Deciding where to spend advertising dollars isn’t getting any easier in the digital age. There’s print, TV, radio, Internet, e-flyers and digital kiosks, to name a few.
Here’s one more medium to consider: proximity marketing via smartphone.
It uses Bluetooth to send out multimedia coupons or advertisements to anyone carrying a Bluetooth-enabled phone within 300 feet of an advertiser.
“Basically, it’s the right message at the right time in the right place,” said Alex Romanov, president and CEO of iSign Media Solutions Inc. (ISD:TSX-V). “It only works within proximity, so it’s relevant.”
BC Lions fans are likely familiar with proximity marketing. Bluejamb, another Vancouver company involved in proximity messaging, offers fans at Empire Field Stadium downloads of video clips and player interviews from previous games.
And if you’ve been near the Ebisu Japanese restaurant on Robson Street with your Bluetooth-enabled device recently, you might have received a digital coupon from the restaurant offering a pound of free chicken wings. You can claim your free meal by simply walking in and showing your digital coupon.
Don Francesco’s Ristorante is another Vancouver restaurant that has been trying out the new marketing scheme.
Ebisu manager Deon Taw said there are still some wrinkles in the iSign system, and he hasn’t seen a deluge of customers coming in and flashing their digital coupons. But Taw still thinks iSign is onto something.
“It’s really a good idea. It just needs to break through a few walls regarding the connection.”
Taw pointed out that he was unable to receive his own advertising on his iPhone.
One of proximity marketing’s drawbacks is that not everyone turns his or her Bluetooth function on or has it configured properly, said Alan Swain, director of engineering operations for Wavefront, which helps local wireless companies go to market.
He added that many users turn Bluetooth off to preserve battery life. Others simply never use it. But Swain said that’s starting to change as battery life increases and more people buy hands-free devices, which require Bluetooth.
Swain believes there’s a growing market for proximity messaging.
“It’s very local. You’ve got to be fairly close, which means you can have a targeted clientele. If you’re in a mall type of environment, you can offer coupons and things like that.”
Unlike advertising sent to smartphones via SMS, there is no data charge for Bluetooth, and advertisers don’t need phone numbers.
Romanov said advertisers pay $100 to $150 per month for the service. All they need is a computer and broadcasting unit in their shop. Digital coupons are created using Flash, and the messages can be changed and broadcast whenever the advertiser wants.
Romanov said advertisers have no way of knowing how many people might be looking at digital advertising used in subways and in elevators. But with proximity marketing, they can know exactly how many people see their ads.
“We data-log your response, whether you said ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to that particular message,” said Romanov, a former CEO of Alpine Electronics of Canada Inc. “And that’s very important to an advertiser.”
ISign’s technology was designed by Chris Losaris, who sold the company to Romanov but still works at iSign.
Now four years old, iSign went public in September 2009. Its headquarters are in Toronto, but all the company’s engineering and technology development is done in Vancouver.
The company has been inking deals recently with other digital media companies, including Pinpoint Media – which is in 1,400 convenience stores across Canada – and RTown Communications, which provides in-house advertising for hotels and resorts via TV.
Under an agreement signed April 5 with iSign, RTown can broadcast those same advertisements to hotel guests from the hotels’ TV networks to their guests’ smartphones.
Richmond Hill, ON
CEO: Alex Romanov
Employees: N/A
Market cap: $20.2m
P/E ratio: N/A
EPS: ($0.06)
Sources: Stockwatch, TSX