Posted: February 21, 2007

Time and time again, we get requests for “Bluetooth blasting”…. you know, the process of sending out messages to everybody in the area inviting them to your store/restaurant/club/whatever.

Quite honestly, it’s time to set the record straight: it ain’t gonna work.

Sure, it would be great, but carriers, technology, and the public aren’t going to allow it, and here’s why:

1. In order for Bluetooth blasting to work, you need your recipient to have….Bluetooth! Right now, less than 30% of phones support the technology.  Strike one!
2. While you may have Bluetooth on your phone, in order to receive “location based alerts”, your Bluetooth has to be turned on (most people probably don’t even know they have Bluetooth, let alone know how to turn it on), and set to “free association”, meaning you want your handset to talk to everything, not just your hands-free headset,  or your car.  US carriers (Verizon and the like) understand the risks of free association and turn it off by default!  Strike two!
3. Bluetooth has a limited range of 30 feet.  If you fall outside of that, no ad!  Additionally, to push ads, the advertiser needs to invest in expensive “Bluetooth broadcasters” costing as much as $2,000 or more apiece.  Strike three!

In the end, who wants it anyway?  Our job at Cellit Mobile Marketing is to provide marketing tools that engage the consumer.  We want people to want to receive the message.  Everything we do is opt-in.  The last thing we want to do is spam your phone with silly Bluetooth blasts.  And if you do want that, you’re better off hiring somebody to stand on the corner wearing a banana costume, handing out fliers.  After all, who doesn’t like a guy in a banana costume?

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