Manchester agency Gencia is supporting the ‘Calling Time on Violent Crime’ in Wrexham this weekend, a campaign commissioned by The Wrexham Community Safety team in Partnership with the Home Office and Wrexham Council.

Gencia’s Bloowire proximity marketing tool is set to engage hundreds of young revellers with key alcohol health and safety messages during the festive period.

TV monitors attached to promotional staff will encourage revellers to download a free Beer Goggles game, which demonstrates the effects of judgement following drinking.



An alcohol units calculator quiz can also be downloaded to remind young people to drink responsibly and personal safety messages encouraging young women to travel home safely will also feature in the wider campaign.

Clubs such as Liquid and Envy are also supporting the ‘think before you drink’ message by wearing t-shirts behind the bar and on the door.

Leading the Crime reduction element of the campaign is North Wales Police Sergeant Dave Marsden who says:

“Knowing your limits is about being safe, looking after friends and getting home safely.

“Bluetooth offers us a modern and measurable way to engage young people with key messages around alcohol and Gencia were chosen because of their experience of delivering full campaign strategies rather than just the technology itself”.

Home Office Adviser for North Wales Tim Nunn added that they were proactively supporting the partnership to ensure ‘people could enjoy the festive period safely.’

Apart from addressing the issue of alcohol related crime, key aims include communicating the health problems and consequential behaviours that can result from excessive drinking.

Partnering the project is Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Strategy Manager for Wrexham Council Gillian Cowan who commented:

“Health Challenge Wrexham is about encouraging individuals, organisations and local businesses to take ownership around health and wellbeing.

“It’s proven that alcohol can induce risky behaviour such as unprotected sex which itself can lead to further health consequences. 

Alcohol is one of six key areas where we need to engage young people and this is the media of acceptance within this target age group.”

The latest campaign completes a range of successful 2009 bluetooth projects for Gencia across within the area of health, crime and education.

Teen Life Check – the NHS Choices lifestyle web quiz for 12-15 years – is now available on the mobile phone.

Gencia has been commissioned to pilot a Bluetooth version of the game in schools in January with the aim of rolling out wider campaigns towards Spring.

Key advantages downloading the game to handsets include greater privacy, measurable participation, repeat visits and an ability to automatically save local services numbers into the directory.

If you are a TLC co-ordinator and would like more information about our work in this area, please call us on: 0161 214 5214.

Gencia supported Rotherham's Hollywood S-Word campaign by providing life sized paparazzi, bouncers, pop up displays and a Hollywood Hottie quiz game via bluetooth, which enabled students and the general public to receive advice and links to local services.

The 'S-Word: We Need To Talk About Sex' uses themed imagery and word-plays from films such as PS I Love You, Mission Impossible, and The Bourne Trilogy to convey sexual health messages. For more information visit www.s-wordrotherham.co.uk

Free condoms were distributed and several hundred young people took part in discreet Chylamdia Screening tests throughout the week.

He may be the ghost of Christmas Past - but Birmingham’s IMAX launch of Christmas Carol on Saturday is turning to techniques of the future to bring in the crowds.
 

For the first time, promoters are using Bluetooth or proximity marketing to engage with local shoppers – with savings of 25% for anyone choosing to receive the free message voucher to their phone.

Saturday’s Millennium Point promotion forms part of an integrated worldwide marketing campaign for the movie and coincides with Birmingham’s Christmas lights switch-on and the estimated 40,000 expected to attend.

Bluetooth works from a nearby ‘Bloowire’ transmitter, offering shoppers within a 100 metre range the opportunity to receive a free voucher to their phone which they can then take to the desk to receive their discount.

PR Manager Caroline Durbin explains:

“The Christmas lights switch on represents a unique opportunity for us to engage with large concentrations of people which is where Bluetooth works really well.

“The content is completely free to receive to phones and we’re offering those taking part a special 25% discount on the door if they show their digital voucher.”

Unlike SMS or text messaging alerts, the actual names and numbers of those participating remain unknown and therefore privacy is retained.

The chosen partners for the campaign are Gencia, who have now been running Bluetooth campaigns throughout the UK for over 2 years.

Gencia Managing Director Tony Braide says that techniques are becoming more widespread due to increased mobile usage rates and the introduction of more sophisticated phones.

“Bluetooth is increasingly more popular as a promotional tool due to the amount of mobile users, sophistication of phones and range of uses this now brings to both the sender and recipient.

“The organisers have already done a sterling job in promoting the film in other ways and the 25% offer by Bluetooth will give them a measurable way of attracting even more people through the doors.”

Gencia this week successfully launched a Bluetooth mobile marketing campaign urging young people to act with Dignity when it comes to Alcohol.

The campaign - aimed at 13-18 year olds - uses Bluetooth to relay video messages of people compromising their personal safety and losing their dignity in public following excessive alcohol consumption.

The first in a series of campaigns was launched in Pembrokeshire this week in an event that included key partners within the police, health, education and youth services.

Bluetooth or proximity marketing is growing in popularity due to interactive way it engages young people and the validation it offers the sender in terms of how many people have received messages.

Messages are free to transmit and receive and unlike traditional text messaging, content is received only when permission is granted by receiver.

The official launch follows a successful pilot in which just under 60% of young people with compatible phones within range downloaded content that was offered to them.

At the event, Rhys Sinnett the Principal Public Health Officer in Pembrokeshire explained that the aim of the campaign is to reach and engage more people around potentially sensitive issues.

“Mobile phones are not just young peoples main means of communication but probably all of our main means of keeping in touch and so it seemed natural to move towards looking at ways of using this to our advantage”.

Jamie Adams deputy head of Pembrokeshire Council added in his speech that it was the first time the technology had been used in the county and discussed the importance of using digital media that could engage with as many young people as possible.

Dignity was chosen as umbrella brand name for a number of different strands of an ongoing campaign which will focus key issues such as drinking, personal safety, sexual health and bullying.

Gencia is now in talks with 20 other local authorities around the country about bringing Dignity and Bluetooth into schools to address key messages around drinking, personal safety and sexual health.

Managing Director, Tony Braide explains why many are now opting for the medium.

“Local authorities and schools are increasingly exploring Bluetooth as a more cost effective and environmental alternative to distributing leaflets and sending out letters.

“We are using Bluetooth differently to turn it into a pull technology, in other words inviting recipients to request content without the pressure or obligation often associated with traditional marketing techniques.

Where the content is particularly engaging or humorous as elements of Dignity are, content is often shared with friends spreading the message even wider.”

For more information about Dignity or Bluetooth marketing, contact (0)161 214 5214
 

Schools (with some justification) will point out that they are often competing with behavioural ‘values’ instilled by peer groups such as parents, siblings or friends and evidence suggests that where dysfunctional circumstances exist, cases are typically more prevalent.  

However the question remains - are schools really doing enough to challenge these behaviours, influence them and affect them in a positive way?

It certainly isn’t through lack of trying. PSHE is on every local authority curriculum in the country and the introduction of healthy schools a few years ago has certainly raised awareness of key issues such as healthy eating, obesity and substance misuse within schools.

However while intentions remain strong and the messages may be right in most cases, my belief is that schools are still in the dark ages in terms of how they are communicating with young people.

The truth is that young people are bombarded with messages from friends, family, businesses, printed and digital media on levels far greater than we have previously experienced.

How many young people want to take a drugs awareness booklet home with them to discuss with parents when there are 80 TV channels available to watch when they get home, 200 friends on facebook to catch up with and new music and applications on download on their I-phones?

The answer is they usually don’t and this critical information simply tends wash over them.

Unlike other competing message providers however, schools do have a significant advantage in that they have a captive audience for 1 or 2 hours at a time. This is a teacher’s time to shine; their time to create a lasting impression on the 20-30 young people sat before them.

So what can schools do to overcome the rising communications bar?

Ironically the very medium often blamed for the scourge of issues such as bullying, drinking and anti-social behaviour may now be the key to their ability to change for the better.

Mobile phones have been banned in schools since their popularity began 10 years ago on the basis that they are noisy, distracting and downright disrespectful.

However developments in sophisticated applications within Smart Phones (I-Phones/Blackberry) presents a new opportunity for schools to better communicate with young people and engage with them in ways previously unimaginable.

Of course there is a balance to be struck and there will always be a place for certain traditional methods (and against this new media Internet is now classed as ‘traditional) but if we are to gain the respect of young people isn’t it about time we started to communicate on their level?

I’m sure there are an incredulous proportion among you screaming back with concerns about misuse, data protection and infringement of privacy rights.

But we’re not talking about text messaging here. We’re talking about proximity marketing or Bluetooth, the start of mobile media revolution within schools.

Instead of a one hour lecture on the danger of drugs young people can be invited to test their knowledge using a fun and interactive game situation which they can play whenever and wherever they want – completely free of charge for both sender and receiver.

In summary, Bluetooth presents content to young people in a way that intrigues them, in a way that invites them to explore issues for themselves and in a way that speaks to them on their terms and with their permission only.

Unlike the internet a mobile phone always stays with the individual, responses can be measured and educational games can be passed on to friends, virally spreading the message even further.

Furthermore campaigns happen at a fraction of the price of printed resources and its better for the environment.

Recently successful pilots within forward thinking schools, who now allow controlled dispensation of usage, suggests a mobile digital revolution is on the way within schools.

It is far from mainstream but attitudes are changing and the results are astounding.

So in the next 2-3 years schools may well be faced with one critical choice – stand still or get mobile.

To find out more about how Gencia is successfully working with local authorities and schools using Bluetooth, email gary@gencia.co.uk or contact 0)161 214 5214

Coventry City Council has approached Gencia Media Ltd to implement a mobile marketing campaign aimed at commuters in the city.

The campaign, which raises awareness of unsecured break-ins to local businesses, is taking place at the city’s railway station. Gencia are using their Bloowire Bluetooth transmitters to broadcast the message to commuters’ mobile phones.

To encourage commuters to actively switch on their Bluetooth and receive the content, Gencia created a guerrilla marketing campaign using the station itself to raise awareness.

 Life-size images of wallets, keys, credit cards and mobile phones have been used as floor stickers as well as bright yellow barrier tape on most of the vertical surfaces throughout the station.

“Using Bluetooth is a fantastic way to deliver a serious message to the business community of Coventry and unlike other marketing methods, the Bloowire units record all the data from each campaign. This will allow Coventry City Council to analyse the success of this campaign and see exactly how many people have been contacted and received the content.”

Said Tony Braide, Managing Director, Gencia Media Limited.

The campaign is set to run for a two week period from Tuesday 14^th July.

The arrival of new mobile devices featuring Bluetooth 3.0 opens up a new world of possibilities for proximity marketing. Bluetooth 3.0 will make use of Ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless technology to achieve transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps.

Reportedly, the spec will feature "dramatically increased speeds, allowing for the transfer of large video files, music collections and photo libraries wirelessly within seconds."

Rather than sending a ringtone to a mobile device we can start to think about delivering a whole album or a music video. Mobile apps with complex functionality also fall within the realms of possibility and we appear to be looking at an exciting future of rich media and interactive content.

However, we can expect to wait 9 to 12 months before Bluetooth 3.0 equiped devices become available so we'll have to continue compressing our messaging into clever but small campaigns for the time being.

Most Bluetooth marketing campaigns completely miss the mark. We've spoken to a number of people who have had a single bad experience with Bluetooth and completely written it off. Quite often this is because they've bought the Bluetooth transmitter hardware from a 'box shifter' who has then left them to try and formulate and deliver the campaigns on their own. Usually there are fundamental mistakes made in the execution of the campaign that render it completely ineffectual.

There are a number of reasons why a Bluetooth campaign performs badly:

• People are expected to know you're broadcasting - they don't!
• People are expected to have their Bluetooth turned on - they don't!
• People are expected to be interested in your message - they're not!

Quite simply, to be effective a Bluetooth campaign has to follow the same fundamentals as any other form of communication and a well executive campaign can be extraordinarily effective at delivering a powerful message. It seems so obvious but we've had a great deal of success by following these three simple rules:

• We tell people we are broadcasting
• We tell people to turn on their Bluetooth
• Most importantly, we send them content which is engaging and that they actually want to receive.

Like all really great marketing there needs to be something in it both for the sender and for the recipient. These three fundamentals are the key to an effective campaign and excellent delivery rates.

If you'd like to know more about how to think, create and deliver a great campaign call us on: 0161 2145214

If you're as old as me you can probably only just remember what it was like to be a teenager. In fact I'm getting to the point in my life now when I can only just about remember what I did yesterday!

One thing I can remember about being young however is that nobody could tell me what to do. Just like every other teenager I had to go my own way and make all my own mistakes. We all tend to be particularly headstrong when we are young. We rebel against any kind of authority and if you try and tell us what to do, particularly if it's for our own good, we're very likely to purposefully go out of our way to do the exact opposite. We absolutely cannot be preached to, nomatter how good the intentions of the preacher.

That's why, when we are helping local authorities implement home office directives to promote safety in the community,  we do things differently.

Our aim is to provide services that have a verifiably positive effect on the thoughts and actions of young people.

We are using the mobile phone to communicate with young people in a medium that they are familiar and comfortable with. We don't preach, we engage and because we are working on some varied, worthwhile and interesting projects we are loving the work too.

If you're interested in finding out how we've been engaging with young people to help promote safety in the community, get in touch and we'd be happy to share our recent case studies with you.

Call us on: 0161 2145214