Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Mobile Local Ads Are WHERE It’s At
Boston-based company uLocate unveiled what looks to be the next logical step in the location-based marketing puzzle today with the debut of WHERE ads, a “hyper-local ad network” that aims to serve consumers with more geographically and contextually relevant ads than those provided by standard third-party ad networks. uLocate will make WHERE Ads available to other publishing platforms as well.
If you’re not already familiar with the WHERE mobile application, here’s a primer:
WHERE is available on all of the primary smartphone platforms and serves as a gateway to all things local, from news to movie times to traffic, weather and gas prices to reviews about local merchants, restaurants and places of interest. Its content partners include AccuWeather, Citysearch, MovieTickets.com, Superpages.com and YELLOWPAGES.COM. There are even dedicated widgets on the WHERE app home screen that can direct you to the nearest Starbucks and Zipcar locations.
Like Yelp, WHERE recently added a check-in feature to its iPhone app (with the ability to post to Facebook and Twitter). While that might provoke a collective yawn from marketers busy making eyes at foursquare and Gowalla, WHERE Ads should pique their interests.
The way it works is simple: a user conducts a search or checks in at a location, and an offer (such as the 20% off coupon seen in the graphic above) appears at the bottom of the app. Dan Gilmartin, uLocate’s VP of Marketing, mentioned in a conversation yesterday that merchants have varying mechanisms for accepting the offer at the point of sale.
As I concluded in my “Mobile Social Networks: Marketing by Location Shows Potential” report, place has power, and all the more so as mobile devices increasingly become the primary conduits for much of our social communication. The challenge—and payoff—for marketers will come from finding effective ways to tap into mobile users’ locations, connecting places with people and things.
More relevant and better targeted ads, especially those that are sufficiently eye-catching but which do not intrude into users’ mobile experience, are a good place to start.
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I would pose the question; Is this a case of rolling over too easily ? Traditional media owners and Directory publishers still have the opportunity to own this space – and should. For a full view on thoughts on this area see: Real Reasons Why Traditional Media Can Really (Still) Win Big In Mobile Advertising: http://bit.ly/cZZLN3
Location based services can certainly lead to more targeted and more relevant ads, which can be extremely handy (consider getting that coupon for a pizza at a nearby restaurant just as you’re running errands nearby). I think some people will respond to this, but marketers do need to tread carefully and avoid intruding on the mobile experience, as you mentioned. Rather than intruding, it makes sense to “go with the flow” and let people continue with their usual behavior. For example, listing a phone number in an ad allows the customer to do two things: 1. Choose how they want to approach the company as a result of the ad (ie: in person, online or by phone) and 2. Take advantage of being able to make a quick phone call from their mobile device if personal contact is what they’re looking for. For example, if you’re close by that pizza joint, you might want to call in your order while you finish your errands. At the same time, that phone number gives the advertiser credibility. Whether it’s called or not, just having a phone number available makes it more likely that a potential customer nearby will walk through the door. I’ll be interested to see if mobile local marketers just assume the customer will want to interact in person, or if they offer more choices. Also curious to see the ways marketers integrate the ads to avoid putting off potential customers.