MediaCom: Mobile Meets Local: H&M and Best Buy Check In - Juan Hernandez - MediaBizBloggers

Most of us in this business likely can39t remember when local stores owned the hearts and minds of consumers For the past couple of decades local consumers have been conquered by global and national brands that call the shots hidden away in corporate office parks away from sight and reach These quotfacelessquot brands have extended their dominance because of the emergence of the Web and broadband in many cases choking local merchants with their deep advertising pockets But will multinational brand marketers maintain their stranglehold on local marketsTheir ability to leverage the growing market penetration of smartphones and the emergence of mobile search will have a major say in this The big three Google Bing and Yahoo have for years pushed local targeting on their desktop environments constraining it to people39s homes and offices Smartphones have changed this dynamic by virtually taking the experience to the street User consumption and control of mobile media is on the rise and with it the advertising budgets put against local Projected growth is daunting Informa wwwinformacom has released a research study that shows that the 2010 global market for mobile advertising is forecast to reach US 35 billion growing to US24 billion by 2015Local is the most relevant and often impactful form of advertising today as the age of scattershot communication strategies is coming to an end Local is being rediscovered as quotaround mequot becomes hip again because it is quottrendingquot It is personal mobile and social Consumers demand real time information about their surroundings and we see the industry reacting quickly to cater to them For example Google39s rollout of Place Search along with its launch of Directions Coupon and ClicktoCall features to their mobile paid search product is a powerful commitment on its part to the vital potential of localIt39s no wonder that advertisers are taking a hard interested look at these developments because consumers certainly are Mobile and social media have both amplified wordofmouth WOM making consumers highly effective PR machines willing to endorse the experiences offered by their surroundings Foursquare Gowalla Urban Spoon Yelp and others have paved the way in providing consumers with the platforms on which to share and influenceSome advertisers are doing more than looking they39re actually committing resources Take HampampM a MediaCom client that launched on Nov 1st a 10day scavenger hunt using virtual clothing items debuting an augmented reality app for iPhone users The goal is to enable app users to select items capture them with their camera and quotvirtuallyquot try out outfits while sharing the experience on Facebook Another example is Best Buy who has in my opinion successfully integrated their app with retail stores incentivizing users to 39check in39 in order to get special store offersNevertheless many major brands with localretail components have been cautious and slow to adopt For one a good majority of businesses are struggling to make up for last year39s slump and what39s trending on Foursquare may not even be topofmind for some Another contributing factor could be internal resistance stemming from eCommerce departments that do not want their revenues migrating offline Finally there is no easy interface for marketers to manage all of the different touchpoints mobile offers ie Facebook pages Groupon Foursquare Gowalla Yelp mobile search multiplatform apps the list goes on Only those savvy enough with the right council and resources have been able to break ground and some like HampampM and Best Buy have done a great jobBrand marketers need to wake up and embrace the new era and it39s mobile and local Don39t let politics ruin the perfect holiday seasonJuan Hernandez is Group Search Director at MediaCom Interaction He can be reached at JuanHernandezmediacomcom Read all Juan39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at The MediaCom Insider MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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