An FTC town hall meeting about mobile ads and consumer protection was held yesterday, where two leading advocacy groups filed complaints regarding several mobile marketing practices. Most notably, location-based marketing, where advertisers know a user’s exact location, was brought under fire.

Jeff Chester, founder and executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, along with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group combined efforts to rally the FTC for more guidelines when it comes to behavioral targeting in general. The groups argue that marketers should not track people’s web-surfing activity for the purpose of compiling profiles about them without first obtaining their consent. Jeff Chester commented…

“…We’re filing a complaint to force the FTC to take a proactive stance. Mobile ad companies incorporate the same problematic business practices that we witnessed with PC-based broadband marketing, including behavioral targeting and profiling techniques–except that this time they know your location…”

The groups hope to influence policy now, while the mobile ad market is still in its infancy. Specifically, they intend to call on the FTC to create a task force that will include consumer representatives and industry leaders to craft a marketing regime that gives priority to privacy. They also intend to push for special rules regulating mobile ads to children and teens.

The FCC already has rules in place that prohibit the use of SMS marketing without a user’s consent, but other types of marketing like WAPl banners and search ads are not similarly restricted. The groups have observed that mobile marketing practices raise more privacy concerns than desktop-based behavioral targeting, because mobile companies can potentially determine a user’s precise physical location. By contrast, targeting that relies on cookies to track a user’s Internet history is usually anonymous and not tied to offline information such as location.

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We’ve covered bluetooth proximity marketing before, that usually consist of a small module or something based on a PC or laptop, but I found a new app today that turns your cell phone into your very own mobile proximity marketing system.

ProxiBlaster offers several proximity marketing solutions in both software-only versions, and software and hardware combinations. The most notable solution is their Mobile ProxiBlaster software, that’s available for download directly to your cell phone. it then allows you to run your own mobile marketing campaign just like a normal push-bluetooth marketing campaign. According their website;

“…This is the first proximity marketing software specifically written to operate on a cell phone or PDA ! Mobile BlueCast turns your cell phone into a mobile proximity marketing machine ! When running this software on your cell phone you are literally a walking digital billboard broadcasting your message or advertisment to every cell phone you walk near!…”

It looks like it’s only available on a select number of phones, and has only been tested on the Nokia N95 and M93 successfully so far. It’s intended mostly for Java-based devices, but you can download a demo here, or download the app directly by going to “http://proxiblaster.com/mobile/mobilebcast.jar” on your device.

I think it’s a great idea, despite the privacy concerns surrounding the push-marketing aspects. It’s a free way of advertising your message and people can simply reject the invitation if they choose.

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With Google’s interest in securing a section of the upcoming wireless spectrum that becomes available after the digital switch, there’s been some speculation that the main intention on Google’s mind is to offer a free nationwide wifi network based on the high-power frequencies usually reserved for television.

Not long ago, Google submitted a six-page letter to the FCC outlining processes and tests to avoid interference on the frequencies in question, which was a major concern to the FCC. Google also promised to reserve some frequencies to be used not for wireless Internet and provide free tech support for people using their WiFi.  It looks as though they’re laying the groundwork to dovetail nicely with the launch of upcoming Android handsets.  That is if the FCC and the privacy groups don’t interfere.

If Google can control the network, as well as the handset software, and combine it with their core search engine knowledge, it will post serious privacy concerns regarding the vast amount of personal data and pure information Google would control.  Since Google’s number one goal is to generate a larger footprint to incorporate it’s advertising models into, it obviously makes sense that it would want to place itself at all levels of the process, but controlling and managing that much information could cause problems.

On the other hand, the benefits are enormous in terms of both advertising revenue for Google, and the fact that everyone would have access to a completely free wifi network that’s available anywhere, anytime.  It would take a ton of testing and configuring to make sure it’s secure and stable enough for widespread adoption, but exciting to think about nonetheless.  We’ll see what happens…

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A little off topic, but noteworthy nonetheless; I’ve been using a free service called YouMail for several months now and love everything about it. It’s a service that allows you to divert your cell phone’s voicemail to a new system that allows for several levels of customization with new features added all the time. Of course, being a free service, there has to be advertising somewhere, and YouMail took the mobile marketing aspect to monetize their service in a unique way.

Among the many features YouMail offers, like custom greetings and notification options, is a feature that I find notably beneficial. You can opt to have all your voicemails transcribed and emailed to you or sent to you in a series of SMS messages. It’s great when you’re in a meeting or a situation where you can’t call to retrieve your messages. You can simply read the text messages or email to get the info instead.

What YouMail has done is attached a simple call to action to each text message it dispatches and every email it sends. The call-to-actions advertise a variety of things, but they always catch my attention. I think it’s a unique way to get ad impressions. When each message is transcibed, it’s broken up into 3-4 SMS messages sent in a series depending on how long the message is, and each SMS has a different call-to-action. It’s usually things like “Bet on the 2008 Derby. Reply BET” or something similar, but it’s usually something catchy. The email notifications are the same way.

You never know where you’ll find embedded mobile marketing. It’s slowly finding it’s way into our daily lives more and more to the point that we don’t even notice it anymore.

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Mobile coupons are gaining acceptance more than ever, and it’s due in large part to companies like CellFire that manage large-scale deployment of digital coupons to the masses.  CellFire in particular is setting the standard with it’s mobile application that gives the user an endless variety of savings that can be redeemed instantly, and are always available.

A user can simply access the cellfire app and search an ever-changing inventory of available coupons.  No need to clip coupons, or remember to check a website or an email before you go.  Since the coupons are updated and accessed in real-time, there’s no need for text messages as well.

CellFire is close to introducing a brand new service called Mobile Grocery Coupons, which will be a service that’s integrated with major grocery store chains to offer special discounts and content to customers in real-time.  According to their website…

“…Cellfire’s mobile grocery coupon service will provide shoppers at major grocery chains with exciting exclusive discounts directly using their mobile phones and grocery savings cards. Many consumer brands are already on board, including General Mills, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark. We will be announcing the program launch very soon…”

The app runs on almost every phone made, and with several carriers.  It looks like they’re trying to incorporate their technology into other uses like the grocery store example which should prove to be interesting.  As customers become used to the savings and ease of use of the loyalty programs and other features the cellfire system provides, they’ll be more apt to continue shopping at that particular chain.  The marketing potential is huge on several levels.

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BlueBite is a bluetooth proximity marketing system we’ve talked about before, that uses bluetooth and wifi technology to beam content and advertising directly to mobile devices.  It’s had it’s privacy issues, but when done correctly it can be a great marketing tool.  Ace Marketing and Promotions thought so too.

The two companies have a cross-marketing agreement that will allow Ace Marketing to offer the proximity marketing services provided by BlueBite, and will provide its clients with a revolutionary interactive, and situation specific, consumer experience to help them market their products or services.  Since Ace already covers nearly every aspect of marketing across all mediums, the bluetooth technology is a nice compliment to their already impressive portfolio of services.  In the words of Ace’s CEO…

“…This partnership means individuals will be able to truly interact with advertising, downloading and redeeming a digital coupon for example, or viewing exclusive out-of-home video content that pertains to what they are doing at any given moment. This new medium enhances and simplifies everyday activities such as shopping and travel. And since the transmissions are independent of cell phone carriers, the content is always free…”

Ace Marketing has already deployed BlueBite’s technology in a few major markets like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, and BlueBite has already transmitted 30-second videos of CW’s shows at strategic locations, two-for-one beverage coupons at nightclubs around the country and content to drive booth foot-traffic at trade shows.

The two companies plan to set up bluetooth “hotspots” in shopping malls, sports arenas, concert venues, airports, transit hubs, and other high-density foot traffic areas. Every deployment will allow mobile phone users to opt-in to receive various digital content, via Bluetooth and WiFi, when they are in the vicinity of the target location.

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For anyone who paid attention to the 2008 Boston Marathon, there was a unique technology put in place for the first time that turned out to be a great mobile-based marketing campaign in and of itself.

A company called MyAthlete recently licensed a GPS technology from a company called GTX corp and incorporated it into a small lightweight device that could be placed on every runner.  The accuracy of the GPS technology allowed friends and family to locate and track a runner at any given time.

To track, all people had to do was login to the MyAthlete portal on either a PC, laptop, PDA, or web-enabled cell phone and see in real-time where everyone was throughout every point of the marathon.

On the mobile marketing side of things, MyAthlete reported that the GPS units generated an unprecedented amount of traffic to their portal throughout the marathon…

“…on average, each runner’s device was followed by more than 10 unique viewers, generating traffic 1,300 times over their average server load. Once inside the portal, MyAthlete observed that visitors were likely to navigate their way around the main site and selected to view industry-related links hosted on the site…”

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