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Proximity Marketing

15 Comments Published by Rudy De Waele October 22nd, 2006 in Mobile Apps, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Content, Analysis, Mobile Advertising, Viral, Usability, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile 2.0, Proximity Marketing, Image Recognition, Augmented Reality, nfc, rfid, QR codes, Ubiquitous Marketing, Mobile Monday

I wanted to write this article before summer but workload took me until now to take some time to write some of my insights on this interesting subject, so here we go…

Up to now, most people in the industry used the bluetooth marketing term to name advertising and marketing campaigns made using Bluetooth on mobile phones. Before entering the real ubiquitous marketing era, I think the time is right to start using proximity marketing to define the new era we’re entering to start using more then just bluetooth for mobile marketing campaigns.

Wi-Fi, RFID, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), and Near Field Communication (NFC) will soon be used to send multimedia content to your mobile phone, together with other ubiquitous devices, supposing you want it of course. As of now, the mobile phone is the best positioned device for mobile marketing campaigns for it’s multifunctional use and it’s market penetration.

Let’s start what it’s all about with the definition at Wikipedia:

“Proximity marketing is the localised wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place. Transmissions can be received by individuals in that location who wish to receive them and have the necessary equipment to do so. Distribution may be via a traditional localised broadcast, or more commonly is specifically targeted to devices known to be in a particular area.”

I would like to introduce you to qr-codes first since I’m sure they will become an inevitable part in the coming months/years of proximity marketing campaigns. Mobile barcode scanning, which is ubiquitous in Japan and Korea using technology, has never been introduced on a big scale outside of these countries. Japanese consumers are used to “clicking” on physical objects by reading special consumer barcodes. In US and Europe those campaigns are ready now to emerge…

For nitwits, using qr-codes with a mobile phone works like this: it works by reading a two-dimensional barcode called a “tag” that contains a URL Internet address. The user “scans” or clicks on the tag using their mobile camera phone running a qr-code reader software. The software decodes the URL automatically and delivers the user to the appropriate content. Metadata can be send additionally to know more about the user’s phone model, location, etc. This is essential to send back the right multimedia content to be displayed correctly to the user’s phone, whatever model he might use.

Most known qr-code companies are Shotcode and Semacode, check also Smartpox, Scanbuy and TagIt but I’m not going to focus on these companies and their products now. What interests me is the fact that big brands start using the available tools around, see also Shotcode’s latest Coca Cola Mexico launches 40 million Sprite bottles campaign.

Some other blogger collegues like Charlie have been writing on the subject, Yasmine who launched her inspiring neo-nomad - my body is a hypertext summer last year, and Kelly who wrote on qr-codes in America. I have been writing or reporting on proximity (bluetooth) marketing campaigns in advertising, politics, music/entertainment and sport.

In theory, it’s all about connecting the web (the platform) with the physical world through devices with the mobile as an obvious choice for users to compare and browse product catalogues, use recommender systems to discover and share opinions with other users. For the ones having browsed the mobile web, qr-codes are a great solution B2C solution to make this happen within the reach of one click + it combines triggering contextually relevant information, correctly displayed for the user with a business model that makes sense for the operators, brand advertisers, technology and service companies in-between…

The twist however to use qr-codes is that they need to be scanned and decoded, thus need a client software to be installed on the mobile. A Swiss company named Kaywa is simplifying the process with a public qr-code generator but also needs a reader to be downloaded to the phone. My guess is that as long as the qr-code client readers don’t get bundled on popular phone series with the big mobile device manufacturers, qr-codes have little chance to go mass-market just yet, retailers will need professional encoders and readers, adapted and compatible with their current systems before they will use it in their stores. Following the discussion on Bluetooth Marketing Revisited from Carlo last week, I agree with him and Tom that most campaigns have really poor usability and user experiences to now but there is some new stuff coming up…

Meanwhile here in Spain, brand advertisers and agencies are looking for new ways to create more compelling proximity marketing campaigns.

One of the tech companies, called Daem Interactive provides image recognition technology to identify the advertisements photographed by users and sends back related multimedia contents. The photographed pictures can be send to an MMS short code to trigger a URL, no decoder needed here - it could actually to send back a qr-code, but I think this is a different and much more fun way for the user to participate and attractive to create innovative marketing campaigns. I have been sceptical about the MMS-use but this seems to be finally solved by the operators now, so this opens a lot of new possibilities and perspectives. Check the picture below:

1. A user takes a picture of an advert and sends it via MMS or e-mail (works for all camera phones!)
2. Datacenter receives the image and the advert is recognized
3. Related multimedia contents are sent back to the user, the user receives the multimedia contents including: applications, ring-tones, video, games, screensavers..etc (example from Daem Interactive)

Another Spanish startup, called Futurlink is taking the challenge to take proximity marketing to it’s next level. FuturLink is a high-tech company oriented to develop and innovate wireless products and applications to interact with mobile phones in the proximity, using short range radio technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, RFID or UWB. They developed access points that allow companies and public organizations to interact with the mobile phones of their customers within the company premises, and now also in shopping malls… All that tech in one box, get the picture?