Filed under: Advertising, Platform, content | Tags: Bluetooth, cinema, content, pubs, social, video
In trying to sound as knowledgeable and professional as I can in this blog I’ve been overlooking just how much fun the social web can be!
For example, I went to the Vue cinema yesterday evening to see Iron Man (…and no, I’m not too old for that) and as I strode across the lobby to buy my ticket my mobile phone gave the double beep signal that I had received a message. As I stood in the ticket line I discovered that Vue was asking me to accept an incoming text. It downloaded, I opened it up and played two short videos. The first was a colourful, 22-second Warner Bros compilation trailer advertising cheap DVDs.
The second video was this 1′42″ film about bullying, part of the Cut it Out initiative run by Vodaphone and charity Beatbullying.
Now that made me stop and think about bullying and then about the potential for this technology. It was done via Bluetooth (I leave my Bluetooth connection enabled and always visible) by a a company called Bluepod Media. This article in Brand Republic gives more details.
This ‘proximity advertising’ is a really exciting development. Many of us will have heard it predicted when Bluetooth came on the scene about 5 years ago. Think what this could do for museums, galleries, attractions, schools, hospitals and so on. The possibilities are almost endless.
Perhaps the Portman Group should consider this as the delivery platform for when they finally develop their responsible drinking message. All those Witherspoon pubs, and similar chains, could have similar set ups for getting relevant movies, messages etc out to customers.
But now I think about it, the delivery platform is the least of their worries. Getting the message right (ie. in a form the target audience will actually pay attention to) will be an enormous achievement. If they succeed, then the Bluetooth technology will pale into insignificance.
