NFC marketing campaign fashioned as a crime scene storefront promotes TNT show Rizzoli & Isles

NFC marketing is becoming a bigger concept by the day with the use of NFC tags. We have seen NFC smart posters already being trialled but the TV network TNT took things to the next level with the help of Blue Bite and their partner in crime, Pearl Media, to create a downtown NFC crime scene storefront in New York City. The campaign focuses on promoting TNT’s top-rated drama show, Rizzoli & Isles, and used a storefront to act as an interactive crime scene. We are not sure whether to call it an exhibit or marketing piece, but either way the campaign proved to be an effective way to prove that people love interacting with NFC based marketing media. Both TNT and the marketing companies involved are claiming that this campaign represented the first NFC storefront in the US, and who are we to disagree?

TNT show Rizzoli & Isles NFC marketing campaign details

The innovative NFC marketing campaign was set to run for a month leading up to the second season release of the show and used a storefront to represent a highly integrated “crime-solving” crime scene in New York City. We have covered Blue Bite’s exploits before, and like before the company supplied their mTag solution that allowed participants who walked past the storefront to take part in solving the staged crime. The NFC marketing campaign has been said to “immediately immerses the person’s mobile phone into the experience” by simply placing their phones close to NFC tags and markers on the storefront. Content that was delivered included a “unique and exclusive” mobile game and a “tune-in reminder” for the show, which was of course optional. Other content included to engage passersby included a custom wallpaper for participants phones and exclusive trailers for the show. From the shop window, consumers then have the ability to share their photos with friends via Facebook.

“This is truly a one-of-a-kind experience,” said Josh Cohen, President/CEO of New Jersey-based Pearl Media. “We are constantly being challenged by our clients to think differently and bring them customized opportunities to stand out in our competitive media world. Taking the physical element of a crime scene build-out and tying it to an interactive experience has never been done before. This concept differentiates the brand from the rest of the field, and we are honored to work with TNT to bring it to life in such a significant way.”

TNT NFC marketing campaign results

The TNT brand was able to engage with just over 4,000 unique mobile handsets. We don’t have the luxury of knowing what metrics the campaign was measured by, but with the lack of NFC phones in the market at this time we feel this NFC marketing campaign was an all out success. This campaign only furthered the cause of mobile marketing, proving that consumers will interact with NFC marketing that is done in an innovative and immersive way. What we would like to learn is the conversion rate of this campaign and whether those who participated actually tuned into the show. We also would like to know the cost of the NFC marketing campaign so we could run the numbers and see the cost per participant, cost per conversion and finally work out the cost per sale that the NFC marketing campaign achieved. With such a low percentage of people currently walking around with NFC phones, we feel this campaign was a proof of concept and are amazed that 4,000 people with NFC phones happened across the storefront. It only goes to show how interactive and innovative people can be with NFC. Kudos to Blue Bite and Pearl Media on the creative, tracking and deployment of this NFC marketing campaign. You may just give mobile NFC marketing a good name with marketing agencies everywhere!

See the video, gallery and press release below and let us know whether you would have responded to the NFC marketing campaign if you had walked past it in the street down in the comments.