Aap! - Alternative Advertising Possibilities

Softbank Mobile, NTT Data and Hitachi and Dutch smart chip maker Gemalto are testing a new technology that aims to replace printed QR Codes and provide participats digital information by simply swiping their compatible cellphone or laptop near posters or other advertisements.

The first “field test” for the NFC or Near Field Communication, a short range, high frequency wireless communication medium is being conducted in Chiba, Tokyo in WALL-E and Tinker Bell movie posters embedded with the new technology tags.

Test participants will be able to receive and view digital content such as movie stills and trailers simply by holding their NFC-compatible phones (containing NFC-USIM cards) next to the smart posters. Along with the digital content, users also receive an access code that, when transferred to a compatible Hitachi HDTV at home, allows them to view a WALL-E trailer in high definition (via Hitachiâ??s content distribution service).

The tests, which are designed to help the companies evaluate the effectiveness and potential of NFC smart posters as a promotional medium, could be a sign of things to come in the field of poster advertising. Should NFC smart posters become cheap and easy to produce, they have the potential to replace the ubiquitous QR (2D) code that commonly appears in Japanese advertising posters. NFC is seen as more convenient than QR code because the user does not have to scan a code and visit a separate website to view the data. Instead, digital content can be accessed directly with a simple swipe of the phone.

NFC aims to provide improved accessibility when compared with traditional QR code because the user does not have to scan a code and visit a separate website to view the data. Instead, digital content can be accessed directly with a simple swipe of the phone.

The technology sounds great, but the added cost of additional tags installation, a non universal platform, and additional required content may limit the potential of this technology.

[Source: Nikkei Net, NTT Data]

More on NFCs

General information on Near Field Communication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NFC - Industry Forum @ http://www.nfc-forum.org/home

Industry Coverage @ http://www.nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com/

A tour of Times Square from Keyframe on Vimeo.

John Woods visits Times Square and explores digital signage and outdoor media.

Most impressive is that One Times Square building is empty and tenant less. Millions are instead generated off digital signage on its exteriors. Great intro video and fun interview with owner of Landmark
Signs, Tony Calvano, whose company has been maintaining and installing
most ads in Times Square when they were painted!!

Sex and the City - Integrated Alternative Advertising from aapglobal on Vimeo.

Warning - Shameless Plug:
Integrating different mediums is an effective way to build and drive a successful client campaign. This is exactly what New Line Cinema has done by integrating alternative advertising mediums Aap!Rails, escalator handrail graphics and Aap!Motion lenticular billboards with traditional flyer and poster work in Norway via Aap!Global distributor MediaLoop. We’re excited by the implementation and will be sharing some more pictures, videos and more shortly. In the meantime check out Sex and City the Movie at your local cinema or learn more about alternative advertising.

[Sex and City - the Movie]

More on

Aap!Motion - Lenticular Billboards

Aap!Rails - Escalator Advertising

W

In building on our our thesis that Advertising and Graffiti continue to interplay on each other… the above video from back in the day documents the extremely creative and prolific transitional period of subverting bus stop and phone booth ads by KAWS. This work garnered a tremendous amount of press and speculation and resulted in the internationally lauded post-graffiti art star we know today.

See what KAWS has to say his Honeyee Blog in daily adventures in art, subversion and more…

GTA IV, “the new open-world, action-driving video game released today around the world will easily “top last year’s record-breaking $300 million first-week sales of Microsoft and Bungee Studios’ first-person shooter “Halo 3″ â?? and all without a similar marketing bonanza or budget. 

According to the AP report - ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Promo Campaign Kept Quiet’  Rockstar has been trying to keep their marketing message on the “downlow.”

We’ve been truly impressed in Rockstar’s ability to communicate and build hype directly with gamers through viral internet teasers and low cost non traditional out of home media including amazing phony wanted billboards, graffiti, and viral websites. (Even Bagel Bags, Coffee Cups…)

Some of the ficitional wanted adverts have included in them an e-mail address where residents of “liberty city” (the game’s fictional universe) can send in “tips” to LibertyCityPolice.com, a website which undoubtedly will be accessible inside the game’s internet function.

From a marketing perspective all this has been absolutely brilliant. From a CFO’s perspective the campaigns have demonstrated the value of low cost non traditional media and most importantly from a gamer’s perspective they have even been critical in building trust, interest and a direct relationship with players.   Seen in certain European and US cities, while we love the work we are just a little curious to see if these posters raised any objections.

Of course knowing Rockstar this was probably the intent…

GTA IV out today. Instead of enjoying the marketing - go play the game…

Review of GTA IV @ IGN 

Other Related Articles of Interest 

GTAIV ads pulled because of San Andreas flap Chicago - Transit Authority gave up a contract potentially worth more than $200,000 in revenue because people complained about another ad campaign more than three years ago.

Up Against It is a public art competition. The winning entry will be seen by up to 2,000 commuters daily on a wall over 60m2. The competition is open to all types of creative and artistic expression. The entries will be judged on your response to the words “Closer than you think”.

How to enter:

1. Go to www.upagainstit.com to find out more.
2. Click ‘Enter the Competition’ and download the wall template, this is a guide for laying out your design.
3. Fill in the online application and upload your entry, alternatively send you artwork with the application form to: Up Against It, c/o Raw Nerve, B209 Faircharm Studios, Creekside, London SE8 3DX
4. Tell everyone you know to vote for you (every vote counts).
5. The top 20 entries voted by the public will then be judged by an influential panel of artists and designers. The winning entry will be displayed on the ‘Up Against It’ wall in Deptford, London.

Aap!Global is presenting @ Pecha Kucha - San Francisco August 29th on the topic of Legal Graffiti and New Media!

Come meet with us and others to talk about design, art, entrepreneurship and innovation.

New to Pecha Kucha?

Pecha Kucha (pronounced peh-chak-cha) was started in Tokyo, Japan in 2003 by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham Architecture, as a way to attract people to SuperDeluxe, an event space they had set up in Roppongi.

A Pecha Kucha night is an event format in which presenters show a slideshow of 20 images, each of which is shown for 20 seconds â?? giving a total presentation time of 6 minutes 40 seconds. Each event usually has 14 presenters. Presenters (and much of the audience) are usually from the design, architecture, photography, art and creative fields.

The event format has been replicated in 42 other cities, including New York, London, Mexico City and Shanghai. Events are usually limited to one each month per city.

More info @ http://www.pecha-kucha.org/

We welcome continued coverage on the Sao Paulo Billboard Ban and the effect it has on out of home media. The balanced video covers the topic from multiple angles.

“São Paulo’s conservative Mayor, Gilberto Kassab, put into effect the “Clean City Law” this month, outlawing nearly all forms of outdoor advertising. Interviews with lead singer of Brazilian band, Nação Zumbi, Mayor Kassab, city officials, and advertising industry.”

Read more Winners and Losers in the Sao Paulo Billboard Ban

A few days ago we wrote about the rather tasteless, but effective rural marketing exploit in the UK of a painted field with a corporate logo and URL.

A German artist has mowed a large 160 meter square Semacode (data matrix code) cut in a field in Germany.

From the project website: “A Semacode measuring 160 x 160 meters was mown into a wheat field near the town of Ilmenau in the Land Thuringia. The code consists of 18 x 18 bright and dark squares producing decoded the phrase â??Hello, world!â??.The project was realized in May 2006 and photographs were taken of it during a picture flight in the following month.”

Cute- the message when read by a semacode or data matrix reader blurts “Hello! World!”

The young German quotes : ” With â??Hello, world!â?? the code serves as a kind of branding of a digital culture whose omnipresence is obvious, yet whose modes of action are unknown in wide parts of society.”

See more @

Project Website

Flickr Series

Via [Ars Technica]