
Astral Out-of-Home is one of Canada's largest out-of-home advertising companies. With a network of more than 9,500 advertising faces strategically located in the key markets of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia, it offers a portfolio of four innovative product lines: outdoor advertising, street furniture, transportation and digital. As a forward-looking company, Astral Out-of-Home has embarked on a series of green-and-clean initiatives to reduce its ecological footprint and actively participate in sustainable development. Founded in 1961, Astral is one of Canada's largest media companies. It operates several media properties—pay and specialty television, radio, out-of-home advertising and digital media properties—among the most popular in the country. http://www.astraloutofhome.com

Contact:
Tony Vassiliev
tony@gaugemobile.com
(778) 288-1044
2307 - 1331 W Georgia St
Vancouver, BC, V6E 4P1
Canada

Gauge Mobile develops and executes proximity marketing solutions that allow brands to engage with today's mobile consumer. We offer various account options to accommodate all business needs, from a basic free account to a fully integrated enterprise solution. For more information please contact info@gaugemobile.com