How many people have their Bluetooth switched on?

Figures range from 40% to 60% of users having their Bluetooth enabled; this figure continues to grow as the use of Bluetooth accessories especially in cars continues to increase. The main issue with Bluetooth Marketing is NOT how many people have Bluetooth enabled, but how many phones a Zone can simultaneously service. In practice Bluetooth Zones show that if footfall is high, then the limiting factor is the Bluetooth bandwidth available for downloads rather than enabling more phones.

Bluetooth takes a bite back at the Credit Crunch?

Marketing agencies more than most companies tremble when the word “recession” hits the headlines, as businesses seek to reduce costs often starting with their marketing budgets. For example Law firms spend an average of 1.7% of their revenue on marketing many with external Agencies, however most are expected to cut their marketing budgets in 2009 by an average 11%.

According to IDC’s Rich Vancil events and traditional-media advertising will be hit the hardest in the Technology sector because of the global downturn. The same is true of the Automotive industry with Nissan withdrawing from the Detroit Auto Show in 2009 and General Motors slashing its marketing budget as it seeks government financing.

How can marketing agencies do “more with less” and continue to justify the value they bring to their clients, at this time? As always it comes through creative thinking and offering a fresh perspective to the client in order to help achieve their goals, which is why many Agencies are considering advertising on mobile phones as their response to the crisis.

With more mobile telephone contracts existing in the UK than actual citizens and over 261m subscribers in the US, mobile phones continue to be part of everybody’s day to day life, and large brands will follow the masses ‘Strategy analytics’ predicts mobile advertising spend to rise to $14.4bn in 2011. However the newest trend in this area is to use the often overlooked wireless technology, Bluetooth, which comes on every new phone as a way of promoting a campaign for free.

Bluetooth Proximity Marketing as it is called, does not require telephone numbers or use cellular networks for sending messages, removing the cost and complexity traditionally incurred with mobile marketing. With “Plug and Play” products now specifically designed for Agencies, traditional campaigns can easily incorporate Bluetooth Marketing without the need for technical know-how.

A leading light in providing agencies with Bluetooth Zones is market leader Huetouch, Nicholas Maguire their VP for Business Development said “As companies demand more out of diminishing marketing budgets, Bluetooth Advertising is giving extraordinary results as it continues to replace traditional leafleting, poster and billboard advertising.” He continues, “Everybody has a mobile phone, the ability to target a specific demographic at an appropriate time in an exact location, makes Bluetooth Marketing a powerful consumer targeting mechanism.”

It is not only the Bluetooth industry making these claims, the Public sector are rolling our Bluetooth Zones as a way of contacting citizens. From Drink Driving campaigns by Police forces to raising awareness of sexually transmitted diseases amongst clubbers, by the NHS.

Even the most effected sector in the credit crunch is finding hope in Bluetooth Marketing. Alexanders an independent Estate Agents in Wales, ran a Bluetooth Marketing Campaign for the launch of a new seaside apartment development, The Bluetooth Zone was in place for just three days and during this time 1,739 mobile phones were sent a free message, resulting in 50 enquiries, 20 viewings and 2 apartment sales!

Yes the Credit crunch is taking a large bite out of marketing budgets, but savvy agencies will use this time to expand their client base by moving from traditional areas such as print, exhibitions and events, and migrating their skills to the one area that is seeing an increased share of all our personal expenditure despite the downturn, the omnipresent cell phone.

Bluetooth Proximity is ideal for game players

Mobile is the future, for telecomunications, social networking and remote workers, but lets remember its not all about work, Mobile gaming is also BIG business

In-Stat says the US mobile games market is currently worth $ 1 billion and will grow to a massive $ 6.8 billion by 2013!

“The mobile gaming development industry is highly fragmented due to the wide variety of mobile operating systems, available handsets, and lack of industry standardization,” says Jill Meyers, In-Stat analyst. “This fragmentation has resulted in mobile developers and publishers making the difficult decision of spending finite resources developing games on the platforms they believe will have the best chance of success.”

From the 2000 correspondents, 29.5% is playing mobile games. 20% got their games from a different channel than their operator.

Bluetooth Marketing is the perfect distribution model for mobile content distribution especially as it can target the appropriate demographic of gamers from within a specific location. Companies can download freeware of demo versions of their games via Bluetooth with subscription and payment for full versions paid for via sms, paypal or other mobile means.

In-Stadium Bluetooth Proximity Marketing

What is Bluetooth Proximity Marketing?

Bluetooth Proximity Marketing is the means of pushing free content to phones or Bluetooth devices within a defined geographical location, called a “Zone.” 70% of the 900 million phones sold each year are Bluetooth enabled creating a huge market for this form of mobile marketing.

Zones cover a 100 meter radius per device, any phone or Bluetooth device (which is discoverable) entering the Zone will receive a request to download media (pictures, adverts, video, music etc) if the request is declined or ignored the Zone will not re-contact that phone, if the request is accepted the content is downloaded for free. A log of each transaction is reported from the Huetouch product in each Zone

Unlike cellular marketing such as SMS, MMS or WAP, Bluetooth is free to deliver and does not require personal information such as a mobile telephone number for the technology to work.


The Bluetooth Handset Market

The number of mobile handsets in circulation world wide is staggering (over 261m subscribers in the US and 74m in the UK alone). Though many emerging countries demand low cost, limited functionality handsets the developed world is purchasing new handsets with rich functionality at an incredible rate.

The annual number of new mobile phones shipped, which were Bluetooth-enabled surpassed the 500 million unit mark for the first time in 2007 and According to the IMS Research report, “The Worldwide Market for Bluetooth”, global Bluetooth attachment rates for mobile phones are at 46.7% in 2007, up from 40% in 2006. This figure includes regional attach rates for the Americas, EMEA and Asia at 46.4%, 51.2% and 42.7%, respectively. Notably high, the percentage of mobile phones with Bluetooth technology in North America and Western Europe has reached over 60% and 70% respectively for the first time ever.

Benefits of Proximity Marketing

Given the rapid growth in Mobile Marketing and Bluetooth adoption, Bluetooth Proximity
Marketing has many benefits:

• It is free for handset owners to receive downloads.
• It is quicker to download than MMS and other cellular solutions.
• It does not require the use of Cell / Mobile networks - thus incurs no transactional costs.
• It is standards based and legal (it operates in the unlicensed, 2.4 GHz ISM band).
• It is measurable and can show clear Return on Investment (RoI) for Mobile campaigns.
• It can be targeted to a specific location, group or event at any time.
• It is low cost, requiring only capital outlay from transmitters and software.
• It does not capture mobile numbers or access data on handsets thus is secure.
• It offers opt-in and opt-out of messages as part of the standard.

Bluetooth Stadium Applications

In Stadium Bluetooth Marketing can be used to provide spectators with team multimedia content. Team sheets, ticket offers, videos and announcements. Sport clubs can also capatilize on unutilized sponsor potential in including new media providing advertisements such as cinema releases, music offerings and local events.

For more details on Stadiums and Bluetooth Marketing visit www.stadiummanager.com