Who’s Afraid of Ubiquitous Promotion? Exploring the Effects of Privacy Concerns

Our business-to-consumer markets are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Due to quickly advanced wireless communication technology, many firms have already adopted mobile-based promotions. For example, DreamWorks Home Entertainment used a viral campaign for the DVD of the film

The Ring 2

that operated on mobile phones and email accounts. Visitors to the campaign site were invited to “scare their friends” by entering their email address and mobile telephone number. The site then sent them an email, inviting them to click on a link and watch the video. McDonald’s offers three different types of mobile coupons on three different platforms, from the basic text-only SMS version to the graphically rich version—that is, fully trackable and redeemable, all without any POS hardware or software requirements (iMedia Connection, 2005a, b).