CNN Mobile news service in Bluetooth push

Turner Broadcasting is launching a Bluetooth campaign to promote the new CNN Mobile internet news services.

The campaign uses proximity marketing company Hypertag’s “intelligent posters” at London City Airport to offer passers-by the chance to download a link to the new site. The link is then saved to their mobile phone browsers, allowing them to access CNN Mobile in future.

It is hoped the campaign will help to build a mobile audience for CNN by making it easy for people to install the CNN bookmark on their phones. Industry experts say that mobile internet portal operators will increasingly be competing for space on mobile phone owners’ browsers.

CNN Mobile, developed in collaboration with Ericsson to operate on all WAP-enabled mobile and handheld devices, launches in March. The service will be supported by a major marketing campaign, including outdoor, print and online advertising activity.

The service is free of charge and will allow users to access a 14-day news archive with over 2,000 stories, breaking news SMS alerts and category-based news sections covering business, weather, entertainment and lifestyle. It will also offer hourly video news updates and access to CNN’s “In the Field” blogs from the network’s international correspondents.