What is Bluecasting?

by Amy Vale

Bluecasting offers a new way for businesses and organizations to interact with consumers.

It is similar to Near Field Communication (NFC) and somewhat like Geofencing, but Bluecasting is the new mobile marketing technique to look out for. The proximity-based technology enables consumers to receive promotional material, or any digital media, on their mobile devices when they are within a certain proximity to a Bluetooth station which has been purposely set up. Some people are saying that this is the new mobile innovation to watch out for, as it allows businesses to interact with consumers in an innovative and effective way. Have you heard of Bluecasting and thought about how this could be useful for you?

So, how does it work? It sends out promotional digital media content using computer-controlled software and hardware which detects Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices when they are within proximity of a designated hotspot. The content is only broadcast to “interested” devices, meaning that it is currently an opt-in service. Consumers are sent a request for permission to send files, and once they have granted permission, Bluecasting units send files to those phones. Files could include things such as mobile applications, discount coupons, marketing brochures, videos, images, vCards and any other digital media.

We can envision this new mobile technology being used by marketing managers from large businesses or organizations to improve brand awareness. It has the benefit of delivering direct messages to customers or clients and provides the opportunity to capitalize on viral marketing. Companies also select the public place from which to send out their messages to large groups of people at any given time. For example, public transit locations are by nature saturated with people nearly all of the time, giving advertisers a perfect opportunity to reach a great number of people with their promotional material or mobile advertising.

Bluecasting pulls together smartphone and wireless technologies such as near field communication (NFC) which has, for example, enabled users to carry out financial transactions with the digital wallet phenomenon, and  Geofencing, the technology which refers to virtually fenced-off geographic locations, for example, a radius around a shopping mall, where consumers can receive messages and special offers designed to incentivize them to walk into the store. With Bluecasting though, we are seeing mobile marketing taking centre stage. It isn’t necessarily about shopping or the delivery of deals or coupons; Bluecasting technology could be used by businesses or publishers to deliver mobile advertising in a new and innovative way. Think about the way a new app could be marketed, or any digital material that you want to send out to relevant users. This could be a whole new way of thinking about mobile advertising.