Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

eturn on marketing investment. Retailers too can have benefit by using the Mobilechannel over a Bluetooth protocol for reaching out to their customers. This study looksat preferences of different retailers in the UAE, for a Bluetooth marketing solution, forgrowing their business. Full factorial conjoint analysis technique has been used forobtaining the insight.Performance Challenge for MarketingIn a recent survey of about 1700 Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) across the globe conducted by IBM, itwas noticed that they were highly underprepared for the complexities of marketing and changes in thebusiness environment. An explosion of data and new age digital channels were some of the biggestchallenges. Most of the CMOs wanted to invest not just in traditional methods of marketing, but also makeuse of new advancements in technology to understand and serve their customers better (―From Stretchedto Strengthened‖, 2011). An organization should plan its strategy, innovation and marketing decisionswhile being conscious of the ―voice of the customer‖, failing which CMOs are bound to experience acontinued decline in the return on their marketing investments (McGovern, Court, Quelch & Crawford,2004).Aaron Shapiro observed, ―As consumers increasingly interact digitally with companies, competitive edgelies in understanding the range and complexity of those touch points‖. One of such mediums is the mobilecommunication technology. It is now being harnessed for advertising in the retail space. A unique featureof this type of advertising is that the range of broadcasting content can be controlled, thus making it anideal channel for Location Based Marketing.Bluetooth MarketingThere are close to 6 billion active mobile subscriptions across the globe, which can be compared withabout 2 billion Internet users. This underpins the vast potential of the mobile channel for advertising andmarketing. Berg Insight estimates the total value of the global mobile marketing and advertising market tobe € 2.61 billion in 2010. It is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 36.9 percent, and the marketis forecasted to be worth € 17.2 billion in 2016 (Andersson).Some of the top reasons for the growth in popularity of Bluetooth marketing are: ‗ideal for footfall- basedretail set- up‘, ‗it is permission based‘, ‗ability to enhance mindshare‘, ‗enables sharing adverts digitally‘,‗ease of recording data‘, real- time management‘, ‗measurement of campaign effectiveness‘, ‗costeffective‘and ‗instantaneous‘ (Romanov, 2011).Pepsi launched one of the biggest Bluetooth campaigns in USA. Viral video clips went live through busshelters in Washington D.C., Denver, Orange County, and pay phone kiosks in Pittsburgh & Philadelphia.The campaign ran for more than two months and was one of the most successful breakthroughs inBluetooth marketing (Ewan, 2007). BBC Radio 1 successfully marketed the world‘s largest ever musicfestival using Bluetooth technology in a creative and effective manner (―BBC Radio1 Case StudyOverview‖).Retail in the UAEThe retail sector in the UAE continues to grow at a rapid pace with a CAGR of about 13%. Healthypopulation growth, increased per capita income, growing standards of living, thriving service sector, andencouraging travel/ tourism sectors are the factors propelling the growth of this industry (―GCC RetailDevelopment Sector Overview‖, 2011). Instability in the middle- east has also contributed to the growth(Sambridge, 2012). Reaching out to the shoppers with the right message at the right time innovatively hasalways been a challenge for the retailers in the UAE. Retailers now have an option to use BluetoothTechnology as a channel for marketing communication.