NFC enabled movie poster draws a crowd

The mobile marketing landscape is changing at a rapid pace. Champions of the burgeoning industry – QR codes – have come a long way since their creation nearly two decades ago in Japan.

The growth of the industry is showing no signs of slowing down as new technologies come into play. Such technologies include NFC (Near Field Communication) tags, which were debuted early last week in the UK as part of a massive marketing campaign.

The entertainment industry is taking bold steps in the realm of mobile marketing. The release of the new X-Men movie, “X-Men First Class,” is slated for early next month and sleuths of new promotional posters for the movie have been appearing throughout London. While promotional posters may not be innovative in and of themselves, these posters have a hidden NFC tag embedded in them. Smart phones with NFC applications will be alerted to the presence of the tag. Interacting with the tag will allow users to see exclusive trailers and web content.

Proxama, a European leader in NFC and other mobile technologies, constructed the campaign. This campaign is the first time NFC tags have been used an integral part of a major marketing effort in the UK. CEO Neil Garner is excited to see the technology finally begin to take off.

NFC technology is a relative newcomer to an industry that has been dominated by QR codes. While the codes continue to enthrall thousands with their ease of use and versatility, NFC is garnering a fair amount of attention from marketers.