In recent years, the focus on creating 360 ° campaigns has increased massively, with brands realising the importance of bringing consumers through the loyalty loop and not simply spending all their money on brand -building. This has been seen with brands increasing budget spend in social media, mobile, shopper and elsewhere.

The last point of influence in a consumer‘s decision- making is the hardest one for a brand to play a role in. As the consumer is walking to the aisle, looking at a shelf and picking up the product, brand communications are restricted by the environment. In the digital age, it is more difficult than ever to create and retain brand loyalty – and all of the brand-building you do before the consumer steps into the store can be for nothing should they then prefer the proposition of the brand positioned next to yours.

This presents a challenge for brands: How can we deliver more effective communications in-store and close the loop on our 360 ° comms campaigns?

In the past, this has been limited to on-shelf displays, gondola ends, POS and other forms of passive printed communication. In recent years we‘ve seen this evolving to incorporate digital displays and interactivity, and while these can be effective, none of them are really able to actively disrupt the shopper from their journey – and they are broadcasted without any targeting or true understanding of their audience.

The rise of mobile presents opportunities to take things one step further. According to Kantar (December 2013), 69% of the UK population now owns a smartphone, and this is growing at a huge rate – with 85% of new devices sold now being smartphones. Since the vast majority of the population now carries these devices, this allows brands to communicate directly to their consumers and tailor push messaging to suit their audience.

There are now a range of technology platforms that enable in-store mobile messaging and present a greater ability to close the one degree of separation between brand and consumers that remains present in-store. Different solutions – including iBeacons, LED signalling, Wi-Fi triangulation, ultrasound and more – offer a range of options for brands to use hyper-localised messaging to deliver targeted messages in-store.

Each option comes with pros and cons. A few don‘t even require an app, some have a more precise location function than others, some can do push messaging, and some can build intelligent data profiles around the consumer. They also have varying implementation requirements, with some necessitating large infrastructure changes from the retailer (such as Wi-Fi installation or ultrasound transmitters), while others use common infrastructure available in any retailer premises.

However, as it stands, there is no Holy Grail. No tech solution has yet managed to crack that last degree of separation and create a one-size-fits-all platform that is appropriate for every brand and every retailer.

Bluetooth beacons

iBeacons are the talk of the town right now. Recently incorporated into Apple‘s iOS7, they are incredibly easy for a retailer to implement, and provide incredibly accurate positioning (precise to 4 inches). However, they only run on handsets that support Bluetooth LE (iPhone 4S and beyond, and newer and very modern Android phones) and they require an app to be pre-downloaded by the consumer before they can be used. So, their viability for mass use is still limited.

LED Lights

Companies such as ByteLight are looking at alternative wavelengths, using light to locate and message shoppers. Utilising existing light fittings, LED lights can be installed with a chip in them that modulates light pulses and sends data by flickering very fast – faster than the human eye can detect. The camera on a smartphone picks this up and establishes the location of the user. It‘s less preci