Bluejacking is the buzz word this week on the lips of PR people who have filled my inbox with news of the latest platform offerings and marketers who are using this new blue tooth enabled environmental advertising strategy.
What exactly is this new tactic?
According to wikipedia, “Bluejacking is the sending of unsolicited messages over Bluetooth to Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones, PDAs or laptop computers, sending a vCard which typically contains a message in the name field (i.e. for bluedating or bluechat) to another bluetooth enabled device via the OBEX protocol.”
It works like laser tag. For example, when you walk past a poster ad that is bluejack-enabled at a bus stop with your Blackberry, without warning you may receive a message from the poster. Beep beep. Literally the walls will start talking. Sound like a Philip K. Dick novel?
Well, get ready, because like other mobile technology trends, this is already big in Europe. Major marketers like Capitol Records are using it to promote the British pop band Coldplay in the UK.
When I lived in Spain five years ago mobile companies were, pushing for young people in bars to flirt with each other from across the room by sending text messages to still unknown coeds from across the room- I’m not sure it ever caught on. I always figured it would be the perfect plot for a romantic comedy, a “Three’s Company” for the tech age. Think of the mix up possibilites.
But it makes a lot more sense to use mobile as a playful game to meet people than to be targeted by advertisements while walking down the street. Aren’t we bombarded with enough advertising messages walking down the street, now we have to be bluejacked by them.
Does CAN-SPAM have to be updated for bluejacking? Sounds illegal to me.
I guess I better get to work to find out more.
Source: http://blog.dmnews.com
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