• by Tameka Kee , August 15, 2008

Parachute Marketing Group (PMG) recently concluded a Bluetooth-based campaign for one of Sony Pictures' latest films, an initiative that reached more than 102,000 unique mobile devices. The four-week campaign placed Bluetooth-enabled units in theaters in more than 17 states, inviting moviegoers to download content like audio and video clips for the upcoming film (which the company declined to name) as well as a reminder that prompted them on the night before the movie's release.

Chicago-based PMG has concocted similar projects for brands like Motorola and U.S. Cellular, although this latest effort marks one of the largest campaigns of its type for the agency.

The wireless or Ethernet-connected units were hidden inside standees--the life-size cardboard cutouts found in theaters--and were able to connect with any Bluetooth-enabled phone. Each standee was customized to include a call to action (i.e., "Turn on your Bluetooth to receive free content"), and moviegoers had to opt in for the download. They could then take sound bytes from the movie and turn them into ringtones, view trailers, and set up the calendar alert.

Because the Bluetooth units were connected to the Web, PMG could monitor performance in each theater, and offer the studio detailed, real-time analysis. There were an average of 3,100 downloads per day, with a peak of nearly 6,800 downloads on the busiest day, and nearly 30% of the participants had Samsung devices.

According to Raffi Vartian, PMG's director of proximity marketing, the data-mining capabilities added an additional value to the campaign, as PMG was able to provide Sony with insights into who the movie's potential viewing audience really was. "You'd assume that the demographics for this particular film were 18- to-34-year-old males," Vartian said. "But we found that lots of phones that were typically marketed to women were being updated, too."

PMG also found that 13% of the participants had actually gone to the theater twice in the span of the four-week campaign--in direct contrast to the studio's assumption that typical moviegoers only visit theaters once every six to eight weeks. And since none of the download data was personally identifiable, Vartian said the Bluetooth product didn't arouse any privacy issues.

Another advantage to the setup is that neither the advertiser or the moviegoer had to pay network fees. "Bluetooth has nothing to do with data," said PMG's President and CEO Brett Cutler. "It connects directly to the phone itself, so people don't need a data plan to download. And it's not like SMS, where the client or user has to pay to send or receive." Advertisers do pay a per-unit rental fee that includes the cost of monitoring each unit's performance.