Bluespamming continues to live on: using Bluetooth to distribute marketing content, but doing it responsibly, makes it ridiculously obtuse for interested users. So what’s a company to do? Ignore best practices and just bluespam, or ping every visible Bluetooth connection within site. Mobile Marketing Magazine says that a company was running a Bluespamming… er, Bluecasting campaign at a London theater, and spun the fact that 703 people out of 9,595 actually accepted the offer of a video download.
In the site’s next post, its editor, David Murphy, points out that really means 93 percent of the people they hit weren’t interested, meaning they more than likely saw it as spam. They’re probably overjoyed with their 7 percent response rate, since that’s pretty good for many old-school forms of marketing. But they need to keep in mind that 7 percent comes at the expense of irritating the other 93 percent. And, as Murphy points out, if 7 percent is as good as Bluespamming can deliver — when it’s supposed to be so well targeted and timely — marketers should probably look elsewhere.
But what about the same setting (theater, cinema etc) and the information posted/downloaded e.g. was a calendar for coming shows? I think the acceptance level would be much higher then, also if it included text and possibly images rather than a video, which would be embarrassing to play when at the setting. If the downloaded content then also contained some random ad as well, so be it. The user has already made a choice to download the information.
This is a seriously tough question that you bring up, Carl. I think that there is an enormous opportunity for mobile and tooth marketing to absolutely change the game, but there is also the chance to piss a lot of people off.
I think that most people feel that their cell phone, texts and earpieces are completely off limits for marketers. Yet there are definitely times that I wish I could receive a restaurant recommendation on the fly. There is tremendous potential reaching customers as they walk by the store so of course people are going to try, but there definitely needs to be some tome of permission system or else things will spiral out of control.
Google adwords is such a phenomenal success because their ads are relevant, measurable and presented at the precise time that the customer is searching for the information. Obviously mobile marketing can be measurable, relevant and close (which is a huge advantage). The big question is if we can find a way to distinguish the customers that are looking for this information. Angering 93% of the people through their phones is way too many.
On another note I really enjoy the blog, thanks for writing. Mobile marketing and commerce has interested me for a while, but now I am looking to break into the industry. Would either of you have any advice as to companies that may be hiring non-tech people? I live in NYC and I am coming from a totally unrelated industry so I don’t have many contacts inside mobile.
[…] Link: More on Bluespamming at MobHappy Bluespamming continues to live on: using Bluetooth to distribute marketing content, but doing it responsibly, makes it ridiculously obtuse for interested users. […]
“Angering 93% of the people through their phones”? Seems like a bit of a leap of faith there… All the statistics show is that 93% of people didn’t want to receive the bluecast, nothing more, nothing less.
Also, I’d say that a 7% opt-in rate to direct marketing messages is really quite good, although as you quite rightly say this is a very targeted audience
[…] De artikelen: Bluetooth marketing bezorgt Opta hoofdbrekers (emerce) Reclame via Bluetooth: SPAM? (ictrecht.nl) Bluetooth reclame: spam of geen spam? (marketingfacts) Bluetoothreclame is geen Spam (dutchcowboys) “Bluecasting is Legal” (but Still Annoying) Shock (mobile marketing magazine) More on Bluespamming (MobHappy) Is Bluecasting wel legaal? (marcathing :)) […]
[…] Some interesting discussion has sprouted around my post on Bluespamming from Friday: […]
Just bumped into this by accident, but hey..
I’m a designer and right now i’m developing a flash lite app for a public transporter here in portugal.
The plan is to allow people to download or receive through BT a file wich will inform about timetable, rates, news, lines available etc, all in the phone!
so if you ask me, bluespamming is negative, however, having info to give through mobile support is positive indeed.
The question here (as with all the spam i guess) is permission.
even if subconsciously people like to be in charge. and deciding whether they want or not some info, makes them feel that way, hence avoiding spam!
that’s just my 2 cents though!
After reading all the thoughts about BT transmitting mrkting contents these days. I have had the following thoughts. People seems to like the idea of BT transmiting contents/msg/access to a potential user. But you guys seems to hate the way it is being implemented.
Either its Bluecasting or Bluespamming, I think that the party implementing this idea to spam people, without people’s notice, just simply lacked the responsibility.
Although 3G’s popularity in the future and everyone’s access to wap sites non-stop. Don’t forget about the “location-base” and “push” attributes that BT has.
The invention of internet gave birth to many large corps such as Google, e-Bay, My Space etc. These companies actively do ads/PR/news release online. Why? Because online ads are the most direct way (with one click) to access these websites. Further more these people (sitting in front of a computer accessing the web) are the potential users of these websites.
In the near future, when people will spend more time accessing the web via mobile, larger companies that provides mobility services will emerge. What will be the best way to push these “wap services” to a potential user’s phone? Taking a QR code, send it and wait to be accessed? Yes, maybe, in some situations. In a lot of cases, it will be BT. When you’re in an outdoor environment, activating your phone’s BT to access mobile contents, will be the same as clicking a banner within a website to access Amazon.com.
BT cannot substitute other forms of ads, just like online ads aren’t killing TV/mag/outdoor ads. It will be a tool that has to be integrated with outdoor ads to provide location/environmental base communication solutions to fulfill the whole chain of communication.
So, for people who are pushing contents via BT, pls do it with responsible. Don’t let people think that its rubbish!
I spoke to a lad named Colby Fede of Proximitymedia, a US firm that seems to be very aware of Best practices when it comes to this new area of Bluetooth Location-based advertising. If other companies follow their lead then I think Bluetooth marketing may survive and the Bluespamming name won’t stick in the long run. I do think the stakeholders in this industry need to take the bull by the horns and establish best practices at this phase of the process.
[…] Link: More on Bluespamming at MobHappy Bluespamming continues to live on: using Bluetooth to distribute marketing content, but doing it responsibly, makes it ridiculously obtuse for interested users. […]