• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 10, 2009

Danoo has been testing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies on high-definition (HD) screens already in coffeehouses and airports across the U.S. It plans to release results Wednesday from four mobile advertising campaigns it ran earlier this year. 

ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," Electronic Arts' The Sims 3, The History Channel's "Life After People," and an undisclosed events promoter ran separate two-week campaigns that allowed consumers to download mobile content, from games to movie trailers.

The campaigns ran two weeks each, sequentially, in 39 Los Angeles venues, about 5% of Danoo's total network. They began in March and ran through early May. About 1 million people came through the doors to those venues during those months.

Roughly 10% of people who walked into the stores had their phones on and set to discover content from Bluetooth-enabled devices. About 30% of people, or 3% of total traffic, who came into the store downloaded content. About 9,300 pieces of content were downloaded from each campaign.

The Bluetooth and mobile application will soon walk the consumer down the path to purchase. A link in the downloadable application would allow people to make a purchase as they wait for a latte at a coffee house, according to Doug Scott, VP of marketing and business development at Danoo, San Francisco. "Mobile is measureable because the technology can discover the devices," Scott says. "You know exactly how many phones are on and willing to connect through Bluetooth, what type of phones people use, and what they download."

"Microboredom," as Scott calls it, contributes to the trend that people tend to fidget with their phone while waiting for their cappuccino or iced coffee and have a few minutes to waste. While the 3% aggregated average from the four campaigns may not sound like a "mind-blowing number," think of the direct-response rates for these campaigns and the ability to connect at the moment consumers are open to interacting with the content, he says.

The technology will soon rollout to screens in about 200 venues combined in New York and Los Angeles, followed by the entire network -- close to 1,000 screens -- later this year. "Then you're looking at about 200,000 downloads for a two-week campaign," Scott says. "It's really just a matter of rolling out the technology. And it will take a little time to build trust, because it's such a personal experience."

The next step is to install the technology in about 200 venues across New York and Los Angeles. The screens act as a computer connected to the Internet through an IP address. From a central location, Danoo can push custom messages to each screen. The price per download model is based on performance, Scott says.