BMW has teamed up with a London tech start-up to launch what is claimed to be Europe’s first magazine ad campaign enabled with near-field communication (NFC) tags allowing it to instantly track and analyse readers’ responses.
Tamoco is placing small chips inside Spiegel Wissen, a quarterly spin-off magazine of German current affairs title Der Spiegel, allowing it also serve up exclusive content using the firm’s cloud-based software platform. The companies claim it is the first European magazine to ever use the technology in this way.
Tapping a smartphone once on the advert instantly downloads the BMW i app. Using Tamoco’s platform, customers interacting with the print ad are directed to the most relevant content, based on which operating system they use or how often they have tapped the ad previously.
Merging new and old technology is increasingly being seen as a vital route to helping publishers stem declines in traditional ad revenues which still underpin their businesses.
Cheap ways to combine online and offline campaigns – which are often conducted by wholly different teams – could prove crucial in cutting costs but delivering better value for publishers and brands.
According to a recent report by PwC, print ad revenue will fall 4% to $12.8bn in 2014, dropping to $9.3bn by 2018. Consumer magazines’ digital ad revenue climbed 22.4% to $3.9bn in 2014 and will reach $7.6bn by 2018, it claimed.
Tamoco, which has developed both technology and the software platform it runs on, specialises in proximity mobile marketing and has pioneered the technology since it was set up two years ago.
In London last month, Tamoco placed NFC tags into beer mats so party-goers could order taxies home, with Uber tempting new customers through vouchers.
The company claims a key benefit of using its proximity technology in this way is giving marketers access to real-time analytics, enabling firms to understand how people interact with their campaigns while plugging in other data sources they may have access to, such as sales histories. By combining these data with information collected from Twitter, Facebook and other sources, brands can build up valuable insight on their customers.
The ultimate aim is for brands to be able to tailor their marketing output to deliver a better customer experience. Engaging responsibly ensures those who want to be talked to are communicated with in a way that is both personal and ultimately, entertaining.
Tamoco founder and chief executive Maximilian Birner said: “There’s a certain ‘cool factor’ to using digital technology which helps brands amplify their own appeal to customers. It’s a two-pronged route of simplifying the way customers engage with a brand but also ensuring that you’re enhancing their experience in a relevant way.
“The moment you offer people content of no value, they switch off. We weren’t surprised Der Spiegel was prepared to take this bold and exciting step in supporting a NFC print campaign, as it’s perfectly suited to BMW’s brand and customer base and we believe there’s huge potential to blur the lines between print and digital advertising further.”
The campaign was planned by Mediaplus and Plan.net, in cooperation with the Smart Media Alliance (SMA), an industry-led initiative fostering research, education and implementation of NFC technology, and managed by Tamoco’s proximity platform, which also includes support for Bluetooth beacons, WiFi, and Geo-fences.
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