Tapit NFC Blog
News and blogs from Tapit NFC Marketing and NFC Tags.
Xbox use Tapit to launch Halo 4
Today is a great day for the team at Tapit. It’s not every day you get the pleasure of working with global icons like Xbox, Halo & Master Chief!
Off the back of stellar reviews of Halo 4 (and the fact that it’s the biggest selling gaming franchise on the planet!) we’re pretty chuffed that Microsoft and the agency teams at UM, Soap and McCann Erickson wanted to bring the magic of Tapit to life with the launch of Halo 4 across their JCDecaux media buy in Sydney and Melbourne.
What’s even better is just like the game, nothing the teams wanted to do followed normal convention; everyone wanted to push the boundaries of creativity which follows the general ethos of Xbox and Halo – doing things the same isn’t as fun nor as rewarding.
What the entire team has ended up with is a fantastic showcase of executing a great idea on a platform that is both new (Tapit) as well as tried & true (JCDecaux, Social Media). Clearly understanding the passion and enthusiasm of Halo fans young & old, identifying that the Halo posters used for JCDecaux campaigns are valued as priceless (these posters are even more priceless given they’re all individually signed by Halo Creative Director, Josh Holmes!) and the fact the Halo audience is far more affluent when it comes to smartphone ownership / usage make it a perfect fit to showcase the magic of Tapit and how it can turn traditional methods of communication like Outdoor media into a fun, magical, two-way platform.
In the case of Halo 4, fans can “tap” their NFC enabled smartphone for the opportunity to win the poster they are looking at. The competition officially kicks off today at 1pm, any taps prior or after the posters have been captured take users to a specially created mobile optimised site that showcases the Halo 4 trailer as well as other rich content such as photos & videos.
Adding to the magic of the project which might seem straight forward but is so often overlooked is the fact that Xbox are using their massive social media following (323k followers on FB alone!) to help broadcast the competition to fans so they engage with the campaign throughout the week. Not just relying on FB status updates (that’s convention remember!), the team at Xbox has also developed an interactive map (housed within FB) showing fans throughout the week of the campaign which sites have been captured (in real time) that emulates a Halo map style experience!
The campaign runs from today (6th November) until next Monday evening, for all of you that are interested in Tapit and what the platform can do we would highly recommend you see it for yourself (Sydney / Melbourne only).
Tapit will be wrapping the project up into a little video montage after the campaign has finished which will visually showcase what project encompassed, we’ll make sure we let you know when it’s up on our YouTube channel.
Until then, enjoy tapping and we hope some of you are lucky enough to win these priceless Halo 4 posters.
Tapit to prove NFC isn’t coming, it’s already here
Today Tapit has launched a trade marketing initiative to a select number of agencies allowing agency staff to “tap” their NFC enabled smartphone on Tapit points placed within the agencies for 50 cents off their daily coffee at their local coffee house.
The initiative which will run for 2 weeks from 5th November is designed to help agency staff at all levels understand the opportunities made available by using Tapit as a communication platform as well as helping agency staff understand how easy the technology is to use vs. legacy mobile technologies such as Bluetooth & Quick Response codes {QR}.
By providing something of value like a daily coffee discount via “tapping” Tapit promotes repeat usage and will hopefully create an “AHA” moment which gets agency staff thinking about how they can start to apply Tapit to their clients.
Tapit will monitor interactions over the course of the project and will present back to agencies the data collected to highlight the power that comes with using the Tapit platform and how they can start to use that data to better plan and target future projects for clients.
Tapit see data as a big need from clients, allowing them to measure and enhance their physical touch points like Out of Home and In-store is a really powerful story as it’s creating interactivity and accountability that didn't exist previously.
The initial participating agencies include Ikon Communications, Match Media & OMD with more to follow.
Photo: OMD, Sydney 2012 Photo: Match Media, Sydney 2012
Need more information? Feel free to contact Tapit
NFC usage is increasing
We're often asked at Tapit what level of awareness NFC has both in Australia and abroad, our response is "minimal but growing every day" and rightly so, we're still a little while away from Tapit becoming synonomous with consumers at large but what is critical to remember is, the more services that are pushed to consumers which support NFC, the more consumers will become aware, familiar with the technology and lastly (and most important) they will understand the key benefits the technology can provide them in their daily lives.
Tapit has over the last 12 months completed projects with a number of multi national brands with the likes of Sony, Microsoft, Dubai Mall, Samsung, Vodafone, Blackberry to name a few and what the data is telling us is that each month shows NFC becoming a more profound share of interactions when compared with QR.
While campaign based projects are hard to gauge on how prevalent NFC is over time vs. QR given they are only in market for a finite amount of time, projects that see Tapit permanently embedded into an environment are a great resource to get insight from consumers to questions such as "are people using Tapit vs. QR" or "are people even interested in using their device to get content from physical areas".
Our Rocks Walking Tour project with the NSW Government (Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority) has been permanently based throughout 37 different historical locations at The Rocks, since Q1 2012 and what we have found which might surprise some people (experts especially) is that NFC has steadily increased every single month to now on average 26% of all interactions are now via NFC vs. QR.
26% of total interactions is a big number from our standpoint because NFC handset penetration of all smartphones in Australia is only 8-10% so looking at things from an index perspective, NFC is punching way above it's weight (x 3 in fact). The reason for this is simple, most new devices on-sale at telco shops these days are NFC enabled. Walk into your local Telstra, Allphones store and you will find that there are more NFC enabled devices on sale vs. non NFC devices and this will continue as we move into the future.
Most exciting from our Tapit projects recently is gaining an understanding of people who have an NFC phone, do they still have an inclination to use QR? We often give QR a hard time and for good reason, it requires too much effort on the conusmers behalf and this re-affirmed by a recent project we conducted for a major Multi-national brand. Of all device types that interacted with the project which had NFC enabled functionality, 85% chose NFC vs. QR! Why? Because it's simple, fast and effortless, all critical ingredients when understanding how consumers behave with their phone, I'm sure if you're reading this you will be nodding in agreement (if not let's talk).
So, depsite the commentary you might read on NFC, you can't ignore hard facts and the numbers clearly show us that people are finding NFC useful and relevant. The more phones that flood the market which are NFC enabled combined with increasing Tapit enabled projects aimed at consumers will continue to prove that the proposition of NFC as a communication platform isn't something that's coming, it's already here.
Feel free to follow us on Twitter @tapitnfc or YouTube
How retail can benefit from NFC Marketing campaigns by Tapit
So what are some of the benefits of using this new mobile technology - Near Field Communication (NFC) - for retailers?
Increase sales and influence in store purchasing decisions for a start. Got your attention I hope, well please read on.......
Vodafone use NFC competition to launch Samsung Galaxy S3 - powered by Tapit
Friday June 15th 2012, a jungle themed launch event in the busy CBD of North Sydney, Vodafone were getting ready to launch the trendy, sexy and cool handset - the Samsung Galaxy S3. Vodafone had a desire to run a creative and fun launch event - but how? Drum roll please..........yes.......in step the NFC Marketing gurus Tapit.
Goal - Launch the new Samsung Galaxy S3 handset in an innovative way, engaging the attendees to spread the oh so important word of mouth.
Tapit go live with smart stickers for retailers
Tapit in Sydney is delighted to announce that their Tapit smart sticker website is now live and fully operational.
Tapit smart stickers are an easy and low cost way for SME companies with a retail presence to connect to their customers via mobile. Tapit smart stickers are placed on the window of a retail store and/or at the point of sale area of the retail store. Customers can then easily complete an action with a simple tap or scan of their mobile e.g.
Tapit and Roses Only use NFC Marketing to personalize Mothers Day
Roses Only and Tapit would like every mum to enjoy some beautiful long stemmed roses with a personal touch to make this Mother’s Day that little bit more special in Australia and New Zealand.
These are not just the stunning roses you expect from Roses Only - they come with a new mobile phone technology that is being trialed to enable people to include a personal video message with their gifts. One of many ways to use NFC Marketing to engage customers with your brand.
Commercial benefits of NFC Marketing for brands
Thanks for all your questions on how Near Field Communication (NFC) can be used to benefit brands outside of using NFC for mobile payments. Tapit like to call this area "NFC Marketing". NFC Marketing is the use of NFC mobile technology to deliver branded content to any NFC enabled phone.
Drive customers to your store
So what is "Near Field Communication" - NFC?
NFC for mobile phones is an acronym meaning "Near Field Communication".
Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by tapping them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few centimetres. Communication is possible between an NFC device e.g. smartphone and an unpowered NFC chip called a "tag"
NFC Marketing with HTC One X - Competition
Wow, what a great time last night for the Tapit team where we completed our first ever NFC Marketing campaign using a competition. The event was the Australian launch of the NFC enabled HTC One X handset.
We had over 4,000 taps in just 2 hours showing just how easy NFC is to interact with.
NFC Marketing first in Australia – Bang Bang Cafe Sydney
Bang Bang cafe in the trendy post code of Surry Hills in Sydney, Australia has become the first cafe to be NFC enabled.
Tapit has provided Bang Bang Cafe with an NFC enabled sticker to download a copy of their menu onto your phone. If the cafe is closed, a passersby can still get access to the menu with a simple tap of their NFC enabled phone or a scan of the QR code.
Lets have a look at the Tapit office in Sydney
Hi there all you Near Field Communication nuts. Tapit have decided to let you take a peep inside our Sydney office here in Australia.
It is based in a trendy suburb called “Surry Hills” with lots of media, digital and creative agenies all around us. All of whom of course are eager to learn more about the value of NFC Marketing
NFC Marketing – Tapit sign exclusivity agreement with JCDecaux Australia
Tapit is delighted to announce an exclusivity agreement with JCDecaux Australia within all their outside street furniture.
Tapit will NFC (Near Field Communication) enable their billboards in certain locations around Australia for NFC Marketing purposes. People can then easily interact with the billboard with a simple tap of their phone to download music, images, videos, movie trailers, coupons etc
Tapit NFC Marketing – Fastest Angel Investment deal
August 26, 2011, Sydney, Australia : Tapit Media Pty Ltd (Tapit), a new Near Field Communications (NFC) content delivery startup, has closed it’s seed funding round from Sydney Angels in record time for the investment group. It only took 22 calendar days from it’s pitch to Sydney Angels Investors until the full Seed Round was subscribed for.
Andrew Stead Co-Founder of Sydney Angels said “Sydney Angels is focused on introducing quality deals to early stage investors. The Investment in Tapit was Sydney Angels tenth and fastest. The speed was testament to the opportunity and fit between the business and the investors. ” One of the Tapit Investors from Sydney Angels, Serial Entrepreneur David Cunningham commented “After 9
Tapit NFC launch a new NFC Marketing video
Tapit NFC has now launched a new educational video that explains some of the uses of Near Field Communications (NFC) in the area of marketing brands.
Using NFC Marketing a brand can easily connect their physical marketing material to the endless opportunity of the digital world via a simple tap of a mobile phone.
Use of NFC tags via Blackberry Bold 9900/9930
Tapit NFC tags is delighted to share with you the great news that Blackberry have NFC enabled handsets available and in use globally.
Research In Motion (RIM) has announced that its forthcoming smart phones, the Blackberry 9900/9930, will feature Near Field Communications. The new handsets will enable payments, with more information about this functionality to be released closer to the launch in the summer, according to a RIM spokesperson.
What are the real benefits of NFC Marketing?
Simple to use
- NFC is built in to the mobile (similar to Bluetooth) so no application downloads.
- Immediate connection to the target brand – no passwords, no pairing, no waiting.
- NFC interacts with passive devices e.g. tags – no batteries
Adds measurable value to your brand