In the Australian market there has been rising interest in the potential of location data to enhance OOH executions, according to the marketing technology firm Blis.

Speaking to WARC, Nick Ballard, managing director of Blis in Australia and New Zealand, shared that the company is currently in discussion with “a couple of big brands” around how location data can be used to “really enrich the customer journey”. (For an in-depth report, read WARC’s exclusive interview: OOH finding greater synergies with location data in Australia.)

The OOH industry has been moving steadily towards digitalisation, and the transition has enabled the incorporation of more robust measurement capabilities, evidenced by GroupM’s agreement in July 2019 with digital out-of-home (DOOH) verification platform Veridooh to use its technology across its agencies to drive greater transparency and accountability for clients.

Recent research commissioned by Blis and conducted by WBR Insights illustrates some of the trends at play. The study, which WARC subscribers can read here, interviewed 150 CMOs, heads of marketing and agency directors from travel, retail and consumer goods brands across 11 Asia-Pacific markets.

It found that 55% of marketers are using location data to help measure relevance and attribution, with 67% using it for OOH buys and 63% for TV ads.

Effectively, the new uses of location data aim to help identify the right audiences for the marketing task. “It’s only really now that that people are really thinking about the huge link between the mobile device and OOH sites,” Ballard said. “What’s exciting is that we're at a point where we can join in and say, well, actually, we've got some really interesting information.

“When people think about location, they think about geo-targeting but there is more to it, such as the amount of historical data that can be used, as well as the real time aspects of location.”

Ballard also urged marketers looking to engage to understand the technology better before moving into the space. “It’s easy to mystify something but dig a little bit deeper to understand what the suppliers are saying, and if a location vendor isn’t talking about how they are cleansing their data then they're probably not doing it,” he said.

“Even among experts, what location is can be different. Understand what location means, in the broader picture, and its potential for your brand specifically.”

Sourced from WARC, MediaWeek