AccuNotify™ Expands Digital Foundation to Enhance Local Tourism and Consumption in Okinawa

Vitanet Japan Co., Ltd., based in Minato Ward, Tokyo and led by CEO Kenyu Yamada, recently validated the effectiveness of its innovative advertising and promotional system, AccuNotify™, in facilitating stress-free inbound tourism at Naha Airport. This trial was part of a pilot project initiated by the Okinawa General Bureau under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which employed BLE certification technology.

AccuNotify™ proves to be a versatile tool that can extend its advertising functionality beyond just retail media within the airport to the entirety of passenger flow encompassing the Yui Rail station and its network, demonstrating potential for integration with MaaS applications on campus.

Transforming Points into Continuous Connections

Traditionally, various sectors such as airports, railways, buses, tourist attractions, and commercial facilities conducted their own marketing and advertising efforts separately. However, the reality of travel involves a continuous flow where consumers engage with airport arrivals, transfers via public transportation, and visits to local attractions or dining establishments.

A significant challenge lies in creating a system that encourages visitors to naturally wander into regional shops, tourist spots, and eateries after arriving at their destinations. This trial aims to reconstruct fragmented advertising efforts into a cohesive digital pathway that aligns with passenger routes, increasing cross-facility customer movement and enhancing promotion strategies across the board.

The implementation of BLE stations along the Yui Rail route linking the airport to urban areas has served to monitor passenger interactions, confirming the ability of AccuNotify™ to continually form digital touchpoints. This setup demonstrates the feasibility of employing AccuNotify™ to guide travelers to their next stop or facility alongside their travel routes.

Collaboration with Campus MaaS and In-Vehicle Applications

As part of future applications, the technology's connectivity to campus Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is being explored. This includes theoretical connections with buses, in-vehicle systems, parking management, and access control at facilities, creating relevant touchpoints for instructions, identification, and confirmations across travel routes.

The results have indicated that AccuNotify™ could seamlessly extend beyond the confines of traditional transport modes to include interactions throughout the MaaS landscape, ensuring passengers receive information tailored to their needs in a timely manner.

Reliable Movement Touchpoint Data from BLE Stations

Historically, the use of beacons relied on estimating a user's location and trajectory based on received signals. Moving forward in the tourism, transportation, and MaaS sectors requires more than mere location estimates. It’s crucial to capture reliable real-time contact data regarding when, where, and how users react to notifications.
AccuNotify™ utilizes a proprietary secure beacon signal from BLE stations, allowing for detailed records of when and where users have interacted with notifications. When a user comes within a designated distance of a beacon, instant content serves to provide real-time information based on current circumstances or campaign settings.
For instance, using notifications about nearby attractions or shops at airports, and further combining these on-site experiences with targeted guided advertising will allow businesses to evaluate user responses effectively. This consent-based data collection will enable continued analysis on travel pathways, enhancing promotional campaigns while also evaluating future MaaS collaborations.

A Digital Infrastructure Facilitating External System Integrations

As part of the initiative, an examination of the data items AccuNotify™ could provide through API integration has been undertaken, laying the groundwork for connecting to external systems. Key data items include identification information pertaining to locations, notification timings, distance between mobile devices and installation points, and responses to notifications. This data framework is anticipated to facilitate effective connections with existing systems across transportation, tourism, and MaaS sectors. Targeting both tourists and locals, the technology promises personalized notifications for tailored services, further expanding local consumption.

Turning Passengers' Transit into Opportunities for Consumption

By transforming the locations where travelers actually pass through, AccuNotify™ can enhance the opportunities for local businesses to engage with potential customers at the right time with relevant information. For example, at arrival at airports, traffic directions and tourist information can be provided, while within transportation terminals, information on nearby shops or transfers could be relayed.

This new approach allows airport operators and transport agencies to leverage new advertising touchpoints to reach travelers while enabling municipalities and destination marketing organizations to promote visitor circulation, distribution of congestion, and enhance local consumer opportunities. Retailers and restaurateurs can actively convert passing travelers into patrons by refining how they reach out to them. AccuNotify™ demonstrates its effectiveness in retail media at airports, poised to expand into a comprehensive digital foundation that fosters local consumerism.

Future Prospects

Building on the current pilot findings, Vitanet aims to position AccuNotify™ not merely as a retail tool but as a foundational digital infrastructure encompassed by airports, train systems, buses, tourism venues, and commercial entities. Collaborating further with transport providers, airport operators, municipalities, DMOs, retail businesses, and advertisers, Vitanet is set to enhance traveler convenience, stimulate local consumption, alleviate congestion, and optimize tourist experiences.
Plans for further development include integrating regional currencies, e-commerce, and government service announcements to support daily mobility and consumption for both tourists and local residents. The eventual objective is to make this innovative pilot model available across airports, transportation hubs, and tourist destinations in Japan and globally, using SDKs and robust cloud platforms to manage notifications and advertising effectively.

About Vitanet Japan Co., Ltd.

Founded with a vision to harness smartphone-based identification technology, Vitanet specializes in delivering contextual notifications facilitated by proximity sensors. Their flagship solutions, AccuNotify™ and AccuAuth™, support the digital transformation efforts of businesses within various sectors. For more information, visit Vitanet’s website.