Proximity Marketing is the localized wireless distribution of content associated with a particular person, place, or thing. Transmissions can be received by individuals in that location who wish to receive them and have the necessary equipment to do so.

Our Proximity Marketing Touchpoints can be located at poster sites, retail locations, entertainment venues, public spaces or embedded in interactive kiosks. The Proximity Marketing Touchpoint will identify each passing consumer’s Bluetooth wireless technology enabled mobile device and ask their permission to deliver interactive content.

In order to notify users about the Touchpoint and availability to download content, it is vital to have eye catching POP materials notifying consumers to interact. Posters, floor stickers, display stands or digital screens all sending the message that people should have their Bluetooth wireless device on and discoverable is essential for them to participate in the interactive experience.

You will walk into a mall, a cinema, or a trade show and you will see signs indicating you are entering a Proximity Marketing BlueCast Zone. If you would like to receive content from the location you have entered, you will have to physically take out and look at your Bluetooth enabled mobile device. You will then need to take the following steps:

1. Activate Bluetooth Visibility
• The mobile device’s Bluetooth function must be activated and visible in order to download content.
2. Accept the download request
• If Bluetooth is activated and in visible mode, your device will automatically receive a text request to confirm the download. This request is not a SMS or standard text message!  It will not cost anything to the mobile user because all transmissions from our network are free!  This is a Bluetooth request, just like the ones that are generated when data is transferred via Bluetooth from one mobile phone to another.
3. Automatic data transfer
• Once the message is confirmed – the mobile user has “opt-in” to the communication - the download of the content starts automatically.  In case of message rejection – the mobile user “opt-out” - that mobile phone will not be contacted with that content again.
4. Enjoy the interactive content!

Proximity Marketing Touchpoints can deliver content as simple as text and still images or richer media like audio samples, video clips and Java applications. Our cutting edge technology will automatically resize, reshape, and deliver the most effective message based on the mobile device they are viewing the information on. In addition, because each device has a unique user id, the information will only be sent once to each person. The Proximity Marketing System can deliver content up to 10 times faster than downloading it via a mobile network. And since the content is delivered direct from our system there are no network charges for the brand or the consumer.

The Proximity Marketing Touchpoint is the actual piece of hardware used to enable the two way Bluetooth communication. The Proximity Marketing BlueCast Zone is the available communications area that has one or more Touchpoints within it.

Given the rapid growth in Mobile Marketing and Bluetooth wireless technology adoption, Proximity Marketing has many benefits:

• FREE - It is free for handset owners to receive downloads.
• FAST - It is quicker to download than MMS and other cellular solutions.
• SECURE - It does not capture mobile numbers or access data on handsets thus is secure.
• TARGETED - It can be targeted to a specific location, group or event at any time.
• MEASURABLE - It is measurable and can show clear Return on Investment (ROI) for Mobile campaigns.
• INDEPENDENT - It does not require the use of Cell / Mobile networks - thus incurs no transactional costs for the users.
• LEGAL - It is standards based and legal (it operates in the unlicensed, 2.4 GHz ISM band).
• COMPLIANT - It offers opt-in and opt-out of messages as part of the standard communication platform.

Absolutely not! This is the exact opposite of receiving an unsolicited SMS or text message (one definition of Spam) or an unwanted phone call. In order to receive content, you have to enable visibility and opt-in to receive the content. At any time you can refuse and opt-out, or even make your mobile device invisible and you will not be notified at all even if you are in the heart of a Proximity Marketing BlueCast Zone.

Source www.cwta.ca

• Wireless phones are among the fastest growing consumer products in history.
• At the end of March 2008, Canadian wireless phone subscribers numbered 20.1 million, representing a national wireless penetration rate of 62%. Recent CWTA research estimates wireless penetration in major urban centres has exceeded 70%, with some greater metropolitan areas approaching the 80% mark.
• Despite the atypical distribution of Canada's relatively small population across our vast land mass - and perhaps because of it - Canada has been and remains a world leader in communications networks and technology. And for an industry that is just two decades old, Canada's wireless phone industry, in particular, has made remarkable progress. Together, Canada's wireless carriers now offer coverage to more than 98 per cent of Canadians.
• Customers in Canada continue to enjoy prices that are below or close to the average wireless prices across the 30-member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). According to the OECD’s recently published biennial Communications Outlook 2007, Canadian customers fare significantly better than their neighbours in the US and Mexico in almost all usage categories.
• Two-thirds of Canadian households have access to a wireless phone.
• Canadians send 63.7 million text messages per day.
• Each year, Canadians place more than 6 million calls to 9-1-1 or emergency numbers from their mobile phones.
• Wireless revenues in Canada totalled $12.5 billion in 2007.
• Half of all phone connections in Canada are now wireless.

Please contact us! We’d be happy to help.