Tag: hong kong

Hong Kong movie patrons unknowingly participated in a unique ad experiment.

A shocking car safety advertisement from Volkswagen (VW) realistically demonstrated the hazard of texting while driving at the MCL Cinema in Hong Kong, thanks to location based marketing technology.

The ad demonstrated to viewers just how dangerous texting and driving can be.

Prior to showing the feature film, the cinema showed the movie theater audience an advertisement that began with someone starting their car, listening to some peppy music and driving along a road densely populated with trees. The ad was shot in a first-person perspective, creating the atmosphere that the viewer was the one behind the wheel operating the vehicle.

The scenic drive continued for a little while until suddenly all of the moviegoers with mobile phones in the theater simultaneously received a text. When they took out their handsets to check the message, the car on the cinema screen careened off the road and crashed into a tree. The stunned moviegoers looked up from their phones to see the smashed windshield of the car. This image faded to a white screen and was followed by this message from the German automobile manufacturer: “Mobile use is now the leading cause of death behind the wheel. A reminder to keep your eyes on the road.”

This location based marketing strategy proved a powerful point.

The people in the move theater who received the text could not resist taking their eyes off of the screen to read the message on their phone. This is exactly when the crash occurred. The people who checked their mobile devices did not see the accident coming and that is precisely the point. All it takes is a moment or two of distraction with eyes off the road for an accident to happen.

This ad stunt, created by Ad Agency Ogilvy Beijing, was made possible at the Hong Kong cinema because the theater featured a location-based broadcaster. This technology enabled those behind the scenes to send a group text to all the patrons in the room at the same time.

So far, Volkswagen and Ogilvy Beijing’s location based marketing “Eyes on the Road” demonstration has generated a positive response. A video that captured the audience’s reactions, which has been uploaded to YouTube, has received over 12,000,000 views and counting.

Visa has high hopes for mobile payments in Asia

Visa has been showing a great deal of attention to the emerging mobile payments scene in Asia. The region has become one of the most active places in the world when it comes to mobile commerce, largely due to the aggressive steps that retailers are taking and the growing proliferation of smartphones and tablets. Visa is one among several financial service firms that have been working to establish a strong presence in the mobile payments sector of Asia and the company sees a great deal of promise in several of the markets located within this region.

Asian Pacific sees a great deal of mobile commerce activity

According to Visa, mobile payments are likely to thrive in markets where card payments are already very common. The company anticipates that mobile payments will see the most aggressive growth in Australia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, which are quickly establishing themselves as hubs for ambitious mobile commerce projects located in the Asian Pacific. The company notes that Japan is also a likely place to see strong growth in mobile payments, due to the fact that many consumers in the country already use their mobile devices to purchase transit tickets.

Security remains a problematic issue

Consumers that regularly use their mobile devices have shown a great deal of comfort when it comes to mobile commerce. These people have been able to acclimate to the idea of mobile payments more easily than those that do not use their smartphones and tablets on a regular basis. There are universal concerns that exist within this sector, of course, the most prominent of which happens to be security. The threat of financial information being stolen and exploited has proven to be a prohibitive issue to many consumers throughout the world.

Asia could present lucrative opportunities to mobile commerce firms

Visa is not solely focused on Asia with its mobile payments endeavors. The company is currently involved in various projects that are taking place around the world. Visa’s primary interest is to make consumers comfortable with mobile payments, but notes that there is a great deal of promise in Asian markets that could prove lucrative to those that manage to provide comprehensive mobile commerce services to the consumers that are demanding them.