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NBCUniversal taps Bluetooth to promote Endless Love to mall shoppers

NBCUniversal is leveraging Bluetooth marketing to target mall shoppers with a campaign to drive awareness and ultimately sales for its upcoming film, "Endless Love."

The location-based mobile campaign kicked off last week and runs through Feb. 14, which is opening day for the film. The effort gives shoppers at malls in several markets in the United States the opportunity to receive rich digital content related to the film on their smartphones.

?Our studio clients understand two key statistics: Mall shoppers are five times more likely to be movie goers than non-mall shoppers, and when people view a movie trailer they are three times more likely to go to see that movie,? said Michael Trepeta, co-CEO of Mobiquity Networks, Garden City, NY.

?The mobile phone is the most universal screen common to mall shoppers and provides studios with an opportunity to impact both of the aforementioned metrics,? he said.

Bluetooth marketing
The location-based strategy is part of a national campaign from NBCUniversal in support of the release of Endless Love, which tells the story of a privileged girl and a charismatic boy who fall in love and whose parents try to keep them apart.

NBCUniversal is partnering on the mall program with Mobiquity Technologies, which purports to have the largest location-based mobile Bluetooth marketing network and represents more than 120 million shopping visits per month.

Mobiquity uses Bluetooth technology in the common areas of malls to recognize shoppers with mobile devices and send them prompts about campaigns they can opt-in to receive. The firm?s interactive zones are positioned throughout the common areas of shopping malls near entrances, anchor stores, escalators and other high-traffic, and high dwell-time areas.

With Apple?s introduction of iBeacon and PayPal?s Beacon, there is renewed interest in leveraging Bluetooth technology for mobile marketing as the technology is available within many smartphones and feature phones already in consumers? hands.

Rich content
The campaign for Endless Love will drive awareness for the film by delivering rich digital content via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Mall shoppers will be able to opt-in to receive a combination of premium digital downloads including the movie trailer and an automatic calendar reminder. The latter will prompt consumers to purchase tickets on the opening day of the film.

NBCUniversal is the latest marketer to tap Mobiquity Technologies? network. Several other film studios have also promoted films via the mall network as well as retailers.

For example, Vans saw a 75 percent engagement rate by targeting mall shoppers with a mobile offer during the key back-to-school shopping period (see story).

"The Endless Love campaign will be running in 15 select malls for NBCUniversal's priority markets," Mr. Trepeta said. "This is typical for a first campaign with a new studio client.

"Experience shows that subsequent campaigns quickly expand across our entire mall network for maximum reach and impact," he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York