media

Information Touch-Points

Last week, I spent a couple minutes watching the Global Morning News before heading to work. What made this particular morning interesting was how many different touch-points I used to gather information.

That morning, @weslawong was giving the morning traffic report and briefly mentioned the Millennium Line in Vancouver was experience some delays. I quickly jumped onto Twitter to see if my morning commute would be affected.

I searched on Twitter and found the @translink Twitter account posted a message saying, “SkyTrain Service Alert – Millennium Line is experiencing up to 4 minute delays due to technical issues.”

I would have gone on the Translink website, but past experience told me I’d likely find more timely information on Twitter.

If I was on Facebook at the time, I might have checked the Translink Facebook Page, but Translink doesn’t appear to be using Facebook to inform its customers. Missed opportunity maybe?

With the large variety of communication channels and how different people choose to receive information, it’s important to consider all channels and how they can be used and integrated to serve your customers.

Victor

Tags: global tv, information, media, news, Social Media, touch points, translink, Twitter, welsa wong

Location Based Advertising-Shaking The Ground We Walk On?

Recently, I attended the DigiBC and Wavefront AC session, “Location is Key to Mobile Marketing Success.” The industry is a abuzz about Location Based Advertising and as session moderator Sandy Fleischer (Fjord) observed, “LBA was the only game in town at SXSW.”

For good reason.  After 50 years of brands bombarding us with advertising we may or may not care about, the concept of receiving value rich “smart ads” for products and services located close to where you are standing or embedded in GPS maps is beyond exciting.

It’s also got me wondering.

What if advertisers and platform creators, punch drunk with new LBA business models, spam the heck out of our devices? If I am walking along the street and suddenly 15 text messages soar on to my iPhone, those Ginsu Knife ads might start to look good. Too obvious? Will never happen? I wonder.

Maybe it’s not 15 ads. 2 or 3 may be enough to rankle. I appreciate that certain ads may be triggered by my action, rather than simply by my location. And in theory, I like the idea of receiving information and special offers tailored to my buying habits. Embedding these ads on my GPS device feels okay, perhaps even desirable.  However, my phone is an intensely personal portal for everything from family photos to business and intimate communications. My tolerance is low for anyone who trespasses there.

I’m also curious to see how location based advertising impacts traditional advertising. Look how user generated content has altered the way some brands, large and small, shoot their television spots. Will national TV/radio/print ads with little if any regional customization feel irrelevant? Or will those broad reach ads be the wide end of a sales funnel that ends with high context, individualized LBA? Will media buyers buy differently, slicing and dicing national campaigns in response to the demands of hyper location-centric consumers? Will the production process involve more versioning than ever so brands can target ads to consumers in tighter categories, more clearly defined locations?

What do you think?
Do you think those positioned to benefit from location based advertising revenue will spoil the party by spamming consumers with ads?  Will LBA alter traditional media?

The ground is shifting and no matter where you are standing, it’s exciting to watch!

Best,
Moyra

Tags: ads, advertising, LBA, location based advertising, media