Rebranding Out-of-Home as a Major Portal to Mobile Ads by TrackBuddy

John from myTrackBuddy reached out to TPM Outdoor with his product and services. Attached is the research that Trackbuddy has done and I share it here with his permission. However, these views are from Trackbuddy -

According to eMarketer, mobile ads have now surpassed other forms of online ads and will surpass TV ads in a few years. Since nearly everyone in the world owns a smart phone, this forecast will become a reality with 99% certainty. Mobile ads are real and are here to stay, they will become the main source of ad revenue. OOH (out-of-home) advertisers should take a second look at this opportunity.

The use of QR codes and NFC tags has had limited success in the past because of the amount of resources required to create and maintain the digital portal. The increase of revenue did not justify the use of these technologies. Recently, TrackBuddy, a Silicon Valley startup has created a solution to enable this OOH 2.0 market. According to Trackbuddy web site, OOH operators just need to provide some text and an image to launch a mobile ad. The platform creates a URL which can be published as a QR code, an NFC tag or a short URL. The platform records all the usual stats including location and allows ad content updates in real time. In addition, consumers may send an inquiry to the ad owner through the web page. They can also save the ad link as SMS and access the ad even after the OOH is gone. In other words, the ad will continue to provide new promotions whenever they click on the link again. The system will also keep track of the click source. This is a great way to distribute coupons. OOH ad networks should take advantage of this ‘Save to SMS’ feature to craft a long tail marketing strategy and create a new revenue stream that was not available before. OOH offers natural foot traffic as well as on-location customers who are ready to visit the stores, these are the unique qualities that other ad forms cannot offer. Unlike beacon technology, the use of QR code or NFC tag does not require any hardware or software installation. They simply act as a user interface to a mobile web app. Most smart phones have built-in readers to read QR codes and NFC tags. Mobile web does not require app download, something that users really don’t like to do. In addition, mobile web cannot access any phone data which gives some privacy to concerned users. Therefore, mobile web app is an ideal method for launching mobile ads.

During WWDC 2017, Apple announced the addition of QR code reading to its camera which would further enhance user experience. Users may use the zoom capability to read a QR code from far away. All billboard advertisers should consider adding a QR code to their display to create continue engagement. In summary, OOH ad networks should jump on this ‘Mobile Ad’ band wagon because this is the right time to do so. OOH should rebrand itself as one of the major portals to the mobile ad world.

TPM Outdoor's clients have also used QR codes in our billboard spaces such as for iFunds.com for a billboard advertising Singapore in the heart of the CBD Shenton Way area. Article earlier written in QR codes being effective on OOH here. Chinese brands advertising in Singapore also use QR codes on their advertising billboards to lead clients to their app directly as demonstrated by our client here

Photo from Techcrunch

 The trend of using QR code is set to be rejuvenated as according to Techcrunch " QR codes in the U.S. are about to get a second chance, because the first iOS 11 beta has the ability to read QR codes via the native camera app. That means any iPhone users will be able to open their camera, point it at a QR code, and receive a prompt to follow a URL....The feature reportedly can be toggled via the camera settings menu, but is turned on by default."

 So keep taking out your phone camera to embrace OOH's full digital engagement today!