Blippar relishes advertising potential of Wi-Fi on the Tube
The arrival of Wi-Fi on the London Underground this summer will present huge new opportunities for advertisers, the chief marketing officer of Blippar has said.
Jess Butcher believes that putting Wi-Fi on Tube platforms and stations will massively enhance the power and potential of technologies such as image recognition and augmented reality platforms like Blippar.
She said: "These things didn’t work underground before – now they can in one of the most competitive advertising markets in the world. That’s a huge boost to this growing industry – which the UK leads the world in, by the way – and it’s a chance for advertisers and brands to come up with entirely new ways to get commuters’ attention.
"Smart brands will start to think about how they can make the most of that captive audience waiting for their trains, perhaps through games that pass the time, or through video clips or text that gives people something extra to look at and read. At Blippar we’ve already worked with global brands like Nike, Sony, Guinness and Heinz, and I’d expect to see a lot of new brands, both big and small, experimenting with the potential of this technology.
“Indeed, only today we're blipping the Metro cover and back – and whilst everyone above ground can enjoy it, it will be fantastic for all underground advertisers, whether billboard or press, to be able to take an advantage of the opportunities to engage people during the boredom of their underground commute.
“I’m sure we’ll see a whole range of new augmented reality campaigns on Tube platforms this summer once the Wi-Fi is launched.”
Yesterday it was announed that Virgin Media had won the contract to provide Wi-Fi in London Underground stations in time for the Olympics.