Caught wind of this interesting concept from Bck which is inspired by gestural hand movements.

The two rings which are designed to be worn on the thumb (speaker) and pinkie finger (microphone) could also double up as a fashion accessory. Sensors in the rings would allow you to answer the call by simply flicking your fingers into the ‘phone’ position.

One slight flaw with this design, what is the actual point of using it if it doesn’t leave your hands free?

[Via The Design Blog]

Schiesser “Mystery” Underwear Campaign:

First is the ‘Mystery’ billboard by underwear company Shiesser. The billboard features a sketched silhouette of a woman with the line “The prettiest things are hidden from view“.

Then when you activate your Bluetooth you get sent the Schiesser Showroom Application which displays a catalogue of models in lingerie, thus filling out the silhouette. Agency: Mindmatics

Big Brother “Big Brother is watching” Campaign:

Next is the Big Brother campaign in Australia to promote the launch of the new series on TV. Bluetooth transmitters were installed into 20 high footfall bus shelters around town. Two messages were sent to people nearby (as a .txt file).

The first message is targeted for the location, with something along the lines of “Im watching u. Ur at the (customised current location)”. The second message is received 30-40 seconds later with the big reveal, saying “Big Brother is back. 7 PM weeknights on TEN”.

The campaigns theme is based around the Big Brother slogan “Big Brother is watching” hence the stalker style message. Agency: Marketforce

Quick Background On Bluetooth Marketing

Bluetooth Marketing (also known as Proximity Marketing) is distributing content via Bluetooth transmitters, usually in billboards, shop displays or hidden out of sight. You can send any type of file to a mobile, whether you can open it or not depends if it’s compatible with your handset. Files are usually video, audio, images and applications – the speed of Bluetooth means you can generally send 1mb files in seconds which makes it such a attractive method of mobile advertising. It is free to send and receive files and no personal information about the user is divulged. It works in exactly the same way as peer to peer Bluetooth, which means you can either accept of reject the file transfer.

Innovative Or Intrusive?

So as you can see these could either be seen as smart bits of advertising…or two billboards sending random members of the public pictures of ladies in pants or stalker messages scaring them to death.

I’m a bit divided on these two billboards. My heart is telling me they are creative and using the technology to produce ambient, memorable campaigns. My brain is saying these messages are being sent to passers-by who a) might not even see the poster so have no idea why they are getting pinged b) aren’t interested because it has no relevance to what they are doing.

Part of me thinks it’s a bit much calling Bluetooth transmissions spam as the person has to accept or reject the message so it’s entirely down to the user. If you’re easily offended or concerned about privacy why would you accept a Bluetooth message and then complain when it turns out to be porn? If people constantly keep having to reject the same message then I would call it spam but the system can be set up in a way which means someone never has to reject a message twice so that should never happen.

But alas I have to consider the end user and I know some people get annoyed at even having to press ‘reject’ on their phone at all. This is why you have to be as relevant as you can with Bluetooth Marketing as you’re less likely to piss someone off. You need to know your audience. Take this ridiculous trial campaign by HSBC on Regents Street in London, where shoppers were sent a video promoting a cash ISA. Absolutely no targeting whatsoever, a large majority of shoppers on Regents Street being tourists who can’t open cash ISAs here and the rest probably leaving the house that day to buy some clothes rather than open an ISA. HSBC dropped plans to use Bluetooth beyond the trial.

I’ve always been a big advocate of targeted, relevant and contextual advertising. It’s difficult to do this with Bluetooth as the technology doesn’t let you know anything about the passer-by so its hit and hope, especially if the person hasn’t seen the poster or billboard (Bluetooth can go as far as 60-100m). However the way around this is to simply place the Bluetooth transmitters in areas where you know the people around are going to want the content. For example imagine an Oasis concert at Wembley, 90,000 people who would all LOVE to get some Oasis ringtones, videos, Mp3s and wallpapers onto their mobiles, it’s the perfect sort of event for Bluetooth Marketing. Then add some sigage or notifications on the big screens to seed people switching on Bluetooth and your good to go (no point of having cool content but not notifying people to switch their Bluetooth on).

Places such as football matches, concerts, festivals, nightclubs, large events, restaurants and department stores all work well because there is more relevance to the users surroundings. If you are in Sainsburys, a promotion sent to you via Bluetooth is not only going to be more useful than from a bus stop but also more actionable. Just like a ‘Goal of the season’ video sent to home fans at an Arsenal football match is going to convince even the most hardened Bluetooth hater to get involved. So wouldn’t the Schiesser Underwear poster be better placed in a women’s department store?

Bluetooth is a great medium, it’s simple, free for the consumer and has a huge reach. There is no better way to send large, rich media files over short distance to mobiles. It does kind of have a premium type of flair to it and can really flourish with well thought out campaigns, like this ‘Bluetooth Stopwatch‘ campaign from Nike.

So what do you think?

Passers-by can text the number displayed on the billboard to activate the poster which then starts releasing actual smoke from the cars exhaust pipes with the rear lights switching on too! The experience then continues by the user receiving a text with the link to the Honda mobile site (www.hondaireland.mobi), where they can then find out more about the car and find the nearest dealer for a test drive.

The Bluetooth enabled billboard also sent out ringtones to people nearby of the Honda Civic R engine roar. Nice! Although could to have been confined to the

It’s a really innovative installation and probably bloody expensive. I’m glad Honda had the courage to go all the way, this definitely sets an example for what can be done with outdoor and mobile.

You have got to hand it to Nike and their agencies, time after time they produce some really innovative and engaging mobile marketing campaigns.

It seems like Nike totally trusts its agencies and lets the mobile experts there do what they do best.  Campaigns have mobile at the center rather than a text call to action awkwardly shoe horned in at the end, because of this you get some fantastic, groundbreaking work.

Here are my favourite picks:

Nike iD Interactive Billboard – Times Square, New York

Nike launched a 23-story interactive billboard in times Square displaying customisable footwear from the Nike iD range.

You dial the number that appears on the billboard and use your phones keypad to start customising the on-screen shoe….in real time! You then get sent a text message with a link to download a wallpaper of your design or even buy it.

The beautiful thing about this is that it works on every phone, no apps, no software, just a simple phonecall. Brilliant.

Check out the larger image here or the video below:

Nike Photo iD – Customise Footwear Via MMS

This idea was just simply delicious. You take a picture of something you like the look of on your phone, send it to a number as a picture message, then you get back the link to your shoe, completely customised using the colours extracted from the photo!

Just like the billboard campaign, you can then download it as a wallpaper or go on and purchase the shoe.

It’s a shame such a good idea didn’t get promoted more, I would have like to have seen this as part of a print, outdoor or TV campaign. This is another mobile execution where pratically every handset is compatible. Check out the Youtube promo video below.

This campaign deservedly picked up a number of awards, including IMA and MMA.

The agency behind this was AKQA and the picture recognition technology by Mobile Aquity

Nike Zoom China – Bluetooth Stopwatch

Another award winner, this time using Bluetooth.

Bluetooth enabled billboard ads appeared in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, as passersby approached they receieved a message telling them to run to the nearest Nike store as fast as possible.

A virtual stopwatch is activated the moment the person receieves the message, once they get to the store with their mobile the time is stopped.  Everyday the store gave away a pair of running shoes to the fastest person, their name also appeared on the billboard the next day

The campaign stats are pretty immense for something running 3 weeks.

Across three cities in three weeks: 250 000 Bluetooth messages delivered, 15 000 participants and 63 pairs of Nike Zoom shoes awarded, 1.7 billion online impressions, 19 million print impressions and 17 million OOH target audience impressions.

15,000 participants! To put that in perspective it’s around roughly half of the London Marthaton. Check out the crazy video of the campaign below.

Credit goes to agency Mindshare.

Nike T90 - Augmented Reality Treasure Hunt In Hong Kong

To promote the launch of Nike’s T90 boot amongst teens during the Euro 2008 period, a series of black and white markers were posted in Nike stores, subway stations and magazines throughout Hong Kong.

Once you find a marker you text in the keyword on it to download a special Nike ‘Augmented Reality‘ application. After you load the app and point your phone camera at the code it becomes a virtual 3d T90 boot and ball which rotates as you move your phone around it. Within the 3d graphic is a special code which users text in to continue the hunt and also be entered into a sweeps stake for Nike merchandise.

This is slighly more complicated than the others but it works because of the target market in Hong Kong.

The agency behind this goodness is The Hyperfactory.

Click here for the video.

Nike WAP and iPhone Apps & Sites

Nike have launched a whole host of lovely looking WAP and iPhone sites which focus around various campaigns or products, including dedicated Air Force 1 and Nike Zoom sites.

Some of the functionality is far and beyond what you normally get with mobile sites such as 200+ sports video and 800+ product profiles.

Check them out here.

In October they also launched the Nike ID iPhone application, check out the video below:

It’s hard to pick a favourite but I’m going to have to go with the Times Square billboard because of the sheer scale and mass handset reach. Whats yours?