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

Most of us in this business likely can't 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 "faceless" 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 markets?

Their 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 people's 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 (www.informa.com) has released a research study that shows that the 2010 global market for mobile advertising is forecast to reach US$ 3.5 billion, growing to US$24 billion by 2015.

Local 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 "around me" becomes hip again because it is "trending." 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, Google's rollout of Place Search along with its launch of Directions, Coupon and Click-to-Call features to their mobile paid search product is a powerful commitment on its part to the vital potential of local.

It's no wonder that advertisers are taking a hard, interested look at these developments because consumers certainly are. Mobile and social media have both amplified word-of-mouth (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 influence.

Some advertisers are doing more than looking; they're actually committing resources. Take H&M, a MediaCom client that launched on Nov. 1st a 10-day 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 "virtually" 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 'check in' in order to get special store offers.

Nevertheless, many major brands with local/retail components have been cautious and slow to adopt. For one, a good majority of businesses are struggling to make up for last year's slump and what's trending on Foursquare may not even be top-of-mind for some. Another contributing factor could be internal resistance stemming from e-Commerce departments that do not want their revenues migrating off-line. Finally, there is no easy interface for marketers to manage all of the different touchpoints mobile offers i.e. Facebook pages, Groupon, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, mobile search, multi-platform apps, the list goes on. Only those savvy enough, with the right council, and resources have been able to break ground, and some like H&M and Best Buy have done a great job.

Brand marketers need to wake up and embrace the new era and it's mobile and local. Don't let politics ruin the perfect holiday season!

Juan Hernandez is Group Search Director at MediaCom Interaction. He can be reached at Juan.Hernandez@mediacom.com

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