JCPenney taps multiple mobile social networks to distrubute location-targeted coupons

Department store chain J. C. Penney Co. Inc. is partnering with various mobile social networks to distribute a Christmas-themed promotional offer featuring badges and mobile coupons.

Consumers that visit a JCPenney store before Christmas Eve and share the location with their friends via Brightkite, Foursquare or Facebook Deals/Places will instantly receive a $10-off coupon to spend in the store or online. Each week, the retailer is giving away $25 and $100 gift cards, and one shopper will receive a $1,000 JCPenney shopping spree.

Check-ins have given consumers a glimpse of the power of location and the deals they unlock. But there’s another world awaiting as mobile users learn to appreciate the era of “persistent location,” in which a user’s location is passively used to deliver relevant information. That’s the term used by Xtify CEO Josh Rochlin, whose company has built a geo-messaging platform that allows companies and brands to target their customers with location-specific messages.

Xtify is on the cutting edge along with Placecast and others using geo-fences, a digitally drawn radius around a place, to create a landscape in which our movements trigger offers, coupons and messages from companies we have relationships with. That may sound a little stalkerish or at the very least, potentially overwhelming if marketing offers greet us every few blocks. But the building blocks are falling into place to make this reality not only possible but pleasant. A lot of it comes down to the execution. Companies are eager to leverage persistent location but will need to show some restraint, said Rochlin.

“There is going to be growing comfort with passively-derived location that will be an asset to consumers, but brands will need to figure out how to take advantage of location without becoming a nuisance,” he said. “Brands will have to decide what is the proper cadence to message users.”

via gigaom.com

Digital publisher Mygazines earlier this month launched Geo Targeted Campaigns, the first service for distributing tailored versions of a digital publication by region.

With geo-targeting, users receive a dedicated URL and a targeted version of the publication loads according to their geographical area. For example, someone in San Francisco will see a different publication than someone in New York, all using the same link.

Randy Frisch is the CMO for Mygazines:

For publishers, marketers and advertisers, this feature represents new revenue opportunities and the ability to tailor content to key audiences by geographic region.  For example, if a publisher distributes its content through five countries, local advertisers would be able to buy and display content in the areas that they are interested in. In this case, readers will get the same editorial content but would interact with different ads. At the same time, there is also flexibility to tailor the content for every region.”

Toronto-based Mygazines empowers publishers, professionals and corporations with the tools to produce, distribute and track their content on any web enabled device.

Miso awards badges for check-ins to shows like Tour de France coverage or the entertainment magic of David Hasselhoff.

Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 4, gives developers everything they need to make this a reality. The only thing holding them back at this point is fear of user backlash against a new, intrusive form of advertising. (Does anyone actually want this?)

But that won't hold them off for long. A handful of developers are moving very close to these proximity-triggered ads, and we're confident one of them will pull the trigger soon.

McDonald’s will be the first marketer to use Facebook’s forthcoming location platform, according to Advertising Age. Users will be given the ability to check in at a location using a status update on Facebook as early as this month, AdAge reports, and then see a featured product targeted to that location. McDonald’s will reportedly be the first brand to participate, as part of a larger media buy.

 

McDonald's to Use Facebook's Upcoming Location Feature

Brands Eager to Build Apps Once Massive Social Network Launches Its Own Foursquare Competitor

by Emily Bryson York
Published: May 06, 2010

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Facebook is preparing to launch location-based status updates for its users. But the social network is also planning to offer it to marketers, including McDonald's.

As early as this month, the social-networking site will give users the ability to post their location within a status update. McDonald's, through digital agency Tribal DDB, Chicago, is building an app with Facebook would allow users to check in at one of its restaurants and have a featured product appear in the post, such as an Angus Quarter Pounder, say executives close to the deal.

Facebook is not directly charging McDonald's to build the app; Facebook generally does not charge developers to build on its platform. But executives with knowledge say it was negotiated as part of a bigger media buy on Facebook, and McDonald's will be the first marketer to take advantage of the service.

If Foursquare is ever going to be worth more than $100 million to Yahoo or anyone, it will have to add not just a hell of a lot more users, but also a hell of a lot more local advertisers. Currently, there are only about 2,000 live offers on Foursquare from local bars, restaurants, and stores worldwide. It is not a lot, but Foursquare is taking steps to ramp up that number.

Now every unclaimed business venue has a link asking, “Are you the manager of this business?” The link takes managers to a page asking them for proof that they are indeed the manager so that Foursquare’s sales team can call them to set them up with tools for claiming their venue and managing offers. There is also a new Businesses page explaining the different tools available to local merchants.

via techcrunch.com

Will small business respond?

It looks like while half the Web will be holding its breath over how Facebook will wield its newly-found patent power, with its patent of the news feed, the other half just found a reason to take a big gulp of air and look around. Google was awarded last Tuesday a patent for location-based advertising, the potential bread and butter of a number of emerging mobile applications.

Expect to read more around the issues surrounding software patents in the future.