A recent report from ABI Research predicted that mobile marketers will spend $1.8 billion on location-based advertising in 2015. Practice director Neil Strother noted that some consumers may be alienated by the “Big Brother” aspect of location-based advertising, but “if you care about getting discounts or being rewarded for shopping,” the value-exchange may be high enough for many consumers.
Location-based ads are enabled by GPS, WiFi and Cell-ID (which enables the location to be determined via mobile phone transmitters). Strother noted that the most successful campaigns use a mix of these technologies. Location-based services aimed at enticing mobile shoppers include Foursquare, Facebook Places and Gowalla.
