These marketers are using the solution to deliver content and offers through NFC, QR codes and SMS, which will be installed in all five boroughs of New York. Blue Bite developers believe its both static and digital advertising displays located on Cemusa?s bus shelters and newsstands will extend brand campaigns with unique experiences for mobile users.

?As people become more dependent on their mobile phones for communication, entertainment and utility, they have come to expect the ability to interact with their favorite brands through those devices,? said Mikhail Damiani, co-founder and CEO at Blue Bite, New York. ?We are simply creating the channel for this to happen.?

Hundreds of brands and retailers have used Blue Bite?s mTAG solution to deliver content and offers.  These include retailers GAP, Macy?s, Old Navy, Jansport, and Under Armour and other brands such as Ford, Lincoln, Paramount Pictures, Toyota and Samsung.

The deployment of Blue Bite?s mTAG platform features NFC, QR codes, SMS, Bluetooth beacons and cloud-based geofencing and re-targeting to facilitate a variety of brand-to-consumer interactions.  

According to xAd?s and Telemetrics recent 2014 Path-to-Purchase Study, mobile has now eclipsed desktop as a research tool with consumers spending more time on their mobile devices than ever. In fact, depending on the vertical, mobile devices account for up to 64 percent of time spent online.

Blue Bite believes Cemusa?s street furniture is appealing and attracts passersby, creating a convenient opportunity for brand engagement.

Consumers are increasingly accepting the idea of NFC and using it to make in-store payments with their mobile devices.

In fact, Softcard users in Salt Lake City, UT, are three-and-a-half times more likely to engage with offers and four times more likely to use loyalty cards than the national average, according to new results from the near-field communications payments provider.

Softcard ? which went by the name Isis until recently ? launched a pilot program in Salt Lake City two years ago and believes that results there offer a good indication of how the payments landscape will evolve elsewhere. These results point to potential benefits that retailers can reap from mobile payments (see story).

Big brands are also getting involved.

For example, McDonald?s recently extended its partnership with mobile payments platform Softcard in an effort to push sales and offer more convenience to consumers.

While the program initially underwent pilot testing in 2013, the partnership recently launched nationwide on more than 80 mobile devices across Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile networks. McDonald?s also accepts Apple Pay, pointing to how the chain is looking to reach both Android and Apple users via offerings that will make it easier for them to pay for their meals (see story).

Cemusa and Blue Bite?s solution will give brands and retailers a new channel of interaction using NFC.

?Cemusa has some of the most iconic and noticeable street furniture in New York, and it fit perfectly with the technological and forward thinking approach we have both embraced to deliver this solution,? Mr. Damiani said.