The campaign appears on newsstands, transit shelters and dedicated wild posting sites in New York and provides users with instant access to exclusive video content as well as free songs via their mobile devices. The campaign chronicles the story of an indie band on a road trip from San Francisco to Austin.

“JanSport is leveraging mobile as part of its OOH campaign as it gives the brand an opportunity to connect with its young target audience on their most personal device,” said Mikhail Damiani, CEO  and co-founder of Blue Bite, New York.

“JanSport has created some very unique and interactive content and mobile provides an effective channel to share this media – songs, videos – with its consumers,” he said.

“The effort is in partnership with Paragon Sports and is centered around the Union Square area to drive awareness and traffic to the sporting goods retailer.”

The brand worked with out-of-home mobile solutions provider Blue Bite, out-of-home media planning company Kinetic and digital agency Teak on the effort.

A mobile bridge
The signs feature lifestyle imagery showcasing JanSport’s Live Outside campaign, which features the band The Stone Foxes on a road trip to Austin, TX, and is updated weekly with new videos about their trip.

In the pictures, band members are wearing JanSport backpacks.

The addition of interactive QR codes and NFC capabilities to traditional out-of-home signs enables JanSport to bridge its physical and digital efforts, while also providing users with engaging content.

Prominently displayed on the signs are Blue Bite’s proprietary mTag, letting mobile users with NFC-enabled smartphones and tablets to tap their device on the poster to view custom video content created by JanSport.

Users can also listen to free music from sponsored local bands.

NFC picks up
Each poster also has an accompanying QR code that consumers can scan with their smartphones to access the multimedia content.

When users tap the poster or scan the mobile bar code, they are brought to a mobile experience where they have the option of either watching the story of the indie band or listen to free music.

QR codes have been widely adopted by brands to link users with content such as product descriptions, videos and music. NFC tags have not been as widely deployed, but are starting to pick as more devices with NFC capabilities embedded in them become available.

“Mobile is an integral part of the campaign and Blue Bite built out a mobile experience featuring the exclusive content made by JanSport and sponsored bands,” Mr. Damiani said.

“Mobile is part of every OOH placement for this campaign including CEMUSA bus shelters, newsstands, food truck wraps and wild posting sites,” he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York