Over the past couple of years, there have been a number of companies who thought that delivering targeted information to mobile users based on their current location could be a very lucrative business, e.g. companies such FourSquare or Yelp.

Now Facebook has also entered this business with a new service called Place Tips.

The service will initially be based on bluetooth “Beacons” and is being trialled in New York. more»

Every year at this time, we see many lists predicting the hot trends for the coming 12 months.

This year one of the best and most thoughtful lists we’ve seen comes from Golden Gekko, a leading mobile solutions provider in North America and Europe.

Their forecast identifies 10 key trends that will influence and shape the mobile industry in 2015. Our industry continues to evolve at rapid pace, and this list provides a lot of good “food for thought”.
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This summer in Brazil, Nivea wanted to expand their engagement, particularly with mothers, and particularly related to sun protection products.

The result is one of the most interesting campaigns we’ve seen for quite some time, combining a branded mobile app with a disposable location tag to provide parents with peace of mind at the beach this summer.
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American Film distributor, Lionsgate, has announced that as part of their marketing efforts for upcoming film Divergent they will run an advanced mobile campaign to target customers in shopping malls.

Lionsgate has frequently been a leading proponent of using mobile to market their films.
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FIFA 14 is the latest version of the EA SPORTS FIFA series, one of the most popular video game series ever.

This year, EA Sports decided to run a very targeted mobile campaign around the launch of FIFA 14, trying to reach true football fans, and at the moment when they are most in the mood to think about football. more»

Winter is the flu season around the world, and many companies launch special advertising campaigns at this time of year for flu related products.

When Vicks – a leading provider of cold & flu medicine – rolled out a mobile marketing campaign for their Behind Ear Thermometer they wanted to target only consumers in locations where the flu was common.

Sound impossible? Read how a special free service from Google helped them accomplish this objective! more»

Mobile coupons have long been considered one of the most powerful potential uses for the mobile device. However, consumer uptake has often been slow and coupons have essentially remained a niche market

Now a new survey indicates that growth may be picking up, and sheds light on what factors are still holding consumers back.
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Sometimes we come across an idea that is so interesting or innovative, we have to report on it even if it is not yet clear what the uptake will be.

One such idea is the “QR code service from Space“, recently launched by Phillips & Company.

Check it out. more»

Over the past several years, search advertising has become a mainstream component of many companies’ advertising plans. But search advertising is evolving, with new capabilities such as local search and mobile search coming on strong.

A recent survey conducted by Econsultancy in partnership with agency Guava provides some details on this important communication channel. more»

Mapping provider Navteq has released the results of its first hyper local ad campaigns, which saw engagement levels of between 4.49% and 11% on its LocationPoint advertising network.
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Google is clearly the dominant player in online search, and although they already have a strong position in mobile search, it remains unclear if they will be able to replicate their level of domination in the long term in the mobile market.

A recent report published by Pyramid Research examines how differences in consumers’ usage of mobile devices as well as emerging new technologies may well open the door for new competitors to develop a strong presence in the mobile search market. more»

Facebook has announced that their Deals service is to be launched in the UK and across Europe.

The service, which was launched last November in the US, allows users of Facebook’s mobile services to check in to stores and get discounts from selected outlets.
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Facebook has taken another step towards promoting mobile marketing with the launch of Facebook Deals.

This new service allows brands and merchants to offer money off vouchers and coupons to users of Facebook Places who check in to merchants’ locations. more»

Starbucks and UK mobile operator O2 have announced the start of a 6-month trial of O2’s new location-based mobile advertising platform.

Global cosmetics company L’Oreal will also participate in the trial.

The pilot will allow the two brands to send marketing messages to opted-in O2 subscribers when they enter certain selected locations. more»

For many years, the mobile industry has been anxiously anticipating the success of Location Based Services. And the world of mobile advertising has looked forward to highly relevant location-based advertising becoming an important new revenue stream.

But until recently, the promise of LBS always seemed to be just one or two more years in the future.

Now social network giant Facebook has launched their mobile location service “Places”, and the future of LBS might never be the same. more»

Last week an interesting article was published in Media Post suggesting that LBS was set to increase its share of local advertising spend substantially over the next few years.

The article, contributed by Dave Morgan, CEO of New York Based TV marketing agency Simulmedia and previously founder of TACODA, suggests that LBS will take between 20% and 25% of the ad revenue of local media by 2014! more»

Bluetooth-based proximity marketing has occasionally been criticized as being intrusive, as Bluetooth “invitations” are sometimes sent without a consumers request.

However, recent figures from proximity marketing firm FuturLink demonstrate that Bluetooth marketing can lead to very successful customer interaction. more»

For a company whose roots are firmly in the fixed internet, Google has been consistently aggressive at supporting mobile based services.

In particular, they have spent a lot of energy working to make mobile search as relevant as possible to a consumer’s mobile needs.

In line with this, Google just has released some very interesting location-based extensions to mobile AdWords. more»

September 27-29, 2010
Dallas Texas, USA

The conference is designed especially for industry leaders responsible for developing, managing, marketing, and selling mobile-related services and solutions. more»

If people still have doubts about the public acceptance of mobile advertising, a recent market study from JiWire reports that that mobile users overwhelmingly are willing to accept mobile advertising in return for having free applications.

Understanding the trends, consumption patterns, and preferences is key to making good use of a communications medium, and this report looks at not only acceptance of advertising, but also application usage, acceptance of location-based ads, and iPad purchase intent. more»

While SMS advertising may not have the “wow” factor of Augmented Reality, Location Based advertising, or a mobile app, it is worth remembering that sometimes – depending on the brand objectives – SMS advertising might prove to be the alternative that produces the best ROI! more»

AdMob has been very much in the news over the past few weeks – being acquired by Google, testing new geo-targeted ads, releasing a new SDK to support the iPad, and updating their AdWhirl optimizer.

Taking a look at all these latest activities gives some idea of where this mobile advertising pioneer company is heading. more»

Navteq has released the findings on two major location-based advertising trials that showed very positive results.

The trials took place in the US and Europe, and give good insight into the consumer reaction to this emerging new mobile advertising media. more»

GyPSii, the Netherlands based location enabled social media platform, has announced the launch of a new application that integrates its location based technology with Twitter.

The application, named Tweetsii, enables users to geo-tag their Twitter tweets, add pictures/videos and recommend places to their contacts.
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Placecast has launched a new location-based mobile marketing service, called ShopAlerts, that aims to enable retail outlets to drive potential customers into their stores. The service uses SMS, which means that it will be available to all phone users, and not only Smartphone owners. more»

Continuing their focus on becoming a leading mobile advertising company, Google has announced a new mobile search feature that let’s consumers use their current location as part of the search query.

For consumers with iPhones and Android phones, Google can now add a location based filter to all mobile search results, helping consumers find more relevant search results. more»

It seems as though the Nike brand has always been about more than just sportswear and sneakers. People are passionate about the brand, and with products like the Nike Plus, Nike has become a regular part of their customers’ lives.

Now Nike is taking this one step further with their mobile app campaign Nike True City. This is a location-based city guide – with a social media component – for six of Europe’s most interesting cities, all done with Nike style and flair. Check it out. more»

Location-based applications are becoming more popular as better positioning systems are built into more mobile devices. This report analyzes the location-based apps from the Apple App Store, RIM App World, and Android Market. more»

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Sometimes a new technology will suddenly hit a magic “tipping point”, and all of a sudden you read about it everywhere – news sites, blogs, conferences, your friends, etc.

These days, it looks as though Mobile Augmented Reality has reached that tipping point and has now become one of the hottest topics in the mobile arena.

It’s already clear that mobile AR will have many applications in the area of mobile advertising and marketing, so we thought it would be a good time to take a more detailed look at the current state of this exciting new technology and the ways it can be used to create consumer engagement.
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For those of you lucky enough to have attended a Grand Slam tennis championship at Wimbledon, you’ll know that it is a wonderful, though sometimes confusing experience.

This year IBM decided to take advantage of the newest mobile technologies to make the event even better. See how they combined location awareness, augmented reality, and twitter feeds to provide a unique branded utility to help fans better enjoy the event.
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Navteq, the Nokia subsidiary that provides premium-quality digital map data and content, announced that it has acquired US-based Acuity Mobile.

Navteq says that the acquisition is to strengthen its offering in the rapidly growing area of location based advertising.
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Adidas knows a lot about athletes – not only professionals but also serious amateurs such as weekend marathoners.

And one thing Adidas has found through research is that marathon runners don’t achieve their goals alone – it requires a lot of support from family and friends to make their personal dreams a reality.

To promote their their sponsorship of the 2009 London Marathon, Adidas decided to use mobile technology to help the runners and spectators stay connected during the race, by providing the Mobile Marathon Tracker, and Personalized Runner Messages. more»

NAVTEQ, the global provider of digital map and location data, has confirmed that McDonalds Europe will be taking advantage of Navteq’s Direct Access program to connect with their customers by including their location information on Navteq maps. more»

FirstPartner, a UK based research agency has released a very interesting “map” of the Location Based Services industry.

The map provides a overview of the market for LBS solutions, as well as laying out the major players in the LBS ecosystem. more»

22 to 23 September, 2009
San Jose, California

MetaPlaces is a new series of events bringing together LBS enablers to discuss how to monetize location data and services. more»

When you receive an online or mobile advertisement that seems just too precisely tailored to your individual interests, does it ever make you feel a bit strange and wonder what else is happening with your personal information?

If this sounds familiar, then Yahoo may have the solution for you, as they announce an upgrade to their mobile service which gives consumers greater control over the use of their personal information. more»

Network equipment vendor Alcatel-Lucent has teamed up with location based advertising firm 1020 Placecast to bring a new, location-based advertising service to brands and mobile operators.

The service will deliver targeted SMS and MMS ads to opt-in subscribers when they enter pre-defined location zones. more»

To great fanfare, Apple recently released details about their new mobile operating system – iPhone 3.0 – and the newest handset, the iPhone 3G S.

New features such as in-application purchasing, push notification, access to location based information and a built-in compass mean that this new combination can provide an even more powerful means for brands to communicate with consumers.

Luke Janssen, CEO of mobile agency TigerSpike, has reviewed the new iPhone from the perspective of mobile marketing – read the review to get a good understanding of the implications of this major announcement. more»

Vodafone announced that it has completed the rollout of mobile advertising services to 18 countries in the past 18 months.

Citing strong revenue growth, Vodafone also announced they would continue expanding both the portfolio of mobile advertising services and their reach. more»

Vodafone has announced an aggressive plan to stimulate a new generation of mobile internet applications by providing internet service developers with a single point of access to Vodafone’s global customer base of 289 million subscribers.

Vodafone also announced plans to make available a series of network API’s which will provide controlled access to their billing system as well as customer location information.
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During MWC in Barcelona, we met with a lot of knowledgeable people from across the mobile marketing value chain. Although everyone was clearly uneasy about the impact of the current global economy, we found a strong, underlying optimism about mobile advertising and marketing.

In order to give you better insight into their thinking, we made a series of short, one minute interviews with some of these experts: publishers, agencies, developers, technology companies, venture capitalists.

We’ve also put together a quick round up of some of the top trends we saw at the show. more»

Last year, when UK television station Virgin1 launched the new action series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, they wanted to do something special to create excitement and buzz around the launch episode.

In the TV series a Terminator can locate its victim no matter where they are. What if that could be done in real life as well? Agencies 20:20 London and Incentivated did just that, putting together a campaign with a great use of mobile location plus video that has won numerous awards in the past months. more»

According to a recent poll by KPMG, media and advertising executives expect more than a quarter of media time and spending to move away from traditional channels. At the same time, they believe that mobile and social media advertising will be gaining momentum. more»

People in London now have a new way to get information while they are out and about. BT and the City of Westminster, in conjunction with io global technologies, have launched BT MyPlace, a service which provides location targeted, sponsored services and advertising through the BT OpenZone network of wifi hotspots. more»

BuzzCity, the rapidly growing international mobile ad network, has introduced the a service that enables brands in India to target their wireless advertising campaigns to customers in separate regions around the country.

Information gained from BuzzCity’s mygamma mobile social network is used to accomplish this targeting. more»

The Direct Marketing Association UK (DMA) has launched a series of a mobile marketing guides intended to help educate direct marketers about all the various commercial options available to them. (available for download) more»

Bluetooth marketing seems to be growing in popularity. Just recently JC Decaux, one of the world’s largest out-of-home advertising companies, announced the roll out of a bluetooth network that will go across Australia. more»

Two recent news stories indicate that location based advertising is becoming more and more of a reality. Skyhook Wireless, Loopt and CBS Mobile have made announcements in the past months. more»

The Wireless Association(R) today unveiled “Best Practices and Guidelines for Location-Based Services (LBS).” With strong support from the nation’s leading carriers and input from LBS providers and industry stakeholders, this voluntary initiative was developed to promote and protect consumer privacy through user notice and consent. (download) more»