Talk of the Town: Future's not so bright for mobile marketing

It seems the old-fashioned ways of communicating the initiative's message worked well, with 2,000 households receiving letters and more than 10,000 schoolchildren in the area receiving information.

And 26 calls were made to Crimestoppers – the anonymous hotline – the most ever for a single operation in Scotland.

But when it comes to embracing new technology, the multi-agency operation which included Lothian and Borders Police and NHS Lothian, there is still some work to be done.

6,000 Bluetooth messages were sent to mobile phones in the area in a bid to capture the attention of youngsters.

However, 3,621 of these messages were rejected by the would-be recipient, sending it catapulting back into cyber space, never to be seen again.

Back to carrier pigeon next time, perhaps.

City women want strong foundations in relationships

ANY marketing man worth his salt knows the old maxim that sex sells.

But you have to question the research of one leading battery company which concluded that the ideal partner of many Edinburgh women is none other than, er, Bob the Builder.

Keen to promote its range of torches, Duracell said it wanted to "shine a light" on what women want.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, they concluded that most women in the Capital would prefer to live with a tradesman than a doctor or a lawyer, and Bob the Builder won out over the likes of James Bond and some bloke off of Desperate Housewives.

Election excitement

IF YOU thought the pre-election political sparring between Labour and the Conservatives was dull, then take a look at the protest graffiti.

Two posters of Tory leader David Cameron have been spotted vandalised in recent days, at Bankhead in Sighthill and Slateford Road. The single word "Nazi" and the slogan "No London rule for Scotland" could hardly be described as witty or inspiring. As the Cameron poster says We can't go on like this . . . the risk is we'll all die of boredom.