MediaPost has an article on Beacons and billboards.  Vector Media has installed Gimbal beacons in 500 double decker buses which in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago.  The beacons gather info from beacon-enabled smartphones.  When a consumer gets within 50 feet of a bus they get a text message relating to the ad on the side of the bus.  Consumers passing this Sprint Ad, for instance, would get a text on why they should switch to Sprint.  Vector is saying that it gets an extremely high response rate on beacon ads.

Insider’s take: Insider is skeptical about beacon ads.

• A 50 foot beacon limit will prevent beacon ads from being served to most freeway commuters.
• You don’t want drivers interacting with Beacon ads.

• Beacon ads may cause a consumer backlash.  Insider thinks an unsolicited ad via text is spam just like an unsolicited email.

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