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If you’ve seen those ads on TV of a fellow taking a picture of a pancake that
has a picture of Mom on it at a diner and thought, oh that’s just so weird.
Well, the potential of using that kind of MMS (Mobile Messaging Service) has
been tapped into in the most innovative way in Scandanavia. Something many of us
can learn from and model future applications on.
An article in the March 28th issue of The Feature profiles two
Finnish companies that are using MMS in interesting ways. One, a real estate
company, allows prospective buyers to dial in requests for images and
information on specific properties. The service alerts buyers when new
properties come on the market by shooting them details and images. This targeted
and time sensitive way of delivering leads and opportunities could change the
way real estate is sold. Agents in the field are equipped with digital cameras
so they can photograph and upload pictures immediately. It could certainly make
using the classifieds in print newspapers a tool for dinosaurs while giving the
most cutting edge to the technically well-equipped elite.
Another company uses using MMS for car sales, alerting potential customers to
new vehicles. The potential for this technology’s use with auctions has yet to
be explored. eBay, watch out!...
Click here to read the original story
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A video screen in a grocery store showing ads to you because of a radio
frequency ID (RFID) chip in your shoe? Could happen, says privacy lobbyist
Katherine Albrecht. She fears the chips, which currently cost less than a
dime and don't contain batteries, will be installed everywhere. If that
occurs, she says, ''You've essentially created a world in which there is no
privacy.'' But a spokesman for Gillette says the primary use of RFID chips
will be to reduce the cost of misplaced or stolen inventory. ''We have no
interest in collecting data beyond the shelf,'' he says. Albrecht counters
that any technology is likely to be abused unless it's regulated. (Source:
corante.com)
Click
here for the full story
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Here are two stories that ran last week in Directnewsline that we
think no marketer should miss. Electronic channels are proprietary and the
tools to police them are being developed and written into law. Take note of
these latest developments.
It may be slow going here in the US to launch the war on spam but in Japan
the government is not wasting any time.
NTT Docomo Corp, a Japanese mobile phone carrier, won a victory against junk
e-mail last week when a Tokyo court ordered compensation for the costs of
sending unsolicited messages over its wireless Internet service, according
to wire service reports.
In the first court decision against the country's spam mailers, a Tokyo
company was ordered to pay docomo 6.57 million yen ($54,420). These junk
e-mailers regularly flood wireless e-mail networks with randomly addressed
advertisements for pornography or dating services.
Anti-spam legislation implemented last July requires unsolicited e-mail be
clearly labeled " in the subject line. Docomo offers a service to let
users reject such messages, but much still apparently gets through.
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In a decision that could affect challenges to spam, a federal appeals court
has ruled that a law restricting junk faxes was constitutional. This sets a
precedent that could help legal attempts to restrict unsolicited commercial
e-mail, said experts said in news reports.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling and said
that a 1991 federal law banning unsolicited fax advertising did not violate
the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression.
The three-judge panel also said that "there is a substantial government
interest in protecting the public from the cost of shifting and interference
caused by unwanted fax advertisements," which consume the recipient's
ink, toner and paper.
A similar argument is made about spam because companies have to spend money
on e-mail filtering systems and heftier bandwidth to handle the volume of
unsolicited e-mail.
The matter before the appeals court involved two consolidated cases. The
State of Missouri had sued American Blast Fax Inc. and Fax.com Inc.
for
violating statutes against unsolicited fax advertising. The district court
held that the part of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, which
related to the case violated the First Amendment Guarantee of freedom of
speech and dismissed the action.
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Large marketers can increase their reach by shifting dollars originally
spent on television to the Internet, a study by DoubleClick has revealed.
The study showed that by dividing a campaign target audience into online and
offline segments, the online portion tends to watch less television, be
younger, more affluent, more educated and more likely to be professional, and
thus more desireable to marketers.
When American Airlines, Subaru and Kraft increased their online spend they
were able to reach the light television viewer online. When American
Airlines raised online spending from 5% to 15%, this led to a gain of
reaching more than 3 million consumers.
Subaru found that a 7% boost in online spending led to a broadening of its
ad frequency exposure.
"The study confirms that consumers can no longer be efficiently reached
through television alone, highlighting online's important role in the media
mix," said DoubleClick vice president Doug Knopper in a statement.
The New York online advertising services firm commissioned Nielsen//NetRatings
and IMS to conduct the study.
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