NFC wristbands triumph at O2 Wireless Festival

Innovision Research and Technology, MIG and O2 successfully launched NFC wristband technology at the O2 Wireless Festival earlier this month.

The tagged wristbands, enabled by Topaz NFC tags from Innovision, were given away to hundreds of selected festival-goers over the four days of the event (3rd-6th July) as part of a ‘random acts of kindness' promotion.

Topaz tags are the NFC Forum standard-mandated Tag Type 1 and the tag's 96 byte memory is ideal for NFC applications such as access control. The robust tagged wristband form-factor proved rugged enough for the interactive environment of a four-day festival.

“This is yet another great example of an NFC application outside the electronic payment sphere,” says Ken Robertson, tag business development manager, Innovision. “It further demonstrates the versatility of the Topaz tag in its many form-factors.”

Recipients of the wristband used them to get exclusive access to the O2 bus, where wristbands were scanned using a handheld PDA - enabling users to access a static viewing platform offering unrivalled views of headline acts on the main stage. They could also receive a free cocktail at The Stage Bar by scanning their wristband at a fixed-point NFC terminal and gain entry to exclusive VIP toilets and cloakroom, again, gaining entry simply by scanning their tagged wristband using a handheld PDA.