Princeton Junction, NJ, October 6, 2010–Mobile phones are so prevalent with U.S. consumers today that marketers are coming up with innovative new ways to promote goods and services–sending coupons, promotions and loyalty-based offers directly to consumers’ phones. The topic of “mobile marketing” and the related privacy and security considerations are addressed in a new white paper released today from the Smart Card Alliance Payments Council, “Chip-Enabled Mobile Marketing.”

The white paper focuses on chip-enabled mobile marketing–mobile marketing applications that use an RF chip, either built in or added to a mobile phone, to enable mobile contactless transactions. It can be downloaded for free by visiting the Smart Card Alliance Payments Council Web page.

“It is no surprise that mobile marketing and advertising are expected to nearly triple over the next three years. Consumers like using their mobile phones to redeem coupons and take part in marketing campaigns–it is so much more convenient and even fun compared to traditional paper coupons and card-based loyalty programs,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. “Secure chip technology is ideal for mobile marketing applications, because it provides optimal levels of usability, convenience, security and opt-in services.”

Near Field Communication (NFC) and secure chip technology are traditionally thought of as bringing contactless payments capability to mobile phones. This white paper looks beyond payment to other marketing applications that can add significant value for merchants and the mobile marketing ecosystem. By highlighting pilots and commercial services that have launched chip-enabled mobile marketing or combined marketing and payments, the white paper showcases chip-enabled mobile application innovation.

The paper describes many of the chip-enabled approaches to mobile marketing, from non-phone- integrated fobs and stickers to NFC-enabled accessories to embedded NFC chips. It provides an overview of the levels of security that can be implemented with chip-enabled mobile marketing to protect coupons, offers, and loyalty points. The levels can range from no security, in which coupons can be duplicated, to hardened security, in which encryption and the use of a secure element mean that the contents of a mobile wallet are protected as securely as a payment application. Use cases from pilots and commercial services being conducted all over the world are summarized.

Participants involved in the development of this white paper included: Accenture; Capgemini; Capital One; Cubic; DeviceFidelity, Inc.; Discover Financial Services; First Data Corporation; HID Global; HP Enterprise Services; IBM Corporation; INSIDE Contactless; JPMorgan Chase; MasterCard Worldwide; NagraID Security; Oberthur Technologies; OTI America; Visa, Inc.; ViVOtech; Watchdata Technologies

About the Smart Card Alliance Payments Council

The Smart Card Alliance Payments Council focuses on facilitating the adoption of chip-enabled payments and payment applications in the U.S. through education programs for consumers, merchants, issuers, acquirers/processors, government regulators, mobile telecommunications providers and payments service providers. The group is bringing together payments industry stakeholders, including payments industry leaders, merchants and suppliers, and is working on projects related to implementing EMV, contactless payments, NFC-enabled payments and applications, mobile payments, and chip-enabled e-commerce. The Council’s primary goal is to inform and educate the market about the value of chip-enabled payments in improving the security of the payments infrastructure and in enhancing the value of payments and payment-related applications for industry stakeholders.

About the Smart Card Alliance

The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology.

Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America. For more information please visit https://www.securetechalliance.org.