Bluetooth marketing company Hypertag says it’s launching a network in London of 80 sites with its Bluetooth and infrared units, through a partnership with Boomerang Media. The units will be located in Boomerang’s postcard pick-up displays in bars and cinemas, and will let advertisers distribute all sorts of mobile content. First things first — Hypertag says it’s gotten around Bluespamming concerns by having users enter a code into their device’s Bluetooth name to signify consent. That sounds like a good solution, as long as the code is unique enough.
The network also gets interesting when you think about the possibilities of having these (I’m assuming) network-connected mobile content distribution points, which could theoretically give advertisers and marketers the ability to change their offerings on the fly, whether it’s to target different groups at different times of the day, or in reaction to particular events. 80 relatively homogenous locations won’t make a huge impact, but a major outdoor advertising company could really run with this: updated mobile content like audio podcasts or short videos could replace the nearly ubiquitous free newspapers passed out on public transport, area-specific local information could be passed on to opted-in users.
I’m curious to find out more about the opt-in via the code in a device’s Bluetooth name; it seems like having users enter specific codes could even be linked back to a profile that would let them opt to receive particular types of content, or particular marketing messages.
[tags]mobile, mobile marketing, bluetooth, bluespamming, hypertag[/tags]
I struggle to see the merit in this idea, given the usability issues related to changing a mobile’s bluetooth id (go on, see how many Nokia 6230i’s are within 20m of you right now, whilst Sony Ericssons are off by default) compared to using a shortcode. The only possible use is provisioning “large video” content without incurring data charges, but it’s got to be pretty damn big to justify the effort involved over using a shortcode based solution.
[…] London’s to get an 80-site Bluetooth-marketing network, complete with features to make sure us punters don’t get spammed. (via MobHappy) […]
[…] Back in August, I wrote a post about Hypertag setting up a network of net-connected Bluetooth units around London for marketers to use. I thought it was an interesting idea, but some other people, like Tom Hume, didn’t really agree (though I take some pride in being able to get coffee to shoot out his nose). […]