MONTREAL – Astral Media’s out-of-home advertising division has adopted near field communication technology for its street furniture in Toronto and Montreal, allowing consumers to interact directly with advertising faces via their smart phone.
NFC will give smart phone users the opportunity to watch the trailer of an upcoming movie, get a discount coupon for a boutique or restaurant, visit the virtual showroom of a car dealership and more just by touching the chip on NFC-enabled faces with their smart phones.
The technology is currently compatible with devices from BlackBerry, Samsung, Nokia and HTC with others scheduled to follow. It will be integrated into bus shelters in Toronto, and Columns and MegaColumns in Montreal.
"Consumers are very active and increasingly demanding, and our NFC-enabled street furniture will allow them to quickly get relevant information about products that they like," said Debbie Drutz, director of media innovation for Astral Out-of-Home, in the announcement. "For its part, the advertising community will have at its disposal the most advanced technology to prolong its interaction with consumers."
