LeafLess Advertising

Yes, as you guessed, LeafLess is a pun on the word leaflet. Why? Because LeafLess advertising is a new green way of advertising. Transmitting adverts and information directly to the world’s 4 Billion cell phone users, will help save millions of tons of paper waste (trees) as it becomes more commonplace.

Many people are put off by technology, don’t understand it…don’t want it! So introducing new ideas, even revolutionary ones , which are technology based can sometimes be a hard sell. You can’t escape the irony when the technology in question, will no doubt have it’s greatest forum in advertising. Therefore you have my promise there will be no more mention of Bluetooth transmitters or WiFi connections, from here on it everything is in plain English.

In it’s simplest terms LeafLess advertising is a simple and cheap way to send any information you want to share to a nearby cell phone user. Here’s an example:

I own a store on the corner of a busy pedestrian area. I want to catch peoples attention but without getting my sister to run around outside in a chicken costume, handing out leaflets – leaflets which ultimately end up on the floor.

Leafless advertising works like this. I get delivery of a Media Box, I plug it in and connect it to my internet connection. Then and this is the technical bit…I switch it on  I now have a radio station, which will send my ‘digital flyers’ to anyone within a 200 foot radius. Like any other handout, a designer creates your handout on a computer, but that’s here the similarity ends.

The designer at Guvnor Media, the company behind LeafLess Advertising, sends the flyer directly to the Media Box and it starts to transmit immediately – directly to cell phone users. It really is that simple and there are a number of important things to remember.

1. No waiting – Delivery is instant via the Internet.
2. No printing or delivery costs – All of your flyers are digital
3. No waste – Cell phone users choose if they want your flyer
4. No re-printing costs – You cannot run out of flyers. The cost for 1 flyer is the same as 10,000
5. No transmission costs – The flyer is sent to cell phones via Bluetooth, which is free for you to send and receive
6. No additional staff costs (or chicken costume hire costs)

Now imagine my store is a restaurant. The Media Box lets me send different flyers at different times of the day, lets say one for a lunchtime special and another for dinner specials. And if I have a different menu of weekends, I can send different flyers for them as well.

So…What’s the catch? Well, there isn’t one. Although you may be hearing about his for the first time LeafLess advertising is a fantastic and increasingly popular way to connect with people via there most precious possession – their cell phone.

If you have any questions email us or see us at The Jules Verne Nature Day.

LeafLess Advertising by Guvnor Media –  Blue is the new Green.

In 2006 when Bluetooth transmissions were still relatively new Mark A. Todd was working with Serious Fun Events in the UK. Mark produced a short series of videos to teach people how to play the very popular game of Texas Hold’em poker. These videos were compressed to *.3gp and transmitted to cell phones as a marketing tool.

The transmission time was lengthy but people were patient because they wanted to keep a copy of the video and pass it onto other players.  Now transmission times are much quicker with the WiFi connection on the Media Box. Plus with the introduction of Bluetooth V3 the transmission speed of data sent by Bluetooth is 8 X faster.

Mobile video adverts are now a reality and Guvnor Media is the company to make them.  If you imagine it Guvnor Media can make it happen. And that is no bluff!

As a fan myself, I  approached them to see if I could persuade them to try out my newly acquired Bluetooth transmitter kits.  With a candor not usual in larger companies, the manager of the store agreed to test out the benefits of PDD in store during the January sale.

The idea for the case study was to alert people, with Bluetooth enable phones, about the fantastic ‘weekend only’ offers at the store.

The case study ran for four days and during that time only 3% of the stores 50,000 weekly visitors used the system.

It was not a surprise to note there was a  marked difference between ‘selling the service’ with signage and operating covertly (shotgun advertising).

Nevertheless the case study proved people were interested to accept information in this way and some valuable insight was gained into Americans shoppers at the store.

As the IKEA management were pleased and encouraged by the results of the first case study we moved onto PHASE 2.

Smartphones

As you may or may not know many cell phones have some restrictions on their Bluetooth protocols, meaning they cannot accept files via Bluetooth (mostly older Verizon phones). iPhone do not accept incoming Bluetooth and Blackberry’s also make it very difficult. But many smartphones do accept WiFi connections as do iPhone, iPod’s (touch) and the new Verison ‘Droid’ based phones. So we sourced a new breed of Media Box which transmits both Bluetooth and WiFi.

The new Media Box also creates a WiFi hotspot so users can access the Internet direct from their cell phone.

The results? Well in the one day case study, the amount of downloaded information increased from the first case study, we more than doubled the number of people using the service and we saw increased hourly hits on the new Media Box. On the other side of the coin 50% of people encountering the service declined to receive information. Without any doubt this figure will fall once people learn that the information coming to them is to their advantage.

So the evidence is in and the conclusion:- Once people encounter PDD they are happy to try it out.  We’ll be working on more installations and we’ll outline it here.  If you have any questions then the Guvnor will answer them.

Firstly, you may not know what Proximity Data Delivery is, but I think you soon will. Why?…because like most people you have a cell phone; an iPod; a media player or one of the new mini computers.  All of these devices have Bluetooth or WiFi connections, which means they can communicate via radio waves with other devices to send and receive information.

Last year there was a big change, which made people a little more aware of Bluetooth.  On July 1st it became illegal to drive around holding your cell phone – people still do it though !  But for the rest of us that don’t have dozens of tiny dents in our car – we slip on our sexy flashing Bluetooth headset or link directly to our in-car Bluetooth system. We drive, we make calls, we look at the road ahead.

Well, looking at the road ahead, Guvnor Films and its new sister company Guvnor Media, have begun working with some of America’s corporate companies to create informative, useful and engaging media to transmit to all those American’s with their Bluetooth switched on.  There is now a growing market of people (by 2010 over 95% of mobile phones will be Bluetooth enabled) who can benefit from free information sent directly to their cell phone or mobile device.  Proximity Data Delivery is the effective way of delivering that information in an environmentally friendly way.

Imagine you walk into a store and want to buy materials to fix your roof, but you’re not sure what type of materials you need.

1. You could walk around aimlessly
2. You could play hide and seek – looking for an assistant
3. You could walk to a PDD terminal and download information direct to your phone, PDA etc giving you everything you need to knowin digital form.

Now I know many stores have handouts for this sort of thing.  I can never find them…but I do see lots discarded handout on the floor outside.  Here’s the PDD big bonus, when you get to the car park you can keep the information, send it onto someone else or delete it.  There is no waste, no cleaning up wet paper from the car park – totally green. How often is saving the planet this easy?

Well all this sounds cool but what’s the catch?  Well there is no catch, it’s just there is no one making an effort to create the media and get to grips with the technology.  But expect that to change, very soon!

Guvnor Media has already started the ball rolling and you should be seeing the fruits of that work before Christmas this year.

So the next time you walk into a store and your cell phone bleeps…..Take a moment to check.  It may be some information that will help you find what you need quicker, or help save you a chunk of money.

Proximity Data Delivery – you heard it here first.

catchthewaves@guvnormedia.com

www.guvnormedia.com

I’ve waited to join the world of blogging until I felt I actually had something to say, because now more than ever words are cheap.

Living here in LA I’m quick to realise that this is a great place for people of action to make a difference.  In other words write a mantra, put it on your metaphorical wall and stick to it.  Actions not words are needed right now and that’s where I come in.

So ironically I will be writing about what our company achiveves and hopefully you’ll be reading and taking my cue.  If not you can live vicariously through our success.

The Guvnor

www.guvnormedia.com