6 Companies Nailing It With NFC Campaigns

Although NFC (Near field communication) technology has been around for over a decade now, a variety of NFC use cases still remain unexplored.

While most small businesses are yet unaware of the advantages of NFC marketing, the bigger brands are constantly striving to find new ways of utilizing this cost-effective technology to the best of their abilities. The best use of NFC technology so far has been their application to the field of proximity marketing in the form of NFC ad campaigns.

So what are NFC campaigns?

NFC campaigns are any regular display ad campaigns with NFC devices embedded in them.

The purpose of these NFC campaigns is to provide a more interactive experience based on proximity. Apart from building brand loyalty among existing customers they also serve the purpose of bringing in new customers.

How do NFC campaigns work?

The way this works is by delivering the required information with a tap.

All you need to do to get started with your NFC campaign is to embed NFC hardware within your regular display ads, create your NFC campaigns and assign the campaign to your hardware. Ensure that you always include a call to action.

How are NFC campaigns implemented?

Tap and learn about the products: NFC tags can be deployed on product display shelves which when tapped would direct customers to a landing page with detailed information about specific products. Linking elaborate product information and background to be accessible directly from the product display shelves helps customers to get all the required information at a tap of their phone.

NFC enabled product labels: Alternatively NFC can also be embedded within the product labels that connect customers to product background and information webpage.

Smart posters: NFC stickers and tags can also be embedded within offline display mediums such as posters and print advertisements. These posters can be strategically placed on prime outdoor locations, vehicles, store windows, etc.

Special Contests and Discount Offers: Linking discount coupon codes and special contests to the landing page linked to the NFC which could be accessed through NFC enabled smartphones.

While these are just some of the commonly used applications of NFC, a number of big brands have time and again brought light to different ways NFC technology can be leveraged in marketing. Following are examples of five such brands that showcase the power of NFC led campaigns.

6 Companies with Brilliant NFC Campaigns

1. Samsung made ad campaigns smarter with NFC posters

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Samsung ‘Share to Go’ NFC posters and Samsung Pay are some of Samsung’s popular applications of NFC technology. Through these, they aim to increase Samsung’s Brand value by creating product awareness about their phones having NFC scanning feature inbuilt.

Interactive posters are a great way of attracting the technologically inclined segments of your target customers.

2. NFC embedded print ads by Lexus

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Toyota’s flagship brand Lexus leveraged NFC technology in print advertisements when they published their car ads in Wired Magazine. This helped readers to open the new app suite of the carmaker with a tap on the NFC label that was attached to these advertisements.

Similar to Lexus, BMW also utilized NFC tags in their print advertisements to help users easily access product-related content on their mobile application.

3. NFC posters that helped customers find the closest KFC outlet

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KFC launched an NFC based advertisement campaign in the UK. The aim of this campaign was to promote KFC’s ‘Hot Shots Meal Box’. The ad campaigns were strategically placed in outdoor locations with high visibility and the tapping on NFC led to a map providing directions to the closest KFC restaurant.

NFC posters that link to a route map of the closest restaurant outlets are an effective technique of bringing in those customers who are on the go and need to find a good place for a quick meal.

How you can use QR codes to drive in-store traffic to your business

4. NFC posters on store windows that drove customers straight to Ralph Lauren’s new launches

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Ralph Lauren promoted its Polo Ralph Lauren product line in London by using NFC posters on the display windows of Harrods, a luxury retail store. These NFC stickers on the posters were provided to a map of Harrods to help customers navigate directly to the section where Ralph Lauren collection was located.

Linking NFC tags on posters to maps for indoor navigation is an easy and effective way to reduce the time taken for a customer to look for a specific section or product within the store.

Apart from NFC tags, there are other devices like beacons which are useful in implementing indoor navigation for businesses.

See which indoor location technology is best suited for your business

5. Adidas implements ‘tap to learn’ with NFC tags on shoes

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Adidas started yet another NFC trend when they deployed NFC tags in their running shoes range. The idea here was to implement ‘Tap and learn about the product‘ strategy of NFC marketing where the NFC tags drove customers to the product information page.

The campaign aimed at attracting athletes and sports enthusiasts with an NFC enabled smartphone to buy these shoes.

Find out if your phone is compatible with NFC

6. L’Oreal’s wearable UV Sense chip

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Beauty giant L’Oreal released an NFC-enabled sensor chip called UV Sense which reminds the user of their UV levels and sun exposure. UV Sense is the first wearable electronic sensor powered without a battery.

UV Sense, the NFC-enabled chip can be worn on any fingernail, watch or even sunglasses, and can be integrated into the mobile app that relays the information to the customer. The application also alerts the user of their exposure levels within the app.

In addition to this, the app also sends out notifications for sun-safety habits such as time spent in the shade or reapplication of sunscreen along with facts about sun exposure and additional tips for protection.

Yves Behar, designer entrepreneur and founder of FuseProject stated that “Design and technology are inextricably linked, and as products become more personalized to individuals, both elements are integral to providing people with seamless experiences.”

What’s in store for NFC in the future?

With the kind of innovations in NFC campaigns we have seen in the last decade, one thing is certain that NFC marketing is at a rise now more than ever before. Based on “Global Near Field Communication Market (2018-2023)” report, “Global NFC market is expected to have a significant compounded annual growth rate of 21.30% and reach a market size of USD 23.82 Bn by 2023. “

The increasing awareness about NFC campaigns coupled with the increase in NFC enabled smartphone users is bound to increase the scope for application of NFC based ad campaigns in the upcoming years.

Read about the best use cases of NFC to implement in 2019

Interested in using NFC for your business? Beaconstac’s NFC marketing platform provides for an end-to-end solution to all your proximity marketing needs in a cost-effective way. Schedule a demo to see our intuitive dashboard.