Masterclass: Mobile GPS

Despite the hype, however, LBS is still in the early stages of its evolution, as brands try to understand how best to use it. But campaigns are breaking, and some neat ideas are being advanced to harness the potential of LBS. Google recently weighed in with its location-sharing app, Google Latitude, while US firm iST (Intelligent Spatial Technologies) has developed an app called iPointer that will enable a mobile user to retrieve detailed information about a building simply by pointing their phone at it.

IST's plan is to deploy the app with network operators as a paid local search service. So if you aimed your iPointer-equipped phone at two restaurants, it would return basic information for the one that had not paid to advertise, and much richer information for the one that had.

Could this be the shape of things to come?

Dan Daly, brand manager, Virgin Media TV

For Daly, the appeal of LBS lies in its ability to deliver the right ad at the right time, in the right place, in an age when media fragmentation is making it more of a challenge for brands to get across their messages.

"LBS offers marketers the opportunity to create tailored messages to relevant audiences in highly targeted environments," says Daly. "It's perfect for all levels of marketing, from local, tactical spends through to national broadcast offerings."

Daly sees LBS as great for building brand advocacy, particularly among the difficult-to-reach youth audience. "The mobile channel offers a highly personal form of communication with the audience, while delivering the message at an appropriate time and in a relevant tone," he says. "The platform's ability to deliver highly targeted audiences means minimal waste."

To brands considering using LBS, Daly offers the following advice: "Know your audience's mindset. Understand the importance of tailored, relevant messaging; blanket messaging simply doesn't work."

As for Virgin Media TV, Daly says the success the brand enjoyed with its first foray into LBS has encouraged it to come back for more. "It worked extremely well, both from a brand awareness and engagement point of view. Our main objective was to raise the profile of our brand among an audience of tech-savvy, early adopters, and it was an exciting promotion for the brand and the audience, with a high element of risk involved. We plan to continue using LBS, and are working on plans across our portfolio."

Alistair Crane, head of media, NAVTEQ Europe BV

"We currently allow brands to advertise by displaying their logo on a map to show the location of their outlets. In the third quarter of 2009, we will be introducing an interactive messaging capability that will enable brands to target consumers with offers as they approach an outlet," says Crane. "It's taking the type of promotion that happens in- store and moving it out into the car park and beyond."

For Crane, the main benefit of an LBS campaign is its ability to boost sales. While transactional websites use cookies to target returning visitors based on their previous behaviour, and social networking sites are big on profiling data, with LBS it is all about the here and now.

Crane explains: "LBS is not as heavily profiled as social media, but if there's a golf store two minutes from where you are now and it is having a half-price sale today - and we have some information on you that says you like sport - then you are a very good person to target with a location-based ad promoting that sale, and there's a good chance that you will check it out."

For LBS to work, says Crane, permission is vital. He notes also that, as with anything new, there are, as yet, no rules for LBS.

"Don't just look at what worked last time and do it again," he says. "You have to think about who you're targeting and make it relevant." And he ends with a rallying call for brands looking at LBS to take the plunge.

"The key point is that brands and agencies need to involve companies offering new concepts in briefs and introduce clients to LBS and other ideas sooner rather than later," he says. "That's how to move the industry forward, not by falling back on the same old solutions."

Scott Seaborn, head of mobile, Ogilvy Group UK

Seaborn believes that LBS offers tremendous potential for brands to engage, acquire and activate consumers, and as a way of helping consumers find useful services. ING, he notes, has a mobile app that helps consumers find their nearest cashpoint.

To use LBS effectively, however, Seaborn says that brands need to work under the three laws of permission, privacy and preference.

"Permission means that consumers must be opted in to whatever activity is being undertaken," he argues. "Where LBS is concerned, permission is particularly important. If you look at proximity (Bluetooth) marketing, the best way to do it would be to follow the Mobile Marketing Association's guidelines and get people to opt in to receive the message."

When the World Rally Championship came to Wales last December, Ogilvy created a mobile app for BP that attendees could download for free. "We had promotional girls wearing Bluetooth necklaces walking among the crowds asking if they wanted the download," says Seaborn. "If they said yes, it was sent to their phone there and then. This was extremely effective and was less intrusive than just sending out content from a Bluetooth transmitter."

Privacy, says Seaborn, means that consumers should be told what data, if any, the brand will be collecting about them, and how it intends to use it, while preference involves engaging with consumers to make campaigns more relevant to them.

"Preference is important because it brings in context," says Seaborn. "Six years ago, everyone was raving about the potential to run a Starbucks mobile campaign offering consumers a coupon for a free coffee as they walked past, but actually, if it's a blazing hot day, a coffee is probably the last thing people would want. You can do great things with LBS, but if the context is wrong, your campaign will be scuppered."

Casebook: How Virgin Media tackled location-based advertising

Virgin Media Television (VMtv) recently commissioned 20:20 London to devise a campaign for the launch of its showpiece TV series, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

To appeal to the core 16 to 39 year-old, mostly male, target audience, 20:20 worked with mobile agency Incentivated to devise an innovative, location-based mobile campaign. Dubbed 'Terminate-a-mate', the campaign was promoted via online banners and overlays.

By entering a friend's phone number into a dedicated web or mobile site, fans of the show could have a text sent warning them that 'the Terminator was close by'. If the recipient agreed for their location to be shared, they were sent a link to a made-for-mobile video. Using LBS (location-based advertising services) to identify the user's location by reference to the nearest mobile cellsite, the recipient's location was highlighted in the video via an integrated map. Users could also personalise the video and forward it on.

In total, 9,186 visitors to the Terminate-a-mate website clicked on the 'Terminate now' button to send the text to a friend's phone; 2,865 of these recipients passed the message on themselves. The video was viewed 10,971 times.

The buzz created by the campaign extended to blogs and red-top press coverage, while the campaign itself helped to deliver Virgin 1's biggest-ever audience, which was 400 per cent higher than the channel's previous highest-rated show.

"It takes brave brands like Virgin to push the boundaries and exploit mobile's immense potential to extend campaign reach by going viral," says Incentivated commercial director Robert Thurner.

He adds: "Personalised videos and mobile maps reinforced the Terminator message, and succeeded in capturing viewers' imagination."