By Andy McCue, 2 April 2007 13:33
NEWS
HSBC is trialling Bluetooth technology to send advertising and promotional messages to the mobile phones of people passing two of its London branches.
The trial, which has been running since the start of the year and ends this week, uses a small box installed in the branch that scans for passing mobile phones that have the Bluetooth capability switched on.
When it finds a Bluetooth mobile phone in range the box sends a message asking if the person would like to receive a promotional message from the bank. If the person answers 'yes' the ad is sent to their mobile. The current promotion is for Individual Savings Accounts.
silicon.com Financial Services
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The system retains a record of the mobile phones it has sent messages to so that it does not repeatedly spam people who may pass the branch every day.
The trial has been running at two HSBC branches in Regent Street and Canary Wharf and the promotional message encourages the person to go inside the branch for more information.
A spokeswoman for HSBC told silicon.com the results will be evaluated once the trial finishes this week, with a possible view to extending the technology to other branches in the future but she said the initial reaction from people has been positive with no negative comments from those receiving the messages.
She added: "It's still early days for us. It's a short-term trial just to see what the responses are like. Not that many people have Bluetooth enabled so in terms of numbers it's still very small."
Comments
There are 10 comments. Join the discussion
1. David Greg
I think this could be a step in right direction for green marketing. It is better than printed leaflets and flyers and you can say no at any time.
2. J C Walker
The idea might not be so attractive if you consider a walk down the average high street after all the major banks and high street stores have all decided to "market" in this way?
3. K Tse
What an innovative idea, and the best thing is that its green and free for the user.
4. anonymous
I'm a bit surprised of the comment "not so many people as bluetooth"... according statistics more than 1b bluetooth devices have been sold....
5. Wayne Chan
I would say that this technology is very good but not practical. The ads are only sent when the users have their bluetooth switched on. Not many users tend to turn on the bluetooth all the time unless there is an incentive for them to do it.
6. Rory Choudhuri
If J C Walker's scenario ever came into effect, then all you'd have to do would be to make your phone not discoverable. Or switch bluetooth off altogether, if you don't need it.
7. anonymous
Actually, this method has been tried out many years ago in Asia and have been abandoned already.
As the mobile market matures in the Asians' countries, this method of marketing failed as users will turn their bluetooth to hidden.
This is due to the proliferation of bluetooth virus and too much of such mobile advertising.
So if this works, it will only be a fad for a couple of years at most before UK consumers start going the same direction.
8. Paul
people are already starting to become wary of making their PDAs and phones visible. apparently it's an amusing game to send someone a dodgy video on the train and hope they start playing it on speakerphone and thus see the reaction of the victim and the others around them (e.g when they hear the noises of a hard core video).
9. Simon de Pinna
It doesn't sound as though HSBC is actively promoting the trial. Surely they should be running a poster campaign in the test branches telling customers they can learn something to their advantage if they turn on Bluetooth!
10. R.K Kinnie
This is done by a company called Blue2you Ltd. They have carried out campaigns for a number of companies over the last 12 months. I think it is acceptable as it only contacts people who have already set their Bluetooth to 'discoverable' thus allowing other to make initial contact. From then on the bank asks whether the user would be interested in receiving a message from the bank and they can say 'no' which would results in the no further transmissions.