Gimbal’s proximity beacons are small transmitters that use Bluetooth Low-Energy technology to send encrypted data to mobile devices. The beacons have become popular marketing and messaging tools for retailers (Apple Stores, Gamestop, American Apparel), sports teams and venues (the Cleveland Browns, the Miami Dolphins, Madison Square Garden, the Staples Center), and events and conferences (the U.S. Open, SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival).
When a shopper or event attendee comes in range, the beacon sends a message to a Gimbal-enabled mobile app on the person’s mobile phone. The app platform sends relevant information to the device, based on what the user has opted in for and the user’s exact location. The Miami Dolphins use Gimbal to message fans at Sun Life Stadium about where they can find shorter concession lines. The Chicago Transit Authority and advertising firm Titan have tested Gimbal beacon technology at several stations to determine whether advertising furthers engagement with transit riders.
In November, Retailigence, an online-to-online marketing platform, announced a strategic partnership with Gimbal to provide product and shopper data to retailers looking to fine-tune their marketing efforts. Presumably, retail designers could use such data to improve wayfinding in stores and even to create physical ways to influence shoppers’ traffic patterns within the store.
Not everyone’s ecstatic over the new technology. After Buzzfeed disclosed that Titan had planted 500 beacons in phone booths to push advertising, New York City officials had them removed.
Read about more innovations from BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report.
Related Stories
| Jun 16, 2014
6 U.S. cities at the forefront of innovation districts
A new Brookings Institution study records the emergence of “competitive places that are also cool spaces.”
| Jun 13, 2014
Gilbane Building Company names new president and chief operating officer
Gilbane Building company hires new president and COO
| Jun 13, 2014
First look: BIG's spiraling museum for watchmaker Audemars Piguet
The glass-and-steel pavilion's spiral structure acts as a storytelling device for the company's history.
| Jun 13, 2014
Grocery stores, restaurants make neighborhoods most desirable [infographic]
John Burns Real Estate Consulting ranks the top 25 housing amenities by generation, based on feedback from more than 20,000 home shoppers.
| Jun 12, 2014
Zaha Hadid's 'gravity defying' Issam Fares Institute opens in Beirut
The design builds upon the institute’s mission as a catalyst and connector between AUB, researchers and the global community.
| Jun 12, 2014
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects' design selected for new UCSC facility
The planned site is a natural landscape among redwood trees with views over Monterey Bay, a site that the architects have called “one of the most beautiful they have ever worked on.”
| Jun 12, 2014
Austrian university develops 'inflatable' concrete dome method
Constructing a concrete dome is a costly process, but this may change soon. A team from the Vienna University of Technology has developed a method that allows concrete domes to form with the use of air and steel cables instead of expensive, timber supporting structures.
| Jun 11, 2014
David Adjaye’s housing project in Sugar Hill nears completion
A new development in New York's historic Sugar Hill district nears completion, designed to be an icon for the neighborhood's rich history.
| Jun 11, 2014
Bill signing signals approval to revitalize New Orleans’ convention center corridor
A plan to revitalize New Orleans' Convention Center moves forward after Louisiana governor signs bill.
| Jun 11, 2014
5 ways Herman Miller's new office concept rethinks the traditional workplace
Today's technologies allow us to work anywhere. So why come to an office at all? Herman Miller has an answer.
