JCDecaux SA has a bluetooth marketing initiative going in Paris, reports IDGNS. Calling the service Chronos Connect the billboards send people passing one of 54 billboards with a visible Bluetooth device an invitation to download a file—a method that has been refered to as bluespamming. The billboards have four time slots—night, rush hour, working hours or meal times—with different posters and different bluetooth messages. However, the content being sent currently leaves a lot to be desired. Apart from one comedian sending a short video clip of his current show the file sent over Bluetooth is a digital image of the billboard, which I won’t be desired in more than a handful of cases. If they want this to be a success they need to send content people want rather than just a picture of an ad. Albert Asseraf, director of strategy and marketing at Decaux, said the company is in talks with music publishers so advertisers can offer song downloads, and is also looking at movie trailers “perhaps with screening times and directions to the nearest cinema”. This shows a distinct lack of imagination. Aside from obvious stuff like ringtones and wallpapers for celebrity ads (music, movies, TV shows etc) the billboards can easily send movie reviews, locations where the product advertised can be bought, or (most useful of all) a discount coupon for the product. Of course, with some products like the example used in the story—sugar in a hermetically sealed packet—there’s very little that can be sent, and in these cases it’s probably better not to send anything at all.