The TrendWatch

Many companies are using RFID (radio frequency identification) to manage the supply-side of the equation. But what about using it to stoke consumer demand?

Here’s a look at 3 brands linking RFID to social media:

1) Vail Resorts, Epic Mix App

Vail Resorts in Colorado has launched a new social gaming app which enables skiers and snowboarders to track their activities and share them with their friends and family. The app is powered by RF chips embedded in season passes and lift tickets.

Befitting its name, the Epic Mix app mixes up, as Mashable points out, “Nike+ and miCoach, which allow you to track your physical activities, and Gowalla, which rewards users for exploring new areas via its Trips feature. Like Gowalla, EpicMix rewards users with special pins for various accomplishments, such as being on the first chairlift of the day, or skiing a certain number of vertical feet over a designated period of time.”

The more users shred Vail with the Epic Mix app, the more jealous friends and family will be. Here’s a video overview of the app.

2) Coca-Cola Village Amusement Park

This summer in Israel, Coca-Cola hosted the first ever, real-life RFID event tied to Facebook. As teens engaged in activities, like waterslides, even sunbathing, they automatically updated their status by swiping an RFID wristband across strategically located readers.

Judging from the updates, the event was wildly successful – “there were more than 35,000 updates each day even though the village only hosts 650 teenagers at a time.” (via: allfacebook)

Here’s a video overview of the RFID event.

3) Izzy’s Ice Cream Cafe

Izzy’s, an ice cream cafe in Minnesota, can make 100 flavors of ice cream, but only has space to serve 32 at a time – a conundrum for customers who scream for a particular flavor that’s not available. To help customers know when their favorites are being served, Izzy’s started using RFID flavor tags. Now every time a flavor enters the dipping case, an RFID tag sends customers, who crave that flavor, a real-time update. (via: techworld)

Ice cream flavors, ski slope and amusement park activities – check. What will RFID broadcast next?

In researching this post, it was hard to find cases studies, which begs the question: is the lack of RFID applications linked to social media a massive opportunity for your brand?