SUBtv Shows Students Responding To Bluetooth Ads
Student TV network, SubTV, is to pair bluetooth connectivity with its plasma screen network in a trial to enable rich content to be delivered direct to viewers’ mobiles.
The new technology, which has been installed for the first time in the University of London Union (ULU) and the London School of Economics (LSE), has seen a positive response from students. An opt-in rate of 25% indicates that students are prepared to accept commercial messages on their bluetooth-enabled mobile phones after seeing a promotion of the offer on the SUBtv screens.
SUBtv chief executive Peter Miles is mindful of the potential obstacles to such a system however. “Students are the most media-savvy group of people in the country and they are aware that bluetooth can be a spammer’s paradise, with the ability to send and receive large files at no charge,” he explained.
“The clear danger for the medium is that it will be abused and that advertisers and consumers will miss out on what should be a major development in consensual marketing. Our trials show quite clearly that when bluetooth consumers are reassured that the messages they are about to receive have the endorsement of a brand they trust and are of interest to them, then they are likely to respond positively. Without such brand endorsement they are likely to stay switched off because of the danger of being bombarded with unwelcome messages, commercial or otherwise.”
The new technology allows SUBtv’s clients access to an effective new marketing channel, with a deeper reach into the lives of consumers. However, as with any advertising, Miles warns that “mistimed or ill advised” usage of the technology can be counter productive, requiring advertisers to understand the implications of the new marketing tools.
Underlining the benefits of the new system, Miles said: “Bluetooth usage within university unions has the ability to target a precise audience demographic on a completely ‘consensual’ basis and this is by far the best way to use any medium.”
The SUBtv trials were conducted in academic year 2004/5, with further pilots planned for the forthcoming academic year. SUBtv eventually hopes to install a permanent bluetooth network, enabling interactive advertising and rich media messaging across its network in 90 of the UK’s top universities.
The use of bluetooth technology to deliver advertising messages direct to consumers has been used previously by billboard specialists such as Viacom Outdoor. Last year saw the company employ technology firm Hypertag to equip several of its sites on the London Underground with bluetooth to deliver music, games and video to the mobile phones of passers by (see Interactive Billboards To Deliver Video To Mobiles).
SUBtv: www.jvtv.net