OREANDA-NEWS. Proxama PLC (AIM: PROX), the international mobile commerce Company specialising in proximity marketing and provider of end-to-end payment solutions for card issuers, is pleased to announce a long term exclusive contract with Ubiquitous, the UK's largest provider of taxi advertising.

Under the new contract, our Proximity Marketing Division, which focuses on connecting consumers to retailers and brands via mobile proximity marketing using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons, will look to install beacons in up to 4000 Black Cabs across the UK so that passengers can receive context-relevant messaging, as they travel to their destinations.

The team at Ubiquitous has more than 80 years' combined experience in taxi advertising, with Managaing Director, Andrew Barnett personally having more than 35 years.  Over the past decade Ubiquitous has pioneered UK taxi advertising and has created many of the media opportunities that are available to brands today, from internal Tip-Seats to fully wrapped 'Livery' taxis, complete with NFC and passenger Wi-Fi. Ubiquitous operates taxi advertising in all of the UK's key cities and is therefore the natural partner to introduce the next innovation in Black Cab advertising.

During the course of one year, each London taxi is estimated to make around 4,500 journeys, principally around central London locations, rail stations and London's airports - similar journeys are experienced in other UK key cities. London's regular taxi users tend to have high personal income, are smartphone and tablet enabled and are likely to be middle-management and above - in short, a very desirable group and one which brands very much seek to reach. Proxama's beacons will enable existing clients of Ubiquitous to send relevant offers and content to passengers' smartphones when they are in the back of taxi and have the time available to read the messages and if interested click through to the advertiser's website.

The exclusive contract is for a three year period.  Based on data from our existing beacon networks we anticipate that 24% of consumers who receive in the moment relevant notifications click-through to the app, a significantly higher response than other forms of mobile advertising.

Andrew Barnett, Managing Director, Ubiquitous comments "Being the first company to put beacons into Black Cabs on a significant scale is consistent with our innovative track record and I am delighted to be working with Proxama who are quickly establishing themselves as pioneers in this market. For our clients the opportunity to connect with their customers through proximity marketing, in a high dwell-time setting such as the back of the cab, provides a unique one-to-one moment in which there is the time to respond to messages and offers."

Jon Worley, CEO of Proxama marketing division comments, "This is an excellent high profile partnership for us and one which we believe is extremely well suited to proximity marketing. The average cab journey lasts around 20 minutes in London and is a natural time for people to check their smartphone for messages and new content. We look forward to seeing the customer reaction.

Our network of beacons has grown rapidly across London since the beginning of the year. Advertisers are now able to make use of the Proxama Network which covers London buses, airports and black cabs, with further expansion planned across multiple sectors."

About Proxama

·     Proxama is an international mobile commerce Company specialising in proximity marketing via mobile and providing end-to-end solutions for card issuers to migrate customers from magnetic stripe credit and debit cards to contactless mobile payments.

·     The technology to support mobile payments is now in place. 90% of the world's smartphones have technology to make mobile payments and in 2015 30 million contactless mobile payments are expected to be made compared to 3 million in 2014.

·     Proxama has been at the forefront of this market for the last 10 years. Today, Proxama's solutions are used by banks, financial institutions, loyalty companies, media owners, stadium owners, retailers and brands. Current clients include: Fiserv, Exterion Media, Harrods, Ubisoft, Gala, Purple Seven and Argos.

·     The proximity marketing division focuses on connecting consumers to brands and retailers via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon technology and Near Field Communication (NFC). Proxama establishes and owns beacon networks in high footfall locations such as City Centres, transport networks, stadia, shopping malls, entertainment hubs and retail outlets, which are then able to communicate to consumers via messages to mobiles when the consumer is in close proximity to a beacon. The technology platform at the heart of this division is TapPoint®

·     The payments division manages end-to-end credit and debit cards solutions on behalf financial institutions in the United States, Europe and the Middle East and specialises in enabling the migration of cards from magnetic stripe cards, to chip and pin cards and from contactless chip cards to mobile devices. The technology behind this division is Proxama's Digital Enablement Platform.