Mobile ad tech company Tapped Mobile has partnered with mobile solutions provider MobileXCo to create coupons through Shazam.

By adding a camera function to the regular Shazam app, “Visual Shazam” uses image recognition to scan anything from product packaging to traditional print and video ads to in-store material to give users access to exclusive coupons and offers. It launched in the U.S. in May, and has now been launched in Canada through Tapped. The company is the exclusive partner of Shazam in Canada, where it is used by 3.5 million users every month.

Jed Schneiderman, co-founder and president of Tapped Mobile, says the new offering is connecting the dots between multiple consumer behaviours. Besides being able to receive and redeem the coupons through an app many Canadians are already using, it taps into a desire to receive offers and deal through platforms other than physical coupons, something Tapped’s annual Mobile Personas research has shown is on the rise.

“We know from research that consumers are becoming more price-conscious and checking information on their phones in-store, but alternative mobile coupons like QR codes are starting to see declining usage because it’s not something you use regularly,” Schneiderman says. “We also know a lot of people, when they’re researching, are doing so to make a purchase decision, right there, while they’re in store. People can redeem these offers in real-time, which has been a challenge in the past because POS systems have had trouble handling that.”

For those that aren’t researching purchases in-store, Visual Shazam also stores and organizes offers users might have received through a TV or print ad for easy access at a later date.

Partnering with MobileXCo also gives Tapped access to technology the overcomes the hurdles other mobile offer platforms have faced. Offers can be redeemed using most point-of-sale systems, without the need for additional equipment, and can be done immediately.

Visual Shazam also offers increased authentication capabilities, which prevent fraud but also provide more robust analytics in real-time. Shazam Offers, as they’re called, can be targeted to specific users, and the content users scan to receive them can be marked so brands can see differences in performance based on location, the retailer or time of day.

Image courtesy Shutterstock