News

Wednesday, 9 June 2010

Bluetooth Technology

The LNP, in partnership with the Council is currently piloting Bluetooth technology which can be used to advertise events and initiatives in the area by sending messages to mobile phones in the area.

At last month’s jobs and training event at Wolverhampton Swimming and Fitness Centre, in Bentley Bridge, around 25 per cent of the people who turned up said it was because of the Bluetooth message they had received.
 
In the five days prior to the event, the council used four Bluetooth transmitters in busy places in Wednesfield, such as Sainsbury’s and the library, which sent out a message to mobile phones with all of the event’s details.
 
Local Neighbourhood Partnership teams in Wednesfield and Fallings Park, Heathfield Park, Low Hill and East Park supported the three-hour jobs and training event, organised by the Learning Broker team at Wolverhampton Learning Partnership.
 
Training and careers advice was provided by scores of organisations including Wolverhampton Adult Education Service, City of Wolverhampton College, Job Centre Plus and Access 2 Business. Local employers also attended to offer help and support and information was available on apprenticeships at Wolverhampton Homes, Carillion and Network Rail, amongst others.
 
“We were really pleased with the turnout at our event, with around 250 coming along to find out more and get some useful information and advice.
 
“We asked people how they heard about the event and around a quarter said it was through the Bluetooth messaging so it had a really positive impact for us.”
 
The Bluetooth transmitters send messages to phones within a 100 metre radius (approximately) and people receive a text on their phone. The message says who it is from and has a title – people then choose to receive it, and get more details, or ignore it.
 
For this project around 10,700 messages were sent out and approximately 2,300 were accepted. Each mobile phone user only receives the message once.
 
The initiative is being piloted as part of other campaigns and events during the summer, including an initiative to reduce domestic violence during the World Cup.