Zigbee Box » proximity marketing

Proximity Marketing Being Called Spam – by

Zigbee Box — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:12:15 +0000

Spam, we all know. The e-mails (let alone other forms of messaging, such as SMS) I personally get everyday that can be categorised as spam, are in the hundreds (yes, I do realise there’s some of you out there that get them in the thousands, but this isn’t a contest, right? — and if it is, well I guess I win ). In this category I am only counting e-mails(or messages, in general) which I would have rejected, had I been given the option, and most of which are from an unsolicited use of my e-mail address, that I just cannot be bothered to chase up.

I heard a very interesting definition of ‘Junk Mail’ a few days ago, btw. This definition included, not only the the aforementioned messages, but also messages from people we do know, that simply contain stacks of useless information. An excellent example of this is conversations between a number of parties, which contain a lot of content, but little substance, and could easily have been stripped down to one word / phrase, such as ‘Yes’ or ‘I agree’. This definition was what got me thinking about today’s subject.

We put a lot of work, and invest our hopes, as well as a good deal of money, of course, in our mobile marketing campaigns. This is what makes it all the more important for them to be successful. We’ll also be out of a job if they aren’t, incidentally, so I guess that’s another very good reason.

There are two key points that make a successful campaign:

* provide some value to the end user, so that they want to see your message,

* notify them as to the existence of the service.

Regarding the first point, there is a lot of debate about how to provide value to the end user. There is not just one answer, in my opinion, and the answer in every case is different. This is because we are talking about running a marketing campaign in a physical environment. Well, physical environment are all just different from one another, and thus have distinct requirements. There are some common characteristics between similar physical spaces, that allow us to run the same mobile marketing campaign across all of them, sure. However, in theory, each location can provide slightly different information to the end user, specific to its own unique characteristics. For example, the same campaign may run on every bus stop in a certain town, prefecture, or even country. Ideally, however, it would be much more effective if each single bus stop provided the same content, but slightly altered depending on its location.

In addition, this value depends (perhaps more greatly) on the target audience, and the end users themselves. For each mobile marketing campaign, we must consider:

* who our target audience are,

* why we are trying to reach them,

* what message we are trying to get across,

* what the tone of the message should be,

* what interests our target audience and how that relates to our product,

* and finally what the content of the message itself should be exactly.

The answers to the above questions are more than likely to yield an appealing message or service to our target audience, through which our marketing message will be delivered. The marketing message or advertisement must be weaved into the fabric of the service being provided that has value for the consumer. The more we can accomplish that, the less it will be perceived as an advertisement / marketing message and the consumer will be much more open to it.

Good ads or marketing campaigns always give something to the consumer; whether that’s humour, some education, art, etc. it depends. But if you want the consumers’ attention it doesn’t come easy (though mobile marketing does make it cheap – compared to what you would pay before). You must put the effort and thought into broadcasting your message in such a way that it does not feel like an ad.

Be creative, and put yourself into the shoes of the consumer. They will always appreciate you and your product more.

Business Marketing Via Mobiles – by

Zigbee Box — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:12:04 +0000

The world we live in gets easily bored and craves novelty. Smart marketers look for new ways to put a twist on old standby marketing and advertising techniques. Marketing through television and radio channels has been done to death and has more nuisance value than anything else as far as the audience is concerned.

For marketers seeking new ways and means to expand their reach anywhere their prospects are — the future is here. Smart marketers and advertisers create a personal touch in their ad campaigns. This is one of the reasons why mobile advertising is rapidly increasing in popularity as an effective marketing tool. And the astonishing use of mobile devices leveraged this trend.

There are over 1.5 billion mobile phone users worldwide according to the International Telecommunications Union with the highest growth percentage coming from emerging economies like China, Russia and India. The US has about 200 million mobile subscribers. Smart marketers are tapping into the potential to reach their prospects as they’re on the move. Mobile devices are practically a permanent attachment for people under age 34.

Mobile Advertising is delivered in a number of formats. Text messaging, mobile internet advertising and mobile radio advertising are some of the common advertising formats. Out of these, text messaging (SMS) is the most widely used format.

According to the joint Mobile Advertising Report (MAR) released by Limbo and GfK Technology, text message usage is about 74% in India, 48% in the UK and 22% in the US. Projections predict in the near future mobile internet advertising will surpass text message advertising (FierceWireless).

In June 2008, Nokia launched the Nokia Advertising Alliance that aims to make mobile advertising easier for advertisers. This particular program includes services like providing marketing strategies, geographic targeting and related technologies to enhance customer captivation. Now advertisers can work in conjunction with Nokia to expand the coverage of mobile advertising with emerging mobile technologies for more powerful ad promotions.

The best part about mobile marketing is mobile devices are more heavily used than traditional PCs. Mobile advertisements are delivered to the customer no matter where they are. Even with these advantages, mobile advertising is still in its “early adopter” stages with a long way to go. The main obstacles are in the form of data tariff structures, handset and mobile internet interactivity and quality of subject matter.

Like the early days of the Internet, there are more advertisers than quality content. Add to that an acute lack of tools to assess the performance of mobile ad campaigns. Even though most of these difficulties will be solved in the future, mobile advertising will still face competition from other advertising and marketing methods. Google, Microsoft and Nokia are the prominent players in mobile advertising. The future holds a huge potential in terms of revenues from mobile advertising.

According to a report released by Informa Telecoms & Media, it is estimated that mobile advertising will generate USD 1.72 billion in 2008 and will rise to USD 12 billion in 2013. The report also advocates the use of banner ads as an effective tool in mobile advertising. The report highlights the significance of focusing on the long run and not the short term stumbling blocks.

Yahoo jumped on the bandwagon in June 2008 when it partnered with Publicis to integrate Publicis mobile advertising agency (PhoneValley) with Yahoo’s mobile developer platform language (Blueprint). The partnership is aimed at developing brands, reaching customers and maximizing sales through new techniques. It also aims to initiate cutting edge advertising strategies in the future.

Since the potential market for mobile advertising is huge, a few companies are exploring new horizons and expanding in new territory. For example, Millenial Media Inc., is venturing into Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Millenial develops ads for cell-phones and mobiles. Its CEO Paul Palmieri says “There is a tremendous growth opportunity for mobile advertising on a global basis, as evidenced by a rich and active mobile direct marketing industry, as well as surging demand from top brand advertisers.”

The media industry and brand advertisers are slowly catching on and making use of mobile advertising to increase market penetration. Mobile advertising has added support from applications like ringtones and pictures. Bluetooth advertising is also growing in popularity. Here, a company can advertise its products or services over a fixed area.

The three major search engines: Yahoo, Google and Microsoft have already realized the potential and the possibilities of the mobile advertising market. MSN uses banner ads on MSN mobile pages. Earlier MSN’s mobile advertising was confined to countries like France, Japan, Spain and UK. Recently it expanded coverage to include the US. Google also launched mobile image ads. When the cell phone browser is opened these image ads are displayed on the screen. However, the ad size is much smaller as compared to those for web pages. These image ads are connected to a web page and they follow the price-per-click model Google AdWords uses.

Mobile Advertising is one of best forms of mass medium advertising. It’s personal, and has a wider reach than any other form of advertising. It’s still early to comment on exactly how big or how successful it will prove to be. However, by all indicators “the future’s so bright you gotta wear shades.”

The predictions about the future revenues generated through mobile advertising optimistic. A brand advertiser, a mobile advertising company and the consumer will have different perceptions of mobile advertising. However, mobile advertising also comes with its fair share of drawbacks. Mobile ads are sometimes viewed as another form of spam and the advertisers as spammers. To resolve this issue, there are programs developed to give subscribers free talk-time for performing certain activities related to viewing ads. As far as the opinions of consumers are concerned, it’s a mixed bag. This is because people are simply not accustomed to being paid to view ads. Even if they are paid to view them, many still view the ads as a nuisance. It doesn’t make sense for the advertiser to pay a consumer to view ads if there are no conversions.

Proximity Ads in Shopping Malls – by

Zigbee Box — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:12:18 +0000

In a shopping mall, where the stores are endless, it is important to make your store and the great deals it is offering stand out. When there are numerous businesses in competition with your business, letting the potential customers know what you have to offer can mean the difference between a sale and a sale for your competition.

One of the key reasons a customer doesn’t take advantage of a great deal is simply that they aren’t aware of the great deal. No one wants to pay more for the same exact item, especially with gas prices consistently on the rise and with that the cost of nearly everything going up. Customers have to find savings somewhere, and they will go where they can find it. How can your business show what great deals are offered inside?

Proximity ads can reach anyone standing within a hundred yards of the media content server. If you place the media content server over the entrance, place a poster alerting potential customers of the deals and let the customer do the rest. They accept the ads offered, view your great deals and come inside to potentially take advantage of your great deals.

Your ads can be images, video, animated images, audio clips, business cards and live data feed. Have a great deal on a pair of jeans? Seeing a color picture of the jeans with the great low price you have to offer is much better then having a poster saying “Jeans 14.99.” Seeing the price is great, but actually seeing the jeans can be a deal clincher. A woman looking at a pair of jeans may say, “Wow, those are some really cute jeans and that is a great price.” Seeing the jeans may compel them to go inside and at least look at the jeans. That is the first step in gaining a customer.

If you want to catch the customer right as they come into the mall, you can place your media content server by a main mall entrance. You can also place the media content server in the food court of the mall, where the customers are now relaxed after eating and deciding which way to go and where to head to next. Many times the food court is a meeting place and that can be where the group makes a plan of action. Add a media content server to the food court and let them know you have great deals so they can include your business in their plans.

Ultimately, the more people that know what you have to offer, the more chances you have to draw someone in and make them a customer. With a spontaneous trip to the mall, chances are the potential customers might not have seen any print ads, nor are they coming to your store for any bill boards, radio or TV ads, or mobile marketing ads you might have used. But they can still be reached with proximity ads. After all, they are in the right place at the right time and if they are there to begin with, chances are, they are there to spend money.

Popularity of Bluetooth Increases – by

Zigbee Box — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:12:05 +0000

In the world of rapid changing technology, continuously we are bombarded by names such as Bluetooth, wi-fi and TIVO. Technology has become so advance that people only need to press the button for changing the channel and use the technology of Bluetooth and infrared to transform the data.

So are you looking for creative, cost effective methods to distribute rich media content? Here is the solution for you, Bluetooth marketing is an amazing system that uses wireless Bluetooth technology to target your audience at near proximity to your establishment with direct response message. Bluetooth is the latest and hottest cost effective technology which allows you to exchange data without wasting your money. You can send any sort of data via Bluetooth including images, audio-video, animated images, etc. It can be enable on the Bluetooth handheld devices like mobile, laptops, etc. The formula work when the Bluetooth enabled devices are relatively close “between the distance of 12 meters” to virtually any public and private spaces that are equipped with a Bluetooth MediaServer.

There are lots of advantages of Bluetooth marketing and some of them are listed below:

1.Free message delivery – you can deliver message content on any mobiles and PDA’s quickly. You don’t need to pay any transmission cost, not even by your target audience.

2.24x7x365 data exchange or deliver – the Bluetooth service is enable throughout the day and the whole. Information delivery with little operator intervention required.

3.Fixed cost – Price are fixed whether you send your communication via Bluetooth to 10 to 10,000 customers.

The content that can be delivered with the aid of Bluetooth are – Animated images (animated GIF files), still images like JPEG wall papers, vCal (calendar event files), Audio (as WAV, MP3, MP4, RMF or ringtone files), video (as real media, 3GP or MP4 files).

Bluetooth advertising or marketing can be integrated with other visual communication like billboards, sinages, posters for high impact etc. Bluetoothmarketing.ae is an innovative mobile marketing service offered by Image matters advertising.

Parachute and Hypertag use Bluetooth Proximity Marketing – by

Zigbee Box — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:12:04 +0000

NORTHBROOK, Ill. — Northbrook, IL based Parachute Marketing Group has brought cutting-edge Bluetooth proximity marketing to the Mid-West by deploying Hypertag units at events over the last several months. Overall, Hypertag units have been present at 5 different events and have directly reached about 60,000 people.

As the sole authorized U.S. partner of Hypertag, a UK-based Bluetooth proximity marketing company, Parachute has brought Bluetooth marketing to consumers at the Chicago Bears Fan Festival (March 31-April 1) Bluesfest (June 7-10), Summerfest (June 29-July 8 in Milwaukee, WI) and the Taste of Chicago (June 29-July 8). Hypertag has also been in operation at Busch Stadium in St. Louis for the entire Cardinal’s season.

One of the nation’s largest cellular carriers used Hypertag’s technology and its industry-exclusive Bluetooth wearable marketing tool to conduct an “instant-win” campaign through user’s mobile phones at the Taste. Promotional staff wore the eye-catching and lightweight Hypertag devices and intermixed with the crowd, sending out electronic coupons. Winning coupons were sent out based on the numbers of hats and shirts to give away, but the “losing” coupon gave users a second chance to win an item from their booth. Hypertag’s industry-leading “fingerprinting” technology ensures that each cell phone only has one chance to win by recognizing the unique Bluetooth address of each phone and is set to only give out the number of coupons specified by the client.

“It’s been a great summer for Bluetooth marketing in the U.S. and for Hypertag,” Parachute Marketing Group President Brett Cutler said. “The consumer’s willingness to view content on their most cherished device opens up huge new opportunities for advertisers in an increasingly difficult environment. Hypertag’s incredible ease of use and innovative tools make it the perfect tool for companies seeking a cutting edge solution that can track the consumer from first interaction through purchase.”

“We are very encouraged by these numbers and will continue towards our goal of making Hypertag the #1 choice for proximity marketing campaigns in the U.S.,” Cutler said. “As consumers and advertisers turn away from their televisions, print and radio and towards alternative media, the market for mobile phone-enabled advertising and marketing will only increase. We are here to supply the technology and provide the support and knowledge to help mold the campaigns to take advantage of the ever-expanding reach of the mobile phone.”

ABOUT HYPERTAG

Hypertag (www.hypertag.com) is a proximity marketing technology provider which allows brands to deliver rich, interactive content to consumers based on their proximity to a fixed physical location. This ensures that brands can reach their target audience at a time and place that puts their offer into a direct and relevant context when a consumer is most receptive.

More than just adverts – by

Zigbee Box — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:12:14 +0000

Bluetooth advertising is becoming more and more popular and fast becoming the most cost effective way of getting the message out. Companies around the world, including a number of major multi nationals, are investing their budget in proximity marketing.

However beaming adverts to prospective customers is only one use for these boxes. These are now being used for a number of other purposes

Recruitment

In the UK, the army and RAF careers are using bluetooth to get the message to their potential recruits. They target an age range that have the best chance of having bluetooth enabled and have huge success rates with it, sending GIF’s to entice people into careers offices.

Police

Major UK police forces are harnessing the power of proximity to get serious messages across. From securing valuables out of sight in cars to serious missing person cases, bluetooth ads can get a message to many people in targeted area very quickly. A box located at the site of an incident can appeal for witnesses and people who come to the same spot again can be contacted straight away.

Councils

Local councils get public service messages to people, again with ease and for no cost. Litter campaigns, clean up after your dog or recycling advice can be sent quickly to peoples phones and get a message out so much quicker than conventional methods.

The world is waking up to the hundreds of uses for proximity advertising. What started off as a simple way to get an advertising point across could end up saving someones life. Whilst their is always a market for these to beam adverts, its clear that soon bluetooth will be used in many diverse ways to maximise its potential.

Mobile Marketing New Trend: Proximity Marketing – by

Zigbee Box — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:15:14 +0000

Proximity marketing, also known as Bluetooth marketing, is a new trend in mobile marketing. This new marketing method enables an advertiser to establish a connection with Bluetooth enabled phones located within 20 meters of a designated hotspot. Since 2006, proximity marketing has turned out to be a highly efficient free advertising method, reaching millions of customers with incredible ease. At proxiblaster.com you can purchase proximity marketing software and receive maximum feedback for a minimum initial investment. With our Bluetooth broadcasting software you won’t have to pay any hidden costs or annual fees.

A marketing campaign is successful only when it is able to reach a large number of people. Marketing methods are meant to attract target consumers and inform them about your products and services. Traditional marketing techniques are not only difficult to elaborate but also very expensive. Just think about the costs of a TV advertisement or promotional banners. And you won’t even have the certainty that the message has been received by your targeted audience. Proximity marketing software is an easy way to make sure your potential clients have received your message. At proxiblaster.com you can purchase Bluetooth broadcasting software that’s easy to install and use.

So how does proximity marketing software actually work? The purpose of any Bluetooth broadcasting software is to deliver media files to the potential customers’ mobile devices. The software automatically sends out media files to all of the Bluetooth enabled devices within a range of approximately 10 meters. Receivers will be asked for permission to view the media on their mobile phone screen. If the potential customer accepts, the Bluetooth media file transfer will begin. The transfer is absolutely free – customers won’t have to pay anything to view it and the advertiser won’t pay any additional fees after purchasing the proximity marketing software. If the user refuses to view the advertisement, the message will disappear from the mobile phone’s screen.

Proximity marketing can turn out to be more efficient than you’ve imagined. Users that receive the media are generally pretty interested to know what it’s about. Therefore, your message will reach more than 90% of your targeted audience. That’s a lot more than you can account for other marketing methods. Furthermore, the costs for this type of advertising are incredibly low. At proxiblaster.com you’ll only have to purchase the Bluetooth broadcasting software and will never have to pay for any additional fees.

Making your business a success is all about intelligent marketing. You don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money in order to broadcast your message to a large number of people. By using proximity marketing software you will be able to send a media file containing your advertisement to any number of people within a 10 meter range. Proxiblaster.com is where you’ll find Bluetooth broadcasting software at a very convenient price.

Mobile Health Care Service – by

Zigbee Box — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:15:09 +0000

MPro Care is the first two-way mobile diabetes solution that provides automated reminders and accepts readings using standard mobile phones on all major U.S. service providers. mPro Care was developed to help improve patient medication and treatment compliance for improved health care outcomes and reduced cost of care for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, coronary artery disease and hypertension, asthma and obesity.

“We’re very excited about this whole mobile healthcare division, and we’ve partnered with content providers and complementary platform providers to create this mobile command center platform,” said Alan Stern, CMO of Gold Mobile, Clark, NJ. “We’re trying to create solutions that can be implemented in multiple locations, from doctors’ offices and hospitals to call centers and medical labs.

“This platform provides a rapid notification alert system with lots of capabilities for patients and their families, physicians and local authorities such as appointment confirmations and SMS reminders 24 hours before so you don’t have to have a nurse make these phone calls,” he said. “This allows them to send and receive text messages from a Web-based console to a cell phone and handle multiple calls simultaneously.

“We created categories that can be customized based on whatever the hospital’s needs are.”

…

“We’re in the process of demonstrating this to a dozen-plus hospitals, and some are about to adopt it, while others are in the early stages.”

…

There are currently over 23 million diabetics in the U.S., about 8 percent of the total population, with approximately 2 million new diabetics diagnosed each year.

…

Medication compliance, proper nutrition and exercise are major factors in diabetes management, and mPro Care sends custom-tailored medication reminders, motivational and behavioral trigger messages and condition-reading requests to patients’ mobile phones via SMS.

It will be great when we see this applied in hospitals, as I truly think such services can improve the quality of life of people with such diseases. I hope we will soon see more such services surfacing, because they are excellent examples of how the mobile technology can be put to good use and help us protect our lives and health.

Insights into Proximity Marketing – Interview with Mr Antoniadis – by

Zigbee Box — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:15:04 +0000

* How long has your company been doing what you guys do? Give us a bit of background.

Cytech Ltd, started off as a technology provider for the mobile marketing field back in 2001, by building mainly sms marketing tools for bulk sms, and interactive sms services. Based on that very positive experience and success – mainly in the greek market – we decided to invest in bluetooth marketing by purchasing a share in a bright startup company then called Bluebird. Bluebird later evolved into Bluevibe, the company that develops the synonymous proximity marketing product for us.

I am quite pleased to say we identified the potential in the mobile marketing field very early on, and we are very happy with our choice! (laughs) At the time we invested in Bluevibe, it was the only proximity marketing platform built in Greece, and one of the very few worldwide. Since then, we have concentrated on constantly pushing our product one step ahead of the competition, in order to be able to cope with marketing giants from around the world developing their own solution. Today our system is the only system in the world that can offer free web access via Bluetooth wherever a Bluevibe Hotspot is covering the area.

* In your experience, do you think people are still afraid of using Bluetooth? – Is that any different in Greece than abroad?

I am not sure if the word “afraid” is the right one but it is definitely right that most of the people are circumspect about accepting files over Bluetooth. The main reason is that they have heard that viruses can infect their mobile phones and they are coming from Bluetooth. This is something common all over the world. From my point of view there is only one solution and this is trust. When a well known brand runs a mobile marketing campaign and makes it visible to the people, they tend to trust it. According to our experience if the brand informs people about the proximity marketing event the penetration rate doubles. So there are hesitations about accepting mobile content over bluetooth but there is always a way to overcome them.

* You’ve run a couple of very interesting campaigns lately in Greece.. Do you see the market opening up?

Indeed, we have run a number of different campaigns, in expositions like Thessaloniki International Expo (Helexpo) or Taxi Show and DTE-Comdex, in events like the Dont Drink and Drive campaign we are currently running, and of course at the Athens International Airport. We are in the proximity marketing field for about 4 years and we know that you have to be patient. We see that marketing agencies adopt this medium day by day and that in the next years will be part of their tool set. In the beginning we had great difficulties to make marketers understand the role of this new medium at the whole marketing landscape. Now we receive daily phone calls and emails all over the world asking about Bluevibe. They know the basic features and want to know more about centralized management, web access over Bluetooth etc.

* What is your favourite mobile marketing campaign / proximity marketing campaign, from any that you might have seen?

I have read a great number of campaigns all over the world and many of them were very successful. But I have to say I am biased. My favourite campaign is the one we are currently run with Johnnie Walker. I like it because it is in combination with other marketing activities, field promotion, internet marketing and because the mobile application we send is very useful. It is not easy to run such a campaign as the events take place at squares where there is no electricity or network coverage and sometimes you have to overcome issues like bad weather etc. I will come back if you want with numbers when this campaign is over.

* How do you see proximity marketing in the economic crisis?

I think that proximity marketing and mobile marketing in general will benefit from this crisis. No one can say for sure, but my thinking is that these types of marketing media are relatively cheaper that the legacy ones like press or radio. Marketeers are trying to find new media to use, cheaper that the ones already have because the marketing budgets are lowering. We ll see about that in the next months but I have to say that the demand for Bluevibe is greater than one year ago.

* Do your customers prefer opt-in campaigns, or opt-out?

As you understand opt-out campaigns are easier. There is no need for acceptance and there is no need for special mechanisms to manage the opt-in lists. So, in the beginning, customers try this type of campaigns. They soon understand that even if the numbers are good they tend to lower as people get used to proximity marketing. During the first campaigns we run, people accepted to receive mobile content, most of time because of curiosity. They didn’t know what exactly this bluetooth message is and they wanted to see. Now most of the people and mainly young ones, are accustomed to the whole procedure and they want to receive only valuable information. They dont want to be disturbed and as proximity marketing events are more frequent, they want to know what they will receive before the click on OK button. I am sure that opt-in is the magical word for the next year and we, as technology providers, are obliged to provide the appropriate technology to support it.

* How do you avoid being thought of as SPAM?

This is one of the first things we tell our customers. It is crucial to inform people about the proximity marketing event so they are not annoyed. In addition, Bluevibe platform has a number of features to ensure that the person who says no will not be receive anything in the future. But I think the final and more antispam policy is the Bluevibe mobile application. One of the most advanced components of the platform is the interactivity. Bluevibe mobile application is installed at the user’s phone and it is s/he that begins the interaction with the system. There is no need to send him/her nothing and on the other hand s/he has access to rich content like multimedia, internet websites, facebook, wikipedia etc. Finally, in order to void being thought of as a spammer you have to:

o inform people,
o give them the right to opt-out easily
o and, if the application permits it, provide interactive services.

Goldspot Media Interactive Movie Trailers – by

Zigbee Box — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:15:45 +0000

FRANKFURT and SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 31 /PRNewswire/ — GoldSpot Media Inc., a leader in mobile interactive advertising solutions, and Solid Ground Communications GmbH, a leader in mobile proximity marketing services in Central Europe, launched the first of its kind interactive mobile movie trailer for Universal Pictures’ release of “Fast & Furious” in Germany. Interactive trailers for this blockbuster movie are available for download free-of-charge to Bluetooth enabled mobile phones at select cinemas and other public locations throughout Germany. The interactive trailers offer the mobile viewer a one-click access to “Fast and Furious” sweepstakes contest and allows them to purchase movie tickets for upcoming screenings of the film in select cinema chains in Germany. The interactive trailers are created using GoldSpot Media’s miSpot(R) interactive advertising technology and delivered via Solid Ground’s b-LAN(R) Bluetooth cinema network.

“GoldSpot Media’s innovative mobile ad technology brings a whole new level of audience engagement to our trailer promotional marketing program and is expected to drive even more impulse ticket sales and brand engagement among our target audience,” said Niels Oeft, Promotions Manager, Universal Pictures International Germany. “This is extremely beneficial to the entire mobile content ecosystem – from Universal, to the cinema distribution chains, down to the mobile payment solution providers.”

“GoldSpot Media is excited to help Universal Pictures Germany pioneer a unique, interactive movie trailer experience and add new dimensions to the Universal brand uplift through audience engagement and one-click cinema ticket purchase,” said Srini Dharmaji, CEO, GoldSpot Media. “Enhancing Solid Ground’s mobile proximity marketing services with our interactive advertising technology creates a compelling business model for marketers to cost effectively interact with their target audience on mobile.”

“Through GoldSpot Media’s technology we are able to drive consumer interaction within movie trailers transmitted through Bluetooth. This offers a complete range of new ways to drive transactions straight at the point of sale,” said Dr. Wilhelm Bielert, Managing Partner, Solid Ground Communications GmbH.

About GoldSpot Media

GoldSpot Media offers the industry’s first end-to-end interactive advertising solution for all mobile channels, devices, inventory owners and applications. Its unique solution powers profitable new advertising revenue models for the entire mobile content value chain by delivering highly targeted, interactive ads in real-time based on demographics, behavioral patterns, device type, context and location. The privately held company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. with R&D centers in New Jersey, USA and Bangalore, India and sales offices in Europe.

For more information, please contact us at info@goldspotmedia.com or visit http://www.goldspotmedia.com/

About Solid Ground

As a core business unit of the Solid Ground – Group, Solid Ground Communications develops, customizes and operates complex, interactive Proximity Marketing (Bluetooth, WiFi, RFID) and Mobile Internet solutions. Being a turnkey solutions provider and using state of the art proven technology, the company is able to offer customer target group specific Mobile Solutions at outstanding quality levels. Typically, Solid Ground Communications services do include the graphical user interface, the technical development & deployment and the ongoing operations. Solid Ground Communication has offices in Germany (Berlin, Hamburg), Malaysia, Switzerland and USA.

For further information please contact us at info@solidground.de or visit http://www.solidground.de/ .

Effective SMS Marketing – by

Zigbee Box — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:15:18 +0000

For any business entity, effective marketing skills are considered as key to success. The marketing is based on image and message, both of which can be delivered in myriad ways. Marketing through text messages are getting more and more popular among the business entities, nowadays. Therefore, it can be said that SMS marketing has become a rage in the field of marketing technology. This technique of marketing is gaining importance over others because the use of mobile phone has become rampant. With the growing popularity of the mobile phones and increasing intensity of competition among business entities, this trend is normal.

In this ‘SMS’ generation, mobile marketing technique promises vast opportunities. As a matter of fact, SMS services offer powerful marketing potential via direct communication with target people. While floating the SMS, it is essential for any business entity to get their idea across the receiver in a quick, short and relevant format. Therefore, it can be said that the SMS marketing is a procedure wherein specific message is transmitted from an organisation to target group of customers.

An effective marketing process follows various steps such as planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of goods, services & ideas to satisfy the individual and organisational goals. With the SMS marketing solutions, the business entities tend to develop long lasting relationships with their target group of people. The content of these messages is interactive and promotional in nature. This solution goes a long way in building brand identity, as sending of text messages is just a part of the entire scenario. Apart from the text messaging option, the business entities can even go in for advanced multimedia messaging services or MMS, infrared and Bluetooth marketing, as it will create better impact on their users.

In comparison with other modes of marketing and advertising, the SMS delivery solutions have instant reach. In this entire process of SMS service, one could also use SMS gateways to generate the maximum promotion with the minimum possible costs. The SMS gateway is used for sending and receiving SMS messages without using a mobile phone. Therefore, these gateways are proved to be the best bet for many big and not so-big business establishments, and the corporate houses which want to reach the users of their products and services.

To conclude, the SMS marketing is one of the inexpensive ways of promoting goods and services across a wide range of customer-base. Therefore it is necessary that message should be short and crisp – otherwise it would loose the purpose.

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Cutting Edge Proximity Marketing – by

Zigbee Box — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:15:02 +0000

A new trend has set in the mobile marketing from the year 2006 with the Bluetooth marketing or proximity marketing. This new technique is becoming highly popular among the en users of mobile phones. With this technology, users can connect their phone between the distances of 20 meters. Users can share data without paying single penny. There are various advantages of Bluetooth marketing which are listed below:

Free messages sending : Users can send lots of messages to mobiles and PDAs quickly with no transmission cost.

24x7x365 delivery: Users can share their data anytime throughout the whole day. Bluetooth is the effective tool that helps end user to share their data with no cost. Data that you can share through Bluetooth are:

:Audio and video

:vCal

:Images of your own or JPEG files

:Animates moving images or still images

Bluetooth equipments are also available in the market that can also help users to make the calls. While sharing data, a simple question will appears on your phones that is â

Business Marketing Via Mobiles – by

Zigbee Box — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:15:09 +0000

Business Marketing Via Mobiles – by

Zigbee Box — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:15:03 +0000

Bluetooth Proximity Marketing in Los Angeles Shopping Centres – by

Zigbee Box — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:15:04 +0000

NEW YORK — Intera Group, Inc. and Macerich([R]) (NYSE:MAC), one of the country’s largest owners, operators and developers of major retail properties, today announced the launch of Intera’s AzureMayan(TM) Bluetooth([R]) Proximity Marketing network at five Macerich regional shopping centers in the greater Los Angeles area. Intera’s network enables advertisers and merchants to deliver special offers and promotions via Bluetooth to patrons’ mobile devices.

This launch includes Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles, The Oaks in Thousand Oaks, Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, Lakewood Center in Lakewood, and Stonewood Center in Downey. Bluetooth zones are located in or near food courts, cinema box offices, lobbies and other strategic locations throughout the more than six million square feet of retail space.

“Mobile marketing is vitally important for reaching consumers today and in the future,” said Scott W. Burchard, senior vice president of business initiatives for Macerich. “It makes perfect sense to partner with Intera to deploy their Bluetooth network as shopping centers provide a unique opportunity to reach millions of consumers with relevant offers at the point of sale.”

Macerich focuses on high-growth, attractive U.S. retail markets. In addition to properties in California, the company’s portfolio includes some of the country’s top-performing shopping centers in Arizona, the New York City metropolitan area and suburban Washington, D.C.

Intera’s AzureMayan Bluetooth Proximity Marketing network enables marketers and advertisers to deliver highly targeted messages to consumers based on their location and near the point-of-sale, when targeted marketing has the greatest effect. Most importantly the mobile user incurs no usage or data charges, unlike wireless carrier-based offers. Intera’s network is 100 percent opt-in, so consumers only receive offers and promotions if they choose. Intera’s content delivery system supports all major content formats including video, audio, images, downloadable mobile applications and text. Download rates are typically much faster than via wireless 3G networks.

“Macerich operates some of the nation’s most dynamic retail centers and serves as a model to other mall owners and operators looking to enrich value for tenants,” said Kevin Thornton, CEO of Intera. “Intera’s AzureMayan Bluetooth Proximity Marketing network has generated outstanding returns for advertisers, especially in environments where consumers have numerous options and are looking for the best possible retail experience.”

Intera Group is promoting its solutions this week at the National Retail Federation’s 98th Annual Convention and EXPO in New York City, booth number 1637.

About The Macerich Company

Macerich is a fully integrated self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust, which focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. The company is the sole general partner and owns an 86% ownership interest in The Macerich Partnership, L.P. Macerich now owns approximately 77 million square feet of gross leaseable area consisting primarily of interests in 72 regional malls. Additional information about Macerich can be obtained from the Company’s Web site at www.macerich.com.

About Intera Group, Inc.

Intera provides out-of-home advertising and telecommunication services to over 4,000 businesses, including big box retailers, shopping mall owners and operators, cinema chains, gas stations and convenience stores, and transportation companies. Intera’s AzureMayan Bluetooth Proximity Marketing network will cover the Top 10 Designated Market Areas (DMA’s) and more in the USA by the end of 2009. Intera is working with global brands and their agencies to maximize the return on their marketing dollars, and partnering with analytics companies to bring online style measurements to out-of-home and mobile advertising. In business for over 20 years, privately held Intera is headquartered in Pleasanton, California. For more information, visit www.interainc.com.

A New Trend In Proximity Marketing – by

Zigbee Box — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:15:21 +0000

These days, all forms of communication technology face the problem of security and theft of personal details , and ‘bluetooth’ is no exception to these concerns, nor should it be. Most everybody knows by now that all email programs and networks need protection and security. What users of ‘bluetooth’ really do need to comprehend is that ‘bluetooth’ requires the same protection measures as email programs and other communication programs.

The upside for ‘bluetooth’ users is that the recent breaches-of-security scares, as in all scares, are usually way over – dramatized and blown way out of all reasonable proportions. The reality being told, these issues are simple to control, using several protocols now in place to ensure protection for ‘bluetooth’ technology.

It’s very true that there has been several ‘bluetooth’ phones subject to attack and have been hacked into. The majority of devices which are hacked are usually those that don’t use any form of protection or security at all.

Bluetooth specialists say that, in order for anyone to hack their way into a ‘bluetooth’ device, the person hacking has to:
1. Convince two coupled devices to shut down their link.
2. Take the packets that are required to resend the pin.
3. Unscramble the pin.
Of course, the hacker most certainly will be within limit of the phone, and using extremely costly developer – style , high quality, equipment. Top specialists strongly suggest you use a longer pin, using more than 8 digits as being the minimum recommended.

Basics of security.
The “pairing procedure” is the main fundamental level of protection for ‘bluetooth’ devices. Pairing, is the linking of two, or even more, ‘bluetooth’ devices which identify themselves by the profiles they have in common – in the majority of cases they both must use the identical pin.

The central specifications for ‘bluetooth’ use an encoding algorithm, that is is absolutely and safe and secure . As soon as the devices link up, they too become completely protected.

Until they have actually linked, the ‘bluetooth’ devices won’t make contact with each other. Due to the pairing technique and that the range is very short it is – ‘bluetooth’ technology is thought to be well and truly secured.

As the recent news has shown, expert hackers possess sophisticated ways to get past most levels of fundamental security. There are ways to get protection from this type of threat, as you can have installed software to stop hackers from hacking their way in.

Now that ‘bluetooth’ has become popular and more in demand, it’s no wonder safety is constantly in the public eye. As ‘bluetooth’ gets more popular and more improved, security can usually be something that no one will ever take lightly.

If you’ve been thinking about ‘bluetooth’ protection in the past, be safe in the knowledge that newer devices can give significant and much-improved protection. Stopping hackers from creeping in is something every phone-owner is thinking long and hard about – and the maker’s are very much aware of this.
David Hill
David Hill is known for his deep knowledge of all subjects he writes about. His Articles can be found here; http://www.articlepro.co.uk/international/

Bluetooth Proximity Marketing in Los Angeles Shopping Centres – by

Zigbee Box — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:15:18 +0000

Intera Group is promoting its solutions this week at the National Retail Federation’s 98th Annual Convention and EXPO in New York City, booth number 1637.

About The Macerich Company

About Intera Group, Inc.

A New Trend In Proximity Marketing – by

Zigbee Box — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:15:52 +0000

The central specifications for ‘bluetooth’ use an encoding algorithm, that is is absolutely and safe and secure . As soon as the devices link up, they too become completely protected.