Concepting: NFC Enabled TV & Radio For Mobile Advertising

Here is another concept I found in my sketchbook, this time using NFC (Near Field Communication) technology. NFC is the technology behind cashless ticketing systems like the Oyster Card in London or contactless credit cards such a Visa Wave.

According to Juniper, NFC mobile payments will exceed $30 billion by 2012, this growth will be supported by marketing tools such as coupons and smart posters.

There are big expectations for NFC and mobile. The simplicity for the consumer is one of it’s biggest advantages, you simple need to move your NFC device near the transmitter to interact. Unlike Bluetooth or Wi-fi, there is no need to enter passwords or pair devices.

Mobiles will act differently to ticket and credit cards as they will display actions on the screen unique to whatever it is they are interacting with. For example a movie poster may show the options to buy a ticket, watch trailers or read reviews whereas a clothes brand will have nearest store, latest collections etc.

In theory this is how it should work but only time will tell how different manufacturers will implement NFC, hopefully standards will be made that makes the experience intuitive across all enabled handsets.  But that’s something for another post. One thing that is for certain, that is NFC will allow for receiving coupons and getting more information.

This idea is based around the vision that NFC will appear in many items that we have around the home today including TVs and Radios. This would offer some amazing possibilities for advertising.

Imagine seeing or hearing an advert on the TV or Radio and being able to simply wave your phone near the device to interact. Call to actions could be acted on instantly and products purchased right there and then.

It also adds another dimension for consumers and advertisers as NFC advertising becomes pull rather than push. This means that consumers have made the first move to engage and will be more receptive to what they get back, unlike Bluetooth Marketing which just sends out files to anyone who is near hence why many people complain about so called Bluetooth ‘spamming’.

Will TVs and Radios ship with NFC enabled chips? There would need to be enough devices on the market for this to happen and that could be a while. I’m certain we’ll see these electronics with Wi-Fi chips as standard way before NFC but hey, it would be pretty cool right?