Article

CETW: RMG announces deals for NFC mobile and Groupon networks

RMG's CEO says DOOH is more than screens, but a media ecosystem; also announced deals with Groupon and NFC firm Blue Bite.

April 27, 2011 by Christopher Hall — w, t

Digital out-of-home is going mobile – and offering great deals.

At the second day's keynote address at the two-day Customer Engagement Technology World Show in San Francisco, Reach Media Group CEO Garry McGuire announced that his firm is launching partnerships with mobile marketing specialists Blue Bite and social couponing giant Groupon.

Those announcements were buried at the end of McGuire's keynote, along with two other, more social media-focused announcements. The first part of his keynote, "Engaging Your Customers, Out of Home, Along the Path to Purchase," was more an analysis of how digital out-of-home media has grown beyond digital screens and signs to become a "digital media ecosystem" that reaches active consumers in previously untapped ways.

His presentation highlighted the active consumer, a market of people who may not spend as much time in front of the television but one that crosses demographic lines, including Gen X and Gen Y, millennials, professionals, alpha moms and influential youth. DOOH is better at reaching them, he said, at the times and places of maximum influence on their purchase intent, whether it's in coffee shops, in cabs, in airports, in the gym or at the point of purchase.

"Active consumers are what this industry is really all about," he said, and his video presentation claimed that active consumers have always been here, but only now with digital out-of-home do marketers really have the opportunity to tap into it in a conflux of mobile, social and commerce.

McGuire showed videos of several examples, from Clear Channel Outdoor's "Bus Stop Derby" rollout in San Francisco to an augmented reality and digital signage deployment in London's Victoria Station for Axe men's body spray.

"This massive convergence has happened, and it's happening in a massive way," McGuire said.

Another example he showed was a "Dancing with the Stars" promo that played on screens in coffee shops the morning of the show's air date, reminding people to watch and allowing them to download a reminder to their smartphones.

"This technology that we're all involved with is creeping into our lives in ways that are becoming essential," he said.

Then McGuire dropped the real news of the day, making four major announcements regarding RMG itself:

First, he announced a partnership with near-field communications developer Blue Bite to launch an NFC-enabled DOOH network, 75,000 screens strong.

Second, he announced a partnership with location-based social media specialists LocaModa to roll out social media-enabled DOOH screens to promote hyperlocal and social media branding. RMG has already rolled out the solution to 650 screens in the last two weeks, he said.

According to an announcement from RMG and LocaModa today, the companies are launching the first national rollout of location-based services for the digital out-of-home market. Starting on their NYTimes.com Today network, RMG is rolling out LocaModa's latest Foursquare application with "venue-safe" features, designed to deliver greater utility to venues and enhanced engagement to advertisers.

LocaModa Foursquare has been enhanced with "venue-safe" features that leverage the power of location-based services, without the risk that inappropriate user generated content is displayed on a venue's screen, according to the press release. As an example, many popular location-based services can actually be problematic for locations. A mobile user might "check-in" to a place via Foursquare and see an offer nearby or a tip that's unfavorable to a venue.

LocaModa Foursquare addresses this problem by separating and filtering elements of each social stream and, via a rules-based system, displaying streams together with venue managed/directed messages and offers. The resultant mix enables venues to leverage social media with greater confidence and creates a utility from their digital signage. Now, venue managers without the time or expertise to navigate the many challenges of social media can still enjoy its marketing advantages.

Third, he announced that RMG is partnering with Groupon to roll out place-based localized "deals of the day" to 75,000 screens. The partnership is set to launch May 16, he said. McGuire didn't spend much time on the "deals of the day" news, but given the meteoric rise of Groupon's popularity, that may have been the biggest news of the day, along with the NFC-enabled network news.

And last, McGuire also announced a partnership with Screen Reach that will enable consumers to use their smartphones to engage with brands and social media via DOOH screens. The Screen Reach "Screach" app makes the previously one-way communication between brand loyalists/fans and brands via social media into a two-way communication stream between brands and their loyalists, McGuire said.

"Don't think of digital out-of-home media as screens; it's not," he said. "It's a digital out-of-home media ecosystem ... and the convergence of these technologies is what advertisers are interested in."

About Christopher Hall

---

None

Connect with Christopher: