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Navteq Offers Location Aware Ads in Mobile Devices

By Jack Marshall, ClickZ, May 15, 2009

Nokia-owned mapping firm Navteq has launched a location-aware ad service across Europe this week.

The firm's LocationPoint platform enables marketers to place ads within its proprietory mapping technology, delivering targeted communications to users through data-connected portable navigation devices or mobile phone applications, based on their immediate location. Ad creative can be tailored to include calls to action such as "click to search," "click to call," "click to navigate" and "click to coupon."

"We noticed a real explosion in the use of digital maps, which are now appearing in front of tens of millions of users," said Andrew Little, Navteq's Director of Media Solutions. "In a way, Navteq itself is a media owner, so we began to look at opportunities in the mobile advertising world," he explained.

Essentially, the platform offers Navteq's existing and potential partners an ad-funded alternative to a typical licensing model, on which the company built its business. Navteq handles the selling and serving of ads through it's Media Solutions arm, and its partners take a share of the revenue generated from the sale of that inventory.

"Consumers have shown they are happy to recieve ads in exchange for information, provided it enriches their experience. They see that as a reasonable barter," said Little.

The firm's current clients on the licensing side include BMW, Samsung, and its own parent company Nokia. No partners for the ad-funded LocationPoint model have currently been confirmed within Europe, but Little said the firm was in discussions with a number of companies. In the U.S., however, Verizon is now making use of the technology, which launched stateside in January.

Due to the network-enabled nature of mobile phones, Little said his firm is focused on that market, while it waits for GPS systems to catch up. "Some personal navigation devices [GPS systems] now include wireless data connectivity, but in relatively small volumes. That market will come later," he said.

From an advertiser standpoint, the data communication offered by mobile phones should allow for detailed campaign reporting and optimization. Additionally, Little outlined the possibility of integrating third party data such as demographic and user preference information, which could be provided by mobile network operators and other potential partners.