Hard Rock Cafe in San Francisco Using Bluetooth Marketing

The Hard Rock Cafe restaurant in San Francisco, California, has partnered with Intera Group for an aggressive new marketing campaign using Intera's Bluetooth Proximity Marketing. The system uses Bluetooth to send coupons to Bluetooth devices within the system's 100' range.

Intera and Hard Rock Cafe think the idea is great, since transferring data via Bluetooth is completely free and is not limited by the wireless carrier. The advertisement will pop up as a notification on any mobile handset with Bluetooth turned on and in 'discoverable' mode, asking if the consumer if he or she wants the coupon. The obvious downside to this, however, is that the coupon comes unsolicited to every handset within range, which will likely cause it to be considered as spam by most consumers.

Mobile advertising is on the rise, and companies are still attempting to find the best way to market to the mobile consumer. However, blindly sending out coupons and advertisements via Bluetooth will likely only serve to frighten customers away from the technology.

Consumers who wish to enjoy the benefits of Bluetooth technology without worrying about receiving unsolicited spam on their mobiles can leave Bluetooth on, but in 'Hidden' or 'Undiscoverable' mode. This will allow only authorized devices, such as paired Bluetooth headsets, to connect, but will block out unauthorized devices, such as those sending out advertisements.