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"Amid the digital revolution, outdoor advertising has remained stubbornly resistant to change. \nElectronic billboards can display video and occasionally run tweets or Facebook comments from fans, but they don't react dynamically in the same way as online and mobile advertising.\nSee also: 10 Best iPhone Chargers\nAn NFC-enabled iPhone could change that, though. With an install base by the end of the year in the millions, outdoor advertisers will have the license to try out some more interactive advertising. Imagine a billboard that dispenses coupons or one that shows different ads depending on who walks by. Or perhaps there wouldn't be a billboard at all \u2014 just a small device transmitting offers to your phone. \nFor the uninitiated, Near Field Communication is a mobile technology that allows for the transmission of data within the space of a few inches. NFC has had some notable adoption among mobile phone manufacturers, such as Samsung, while Apple has remained a holdout. \nAt this point, Apple has not yet confirmed whether NFC will be included in its upcoming phone. (Apple hasn't even confirmed that it's launching a phone.) \nHowever, rumors have surfaced that the iPhone 5S will include an NFC reader. Such a move is plausible since NFC was said to be included in the original designs of the iPhone 4S but later removed.\nGiven the unpredictable nature of Apple releases, outdoor advertisers aren't necessarily banking on an NFC-enabled iPhone 5S, but they are cautiously optimistic. Suzanne Grimes, president and COO of Clear Channel Outdoors America, says at the very least, NFC outdoor ads can improve on the QR code. \"QR codes are little clunky,\" she says. \"We are focusing on NFC because it's really elegant.\" \nJeff Jenkins, CEO of CBN Campus Media, which has run NFC-enabled ads on college campuses, says he's excited about the new iPhone. \"It's a big, big deal,\" he says. \"It opens up a whole new world of content.\" Jenkins says that the majority of responses to NFC-enabled ads have been via iPhones that used QR codes to access the same data.\nClear Channel has more than 1,000 large format digital billboards in 37 markets in the United States. The company is working with Verizon Wireless Precision Marketing and AT&amp;T Mobility Consumer Insights to see how consumers react to digital advertising. Among the scenarios Grimes envisions with NFC-enabled outdoor advertising are billboards that change their messages as consumers walk by. \nAn outdoor ad can also augment a message. For instance, if you're listening to iHeartRadio on your phone and hear an ad for Red Bull, the billboard you're walking past can run a Red Bull ad.\n\"This is doable right now,\" Grimes says. \nYet a relatively sparse amount of NFC-enabled ad campaigns have run in the U.S. Perhaps the most famous was the one below for the Samsung Galaxy SIII in 2012, which gave users who tapped their phone against the ad a free song from the Goodie Mob: \n\nOther countries are much more experimental with NFC-enabled outdoor advertising. For instance, Meat &amp; Livestock Australia recently launched ads there that display different recipes depending on the weather. When it's hot, the billboards show recipes for beef salad, but when temperatures cool, it subs in beef stew recipes. \nFrench supermarket chain Les Belles Feuilles offers NFC-enabled shelf labels that provide information on 25,000 products in store.\nIn the short term, an audience of millions of consumers with NFC-enabled iPhones will boost the technology. However, even Grimes couldn't say whether NFC would have staying power. \n\"The way tech changes, I'd be loath to say that,\" she says. \"Just like there QR code and then NFC was better and faster, there might be something else.\" \nImage: Getty, Philippe Lopez"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/08/27/iphone-nfc-advertising/>