Clear Channel launches new capabilities

Out-of-home ad provider Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO) is rolling out an interactive mobile advertising platform globally called Connect.Advertising panels on CCO’s pedestrian-accessible sites globally will be turned into mobile launch pads, enabling consumers to access interactive content from advertisers via their smartphones.Singapore has been offering advertisers interactive mobile advertising solutions through Mobile Life! since August 2011. In the coming months, Mobile Life! will be re-branded as Connect.  Starting May 2014, all 4,000 6-sheet advertising panels in Singapore, in addition to existing Mobile Life!-enabled panels in the CBD, will be be equipped with Connect’s capabilities.The Connect tags are permanently attached to digital or static poster structures on pedestrian-accessible sites with heavy footfall and long dwell-time, such as street furniture – including bus shelters and similar street-level advertising structures – shopping malls and at point-of-sale. Connect sites can be found nationwide in Singapore.Consumers simply tap or scan their smartphone over Connect’s NFC tag or QR code to instantly open a gateway to an online brand experience. In CCO’s Latin American markets, the platform will also run with the addition of SMS capability; a tailored SMS code will appear on the outdoor advert.By June 2014, CCO aims to create a mobile network reaching 175 million consumers monthly across 23 countries on five continents and will be able to offer marketers one of the largest out-of-home mobile interactive platform. It will also have 75,000 outdoor sites fitted with Connect tags enabled for Near Field Communication (NFC), QR code and, in Latin America, SMS capabilities.CCO first launched its mobile platform in the UK with a nationwide rollout in 2013 that included 10,000 mobile-enabled sites in London and Edinburgh. CCO’s mobile platform has since been launched in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Singapore. The global roll-out of Connect will see additional platforms planned for completion by June 2014 in: Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA.William Eccleshare, CEO of Clear Channel Outdoor, said that the OOH platform made this investment because “this is what consumers want, to be able to engage with brands individually, immediately and effectively.”“We are bridging the online and offline worlds by combining our outstanding audience reach with personal engagement through mobile devices. The global rollout of Connect accelerates the metamorphosis of out-of-home advertising from being the oldest form of advertising to the most modern and creative.”