New York-based Clear Channel Outdoor is bringing its global interactive mobile advertising platform Connect, which uses NFC tags or QR codes on advertising panels at pedestrian-accessible sites, to U.S. markets this June. The platform, called Connect, has already rolled out in several countries and will launch in the U.S. in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., in June. The plan is to reach nearly 175 million consumers monthly across the globe.
Bus shelters and street-level advertising structures, such as can be found in shopping malls and airports, will have Connect tags that are permanently attached to digital or static panels. Consumers can then tap or scan their smartphone over the NFC tag or QR code, which will send the consumer to whatever online brand they’re looking at. Advertisers and planners that opt to use Connect will have access to the data and metrics that Clear Channel Outdoor captures, including date, time, location, clickthroughs and even the mobile device used.
"We'll be able to easily enable interactive components [of an ad campaign] because the [QR and NFC] tags are already there," David Grabert, Clear Channel Outdoor spokesman, told Adweek.
Connect has already launched in Singapore, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and the U.K. Between May and June Connect will roll out in over a dozen more countries and, all told, will be available in 23 countries.
