The previous issue focused on the brand value perception in terms of the socio-economic, functional and emotional brand attributes. It linked the brand attitude to consumer behaviour and measured the brand equity and yield. This month, we will look at Bluetooth as the interactive element of your outdoor campaign. As always, we feature a thought piece by Dr. Max Sutherland, author of "Advertising & the mind of the consumer" ⁶⁾ : “Mind on High, Thoughts on Fast Forward and Brands on Speed”.

Bluetooth Advertising - is it real?
Recently, Bluetooth is making waves as a new proximity marketing media in outdoor advertising. Big brand names including HSBC, Nike, Nokia, Baileys, Vodka, Coca-Cola, Ford and other are exploring this technology as a means of engaging with customers on the way to work, school, when shopping, at airports, in public transport and on exhibitions.

It is estimated that before the end of this decade more than 75% of the Australian population will carry Bluetooth enabled mobile devices on them when leaving their homes. The opt-in rate is the key performance indicator for Bluetooth campaigns. Similar to the conversion-rate in other media, the opt-in rate is measured as the percentage of downloads of the passing audience traffic (OTS). Opt-in can be measured as unique, repeat or total opt-ins with details about the time, location and download content. “Our Bluetooth servers register all session data in real-time and report ‘live’ statistics back to the advertisers”, says Claire Gunn, director with Breeze-Tech (Australia).

From recent projects in UK, Canada and Australia advertisers should expect engagement rates ranging from a few %-points to more than 25% for outdoor campaigns. A recent event at the Shanghai Stadium registered a whopping 70% opt-in rate for their interactive campaign of a well known fashion brand³⁾.

The primary drivers for Bluetooth opt-in were the positive brand attitude, a clearly articulated value proposition of the download content and the audience targeting. While Bluetooth is experiencing more widespread acceptance as an interactive advertising media the typical audience response profile includes male-skewed generation-Y.¹⁾  ”We expect that the Bluetooth audience will increasingly attract females as the technology proliferates further in to the general public, the shopping centres and airports in Australia”, says Greg Johnston, Director Media Planet (Australia).

Bluetooth advertising: outdoor spam or a new proximity media?

Bluetooth adds an interactive element to outdoor campaigns, including cinemas, billboards, street panels, transport, retail and path-of-purchase media. Offering your audience to download content from the advertisement on to their personal mobile device, is to ask them to step-up their involvement and engage in a more intimate relationship with the advertised brand - if only for a few seconds. The desire to engage in such a relationship is motivated primarily by the brand perception and the specific value proposition of the download content²⁾. It is important to note that the Bluetooth technology is not the motivator per-se, but rather the communications media in the proximity marketing tool box. Needless to say that the technology must be thoroughly tested to work with all models and versions of devices. This includes clear and simple instructions on how to enable the Bluetooth feature on the devise and how to accept the invitation to download the content.

Whether your audience will perceive the Bluetooth ad feature as another attempt to spam (ad-push) or, as reinforcing positive brand experience (content pull), will depend largely on two factors: their attitude towards the brand and the perceived value of the downloaded content (what’s-in-it-for-me). While providing some value, a generic ring tone, for example, may not reinforce the specific brand message. Furthermore, downloaded content should be designed as the viral element of the campaign. So, it all comes down to good marketing! Finally, pre-testing your campaign will greatly increase the chances of its success and improve the ROI.

Two respondents from a recent street survey put it like this:

Opting-in..  ‘Cool! It would be good if the messages could be personalised - I know I could always ignore anything and to be honest I really don't mind this sort of marketing - gives you something to do when walking around and who knows I could get that deal of a life time!’

Opting-out..  ‘It's no different to hearing adverts on the radio. Except it could be more fun and more relevant (this is location specific). To receive one of these messages, your phone has to be set to "Bluetooth Discoverable". Just as you turn off the radio when you don't want to listen to the DJ (or the ads) you can switch your mobile to "Bluetooth Discoverable Off" and not be bothered by Bluetooth ads. Easy!

Where is Bluetooth headed in Australia?

Following the enthusiastic welcome of Bluetooth advertising in the UK, Canada and Asia, Australia has brought forward its own  Bluetooth innovators. Among them, the leading out-of-home media networks, including JC Decaux and APN Outdoor with their Bluetooth-enabled panels, posters and billboards and Media Planet with its giant 360TVs in the shopping centre food-courts. Shopping centres, airports and public transport add to the fast growing list of hot-spots that offer this new interactive media experience.

Bluetooth is not a cheap add-on feature to your outdoor campaign. Neither is a quick fix to motivate the campaign performance measures upwards. Rather, it requires thorough planning to target the right audience with the right value proposition at the right time and location. Advertisers who get it right will welcome Bluetooth as a new media to provide stickiness to their campaigns and at the same time bond the out-of-home audience to the brand. One advertiser said:"..with Bluetooth, the cost of getting it right is far less than that of getting it wrong".

Media  insights:
Your MBR Team

Notes:
1) Market Beat Research Pty Ltd, Audience demographgics, March 2007.
2) Market Beat Research Pty Ltd, media consumption behaviour – interactive media, November 2006.
3) 70% downloaded the Bluetooth ad at Shanghai Stadium advertising event by JC Decaux and JWT. China based Pico.com delivered the Bluetooth technology, Shanghai, January 2007.
4) U.S. Navy Reserve Kiosk Bluetooth campaign registered a targeted opt-in of 33% (17% overall) for its Kiosk Bluetooth campaign. Michigan, December 2006.
5) Penetration estimates courtesy of ITfacts.biz, 2007. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2007. ABC.net 2007.
6) "Advertising and the mind of the consumer ", Dr. Max Sutherland & Alice K. Silvester, Allen & Unwin 2000, Australia.