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> in the case of
one garden center advertisement in Interesting stuff below, tho I’ve
no need for ads to spray me with water… Apropos, I was wondering if anyone on
the list knew what Bluetooth penetration was in the If you know this offhand, or know where I
might start looking for an answer, feel free to answer here or hit me offlist… Thanks very much – Kevin Slavin, managing director From:
[email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Riad Lemhachheche http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/07/yourmoney/mobilead08.php People with certain kinds of phones who download a special software
program and say they want to participate will receive digital advertising when
the phone is near the billboards. It is the latest twist in the budding niche of mobile marketing,
wherein the cellphone becomes a conduit not just for communications but also
for commerce. Advertisements most common on mobile phones now are self- promotional
text messages sent by phone companies to subscribers, according to Farid Yunus,
a telecommunications industry analyst based in Under early experiments for more sophisticated marketing, the user has
to key in a code to receive a text message that can be used as a discount
voucher or some other enticement - or in the case of one garden center
advertisement in The difference with the new project, said Albert Asseraf, director of
strategy, research and marketing at JCDecaux, the outdoor-advertising company
behind the project, is that consumers consent to receive alerts about digital advertising
as they move through the city. "We are switching from a one-time active response to the user's
blanket acceptance of many digital messages," he said. "We will, of
course, need to be careful in making certain that users get only advertisements
that interest them." When participating users are near an active advertisement - it could be
part of a billboard or a bus shelter poster - their phones will automatically
receive a notice that a digital file can be downloaded. The information could
range from a ring tone or short video to a discount voucher. "With this project, we are really starting to create the
personalized digital city," Asseraf said. "We eventually will see a
rich dialogue running between mobile phones and what are now uncommunicative
objects." Fabien Beckers, chief executive of Kameleon Technologies, a company
based in Paris that is using similar mobile phone technology to market ads for
movie theaters and retailers, agreed. He forecast - "with a hope and a
wish" - that such mobile marketing messages will be nearly mainstream in
some urban European areas by the middle of next year. That may be a step ahead of the normally market-leading technologies in
Citing a confidentiality agreement intended to maximize the effect of
ad campaigns using the technology, Asseraf declined to identify the locations
or the brand that would inaugurate it. JCDecaux, for an undisclosed amount, purchased the exclusive license to
the technology, which was developed over the past decade by the government-run
French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control, known
by its French initials Inria. Jean-Paul Edwards, the London-based head of media futures for Manning
Gottlieb OMD, a media buying agency, said the scale and style of the French
project pointed to the direction that urban advertising would go. "Just the involvement alone of a company as large as JCDecaux in
such an effort makes this project very interesting," said Edwards, who has
no affiliation with the project. "They are taking permission-based
marketing to a level and scale we have not seen before." The system is meant for cellphones that have a built-in wireless
technology like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, but the system can be configured for less
sophisticated phones. It requires users to volunteer demographic and personal
information and to specify the sort of advertisements they will accept, he
said. Users may, for example, say they want only video ads about new cars and
ads with discounts on fashion accessories. It is critical to the system, he
added, that users can adjust the settings on their mobile phones at any time. A cautious and permission-based approach is vital when using
technologies that touch consumers so directly, Edwards said. "When you bridge the gap between something so public as a street
poster and something so private as a mobile phone, there are inherent
dangers," Edwards said. "It is extremely powerful to get into
somebody's pocket, but you also take the risk of annoying them." The potential shortcomings would be apparent in any large public space
that might have many digitally enabled posters close to one another. "You can imagine a nightmare scenario where someone's mobile phone
fills up with half a dozen advertising messages each day as they walk across
Waterloo Station," Edwards said. "The most powerful way to use this
technology will be offering people something of value that they really
want." Examples of valuable items could be a free track of music from a
favorite artist, a movie trailer or a discount coupon. The original concept for the shoebox-size transmission units that
JCDecaux will mount inside billboards came from the French computing
institute's efforts to help handicapped people. "We started with the idea that objects themselves could become an
intelligence system that helps people navigate around the city," said
Michel Banâtre, head of the team that developed the technology at Inria. The first project was the Ubibus system, never actually deployed, to
help blind people take the bus. While working with JCDecaux, the research institute broadened the concept
to embrace public service announcements, tourist information and advertising. "Once you know about someone's interests and their exact location,
you know a lot about the kind of information they might want," Banâtre
said. "Also, when you can constantly update tourist information like a
historic marker, it becomes possible to say what nearby museums are open right
now or a restaurant that is now offering a discount." Banâtre's team has developed other concepts based on identifying mobile
phones within a small area. He said they also were developing airport signs, called UbiBoards, that
will show information in the language spoken by a majority of the people
nearby. "If mobile phones near a sign say that the majority of people are
Chinese, the sign will show information in Chinese," Banâtre said, adding
that such a system would require registrations much like the ad system.
"Those who do not speak Chinese will receive the same information in their
phone via SMS message in their own language." Another application, called UbiQ, is being developed to allow people in
a location like a bank, cinema or fast- food restaurant to give information by
cellphone about what they want before getting to the front of the line. "Think about it and you realize how much time is spent giving the
same start-up information for a transaction," Banâtre said, citing the
time it takes for a teller to enter banking details. "The intention with
UbiQ is to speed up the exchange of information through mobile phones." Because of the widespread availability of phones with short-range
wireless standards like Bluetooth, Beckers of Kameleon said, "this is no
longer a technology play - it is a marketing play." Others in the business
of "proximity content distribution" include Hypertag in The most likely Bluetooth users, Beckers said, are 15 to 34 years old,
a group attractive to retailers and entertainment companies. For them, "the means to interact with the world will be your
mobile phone," he said. In terms of practical applications, however, Asseraf of JCDecaux said
the principle of letting the consumer decide was foremost. "If we abuse this system, it simply will not work, and people will
turn off the function," Asseraf said. "It is a question of personal
liberty that people should decide what they receive on their mobile
phone." Victoria Shannon contributed reporting for this article. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TELECOM-CITIES
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- [telecom-cities] Where to draw line when street ads giv... Riad Lemhachheche
- [telecom-cities] Bluetooth penetration US slavin (area/code)
