txt4ever CEO comments in the Sunday Times on RAF Campaign

Campaigns: Fri 4th September 2009

The RAF has recently trailed Bluetooth, proximity marketing in Scotland. Aimed at Scottish jobseekers, the RAF placed Bluetooth units in a number of jobcentres in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. After offering the message "Do you wish to accept a message from the RAF?" to Bluetooth enabled devices in the vicinity, the recipient was sent a short video and recruitment information.

The campaign met the current regulations on Bluetooth advertising. It has met with some criticism, however. The article was prompted by a journalist who was sent the message and was surprised that such information could be sent so easily to a mobile phone.

txt4ever CEO, Mark Brill, commented in The Sunday Times article that the delivery of the video was quite legal, but may not have been consistent with the recommended Best Practice Guidelines issued by the DMA. These guidelines are currently the only ones in use in the UK, but are consistent with well-run proximity marketing campaigns.

The Sunday Times article explained: 'The watchdog aim to protect consumers and advises all marketing practitioners to obtain consent or permission before using Bluetooth marketing.'

Mark Brill gave the following recommendation in the piece: "It could have displayed prominent posters in recruiting centre windows inviting people to a specific point if they wanted to receive information. The range can be set to a couple of metres."

The issue is an interesting one for the likes of the RAF. The armed forces are seen as a last resort for many people, and even in the current economic climate, finding quality trainees is problematic. All forces have made extensive use of digital technologies including the internet and mobile in order to attract a better standard of candidate.

For the RAF, Bluetooth offers an exciting channel to send more than just SMS, but also video messages. The issue, though is one of permissions and the personal nature of mobile phones. In the article Mark Brill warned: "People can get understandably irate if they get unwanted advertising messages on their mobile phone via Bluetooth. Mobile phones are personal and people have a reasonable expectation that permission would be sought before any marketing takes place".

The DMA and some other marketing bodies are currently lobbying for an updated set of regulations, such as the CAP Code, to specify that Bluetooth should be permission-based.

This is not the first time Bluetooth has been used in army recruitments - in fact the initiative may have been inspired by Saatchi & Saatchi's New Zealand Bluetooth posters, which were nominated for the D&AD awards in 2008.

Article Links
Times Online: Armed Forces target recruits via Bluetooth
DMA Best Practice Guidelines
Read more about Bluetooth Proximity Marketing