beacons

The world's oldest advertising medium is embracing one of its newest technologies, and the result - if the industry can pull it off - could spark a marketing revolution. The out-of-home sector held its gaze on a rather modest-looking piece of tech this week; a small cube enabled with Bluetooth, known simply as a beacon.

A beacon is able to tell a smartphone exactly where it is, allowing for an app to act upon this information in order to send a message that's relevant to time and place. The most obvious applications to date have been to place beacons in retail stores, sports stadiums and, more recently, on transport networks.

The idea is that consumer engagement can be highly tailored, to encourage and rewarded through mobile interaction. So, for example, a drinks brand could offer a deal via a beacon-to-smartphone interaction whilst at a football match, or an app could reward a consumer with a special offer when they approach a nearby store. To add to the beacon offering, very recently Google has launched its own 'proximity tech'. Google's Nearby gives real-world objects their own URL - from a bus shelter to a parking meter - allowing for simple interactions to be made without the requirement for the end consumer have have a brand app already installed.

This has got the out-of-home sector excited. So much so, that a host of OOH businesses - including Primesight, Airport Media, Exterion, Ubiquitous and Mobile Media - have launched Presenz, a dedicated 'beacon network' to help adopt the tech and accelerate the opportunities for clients. "We want to better understand the opportunities that beacons create for our advertisers and that opportunity is being realised now," says Mungo Knott, marketing and insight director, Primesight. "There are around 2,000 beacons already being incorporated into out-of-home facilities and environments across the UK - and given the sector already reaches 98% of the population, we see out-of-home as a natural fit for their proliferation."

Proxama the leading mobile proximity marketing experts and Ubiquitous, leader in UK taxi advertising, have announced an exclusive, long-term partnership to create a network of beacons in the UK's black taxis, enabling messages to be delivered direct to an engaged audience experiencing times of dwell.  

The network will connect consumers to brands via their smartphones using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons. The partnership will plan to install up to 4,000 beacons into taxis in London and across other major cities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham, meaning that passengers can receive context-relevant messaging, as they travel to their destinations. During the course of one year, each London taxi is estimated to make around 4,500 journeys, principally around central London locations, rail stations and London’s airports – similar journeys are experienced in other UK key cities.

London’s regular taxi users tend to have high personal income, are smartphone and tablet enabled and are likely to be middle-management and above – in short, a very desirable group and one which brands very much seek to reach. This new beacon network represents an opportunity not only for Ubiquitous’ clients to send contextually relevant messages to passengers’ smartphones, but will be relevant to all app-based clients seeking a beacon network that engages with high value consumers, across a long dwell time. Based on data from our existing beacon networks, Proxama anticipate that 24% of consumers that receive ‘in-the-moment’ content-relevant notifications will click-through to the app. This is a significantly higher response than other forms of mobile advertising.

Andrew Barnett, Managing Director, Ubiquitous comments: “Being the first company to put beacons into black cabs at scale is consistent with our innovative track record and I am delighted to be working with Proxama who are quickly establishing themselves as pioneers in this market. For all brands, the opportunity to connect with their customers through proximity marketing, in a high dwell-time setting such as the back of the cab, provides a unique one-to-one moment in which there is the time to respond to messages and offers.”

Jon Worley, CEO of Proxama marketing division comments, “This is an excellent high profile partnership for us and one which we believe is extremely well suited to proximity marketing. The average cab journey lasts around 20 minutes in London and is a natural time for people to engage with their smartphone for messages and new content. We look forward to seeing the customer reaction.   Our network of beacons has grown rapidly across London since the beginning of the year. Advertisers are now able to make use of the Proxama Network which covers London buses, airports and black cabs, with further expansion planned across multiple sectors.”