RFID umbrella becomes part of mobile advertising in Philadelphia

Filed in archive Implementation on June 5, 2007

If you are walking around the Fairmount area of Philadelphia and come across people flaunting umbrellas then don't overlook them as normal umbrellas since these are not the regular ones rather these are the RFID umbrellas. They are the brainchild of Dutch Umbrella who is looking to popularize the concept of mobile advertising. The company has signed up eight sponsors for advertising spots on these umbrellas and patrons can borrow these umbrellas and return them while leaving. Since these umbrellas have an RFID tag which hangs from the Strap employees of the company move around with handheld reader for visiting business sites and identification of every umbrella. The information collected is later on loaded on to the software. The data collected can be used for marketing intelligence. Merchants can pinpoint the areas from where the customers came and target those particular areas for advertising and promotional efforts.

These RFID umbrellas can certainly help the merchants gain increased visibility among the potential customers but they would also have to pray to rain god for a longer rainy season too.