NFC shows potential for consumer engagement, given time

The trial, which took place at one of the private parties for Spikes Asia last month, was engineered by mobile platform developer Cyclone Creative Technology. Cyclone's R&D department embedded RFID chips in beer mats, allowing customers to access exclusive online content with just a 'tap' of their NFC-enabled smartphones. As an added incentive, one lucky phone tapper would win a night out with four friends courtesy of Guinness, worth S$1,500 (US$1,218).

"Accessing content via mobile works well in the bar/club environment, and NFC is proved to be a useful addition to promotions—being both novel and making it much easier to access the content," Cyclone’s CEO Sarah Doery told Campaign Asia-Pacific.

Doery allowed that the trial involved a bit of user education. “At the core of this creative technology experiment was getting people to use a new interface to access content," she said. "Not everyone was aware their phones had NFC at the party, so for the majority, 'just tap' is the most straightforward way to show users what kind of experience they can get with the technology.”

Yeo Wee Lee, head of technology at Tribal DDB Singapore, which was not involved in the trial, agreed that the technology has potential. “We will definitely see more brands trying to integrate NFC technology into their future campaigns," he said. "With NFC, brands have more choices about how they push their content to their consumers. Compared to QR code, where you need additional support, NFC is built in straight to devices and is a two-way communication.”

The two-way element is key for marketers. "NFC can allow marketers to understand users' context by tracking customers' locations, purchase history and shopping behaviours, among many other things," Yeo said. "With that, marketers can achieve highly targeted and personalised advertising,” he said.

The technology will be adopted relatively slowly, Yeo indicated. “But how far NFC would reach out to the mass market audience depends on the smartphone manufacturers, consumers and country of use," he said. "For NFC to fully take off and be assessable like QR code today, it will take at least another year.”