Marketing via RFID comes to Seattle

IDG News Service - Some cafes and retail stores in Seattle this week will begin individually marketing products and services to passersby using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The first target group is visually and hearing-impaired individuals who can benefit from positioning and navigation applications added to the system.
Six wireless public areas, called activation fields, will go live next week throughout downtown Seattle and at the city's ferry terminal. Over the next few months, 15 more city areas will be added. Users carrying an active tag and entering one of the activation fields are recognized as the tag is read and are then presented with announcements.
"Speakers are mounted on the telephone booth or the facade of the store. So they will be above the individual's head when they pass underneath or nearby," said Harry H. Hart III, founder and CEO of Seattle's Awarea Corp., which owns and manages the system.
Users of the personalized marketing system carry an active RFID tag roughly the size of a stack of four credit cards. When the tag comes within 100 feet of a transmitter sending low-frequency signals at 126KHz, the tag transmits a unique identification signal to a receiver connected to a monitoring and execution server.
Depending on what information the system has on file about the individual, the server selects the correct file to output -- either an audio file in Microsoft Corp.'s WAV format for an announcement or an Apple Computer Inc. QuickTime file for American Sign Language to be displayed on a video monitor. The first message could be the address and sale information from a nearby retailer.
Customers seeking more information can push a "tell me more" button, explained Ben Donohue, vice president of business development for Axcess Inc., which is providing the hardware and designing the system.
Data about the customer can be mined and sold to the retailers, Donohue said. It can also be used to personalize marketing and map customer behavior.
One hundred thirty active RFID tags have been in use for a year at a test site with only one transmitter at Pioneer Square. Beginning June 1, when other transmitters are activated in the downtown area, more tags will be sold and rented.
Awarea planned to market the system at the National Federation of the Blind of Washington's legislative luncheon this past weekend.
Assistive technology could include safety and navigation information displayed on a personal digital assistant or a smart phone. The information could also be delivered in audio format to speakers mounted in information zones orto a Braille reader.
The system could also be used by tourists who want guidance in the downtown Seattle area.