News

09/22/2015

50,000 beacons: Ströer is setting up the first nationwide beacon infrastructure in Germany

• Ströer is the first company in Germany to connect the real world with the online world on a nationwide basis
• Phase I: installation of 20,000 sensors in advertising media across the country by March 2016
• Ströer makes the Internet of Things tangible

Cologne, September 22, 2015 Around a year after the launch of the first public and largest beacon test field in Germany at Düsseldorf main station (DUS Open Playground), the board of management of Ströer SE yesterday came to a decision to be the first company in the world to begin setting up a nationwide beacon network. The plans for the first phase of the rollout call for some 20,000 advertising hoardings, posters and other media at highly frequented transport hubs in Germany to be equipped with the beacons by the end of March 2016. The nationwide beacon network will be expanded to 50,000 advertising spaces by the end of 2016. Ströer will thereby give advertisers the opportunity to become interactive. With some 230,000 POIs in Germany, Ströer is in a position to equip entire cities with beacons, making it easier for companies to give consumers across the country a digital handshake.

“Our pilot project has shown that interest among agencies and advertising entities is huge and that the technology is highly promising. We assume that new wearables will substantially boost the potential for beacon applications once again. A few individual beacon solutions have already been established, but we want to set the standard. With our nationwide and standardized beacon infrastructure which we plan to establish throughout Germany, we are enabling consumers to experience the Internet of Things at first hand. Ströer has the digital portfolio to bring this innovation to the masses. We are also benefiting considerably from our existing OOH infrastructure and are subsequently able to roll out the network efficiently and at unrivalled, minimal cost”, commented Christian Schmalzl, COO of Ströer SE.

The objective of the beacon network is to make the transition between the real world and the digital world as easy as possible. In the past, advertisers have frequently reported that the customer journey through media gaps between the two worlds is detrimental to efficiency. Ströer’s beacon infrastructure enables advertisers to address consumers in a more targeted manner by establishing an effective link between out-of-home media and mobile channels. The huge reach provided by OOH media can be optimally combined with the accurate targeting of mobile marketing. Through a mobile extension of the OOH campaign on their smartphones, consumers can be addressed individually depending on their personal usage behavior, for example by showing them the way to the next store or offering them a personal discount. Commercial customers in particular will benefit from this development, as the mechanics of e-commerce can be integrated into brick-and-mortar stores via iBeacon technology. Beacons push messages to the user’s smartphone via the advertiser’s app as the consumer passes by. By providing time and location-specific additional information on products, special offers or coupons, consumers are addressed directly and can be guided towards the POS.

For the first time, Ströer as an infrastructure provider is utilizing the possibility of connecting the real world with the online world in Germany by using Bluetooth low energy-based technology. Ströer had previously tested the iBeacon technology for six months at the Düsseldorf main station together with Deutsche Bahn as part of a pilot project. The Open Playground provided key insights and showed that out of the station’s daily 250,000 visitors, around 40 percent activated Bluetooth. Philips, L’Oreal, the t8y.com agency, Sparkassen-Finanzportal GmbH and a soft drinks producer successfully used the test field to monitor the success of iBeacon campaigns in their target groups.

About Ströer
Ströer SE is a big digital multi-channel media company, and offers its advertising customers individualized and fully integrated premium communications solutions. In the field of digital media, Ströer is setting forward-looking standards for innovation and quality in Europe and is opening up new opportunities for targeted customer contact for its advertisers. The Ströer Group commercializes several thousand websites especially in German-speaking countries and around 300,000 advertising faces in the field of “out-of-home”. The Group has approximately 2,500 employees at over 70 locations. In the full year 2014, Ströer SE generated consolidated revenue of EUR 721m.
The Ströer SE is listed on the SDAX of the German Stock Exchange.
For more information on the Company, please visit www.stroeer.com.

Press contact
Marc Sausen
Ströer Media SE
Director Corporate Communications
Ströer-Allee 1
D-50999 Cologne
Germany Tel.: +49 (0) 2236 / 96 45-246
Fax: 02236 / 96 45-6246
Email: presse@stroeer.de

Investor Relations
Dafne Sanac
Ströer Media SE
Manager Investor Relations
Ströer-Allee 1
D-50999 Cologne
Germany Tel.: +49 (0) 2236 / 96 45-356
Fax: 02236 / 96 45-6356
Email: dsanac@stroeer.de

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