The challenge

Excited about the potential benefits NFC can bring to its customer base, Virgin Mobile chose to work with Proxama early in the technology's development to explore how NFC could help with:

Improving brand loyalty and reducing churn
Developing new service and revenue opportunities with partner companies
Improving the quality of marketing data
Encouraging mobile internet usage

Our approach

We worked with Virgin Mobile to pinpoint the type of applications that would suit subscribers' habits and behaviour patterns. We then used storyboards to refine the propositions. The next step was to develop five applications within our NFC framework around a day in the life of a Virgin Mobile subscriber.

1. Ticket purchase

A smart poster or SMS encourages the Virgin Mobile subscriber to download a sports event ticket. Preloading the ticket gives the subscriber prioritised access at the venue.

2. Travelcard top-up

Travelling to the event the Virgin Mobile customer tops up their Oyster account by tapping their NFC phone to a smart poster in the station.

3. Payment

At the event the subscriber buys snacks and souvenirs using the NFC phone to pay merchants who also receive payment with an NFC handset.

4. Music video download

A smart poster at the venue advertises a new music video and provides a simple trigger for accessing digital content through the mobile web.

5. Peer-to-peer content sharing

The subscriber shares the video download link with a friend, proving the simplicity of viral marketing with NFC.

Results

Proxama supplied the hardware and software for the service prototypes which have been used successfully across the Virgin Group to assist discussion about the potential of NFC. Proxama is now in the early stages of helping Virgin Mobile expand on the prototypes to support further internal trials.