MEC is taking steps to increase transparency in the mobile marketplace with the independent verification of location data.
Following a review of the current UK location data market – looking into its accuracy and reach across various providers – the agency has begun working with independent third party Rippll to create a benchmark or standard currency.
The aim is to achieve a like-for-like comparison of the quality of data from each provider, which can then be applied across all location-based campaigns in the agency to provide a currency that will help with targeting, audience building and footfall attribution efforts for clients.
“Using this standard currency will remove the uncertainties caused from different methodologies, and enable the introduction of third party verification to our location activity, in much the same way that we look to work with third party providers for viewability and ad verification,” said Jide Sobo, MEC’s head of mobile.
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“The hype in the marketplace has always been that location data stored in mobile phones makes it possible for brands to deliver perfectly targeted ads. Achieving this holy grail, however, is more difficult than it may seem.
“It is important to look beyond the hype and to consider exactly how it might be possible to tap into location data, and what the real world limitations may be.”
Sobo added that while there are a number of companies that sell points-of-interest (POI) data, these often have different co-ordinates for the same location.
“Ever since mobile advertising started to take off, around 2002, the advertising industry has been talking about location as a key element to being able to target the right ad, to the right person, at the right time,” Sobo said.
“The reality is far more difficult than this, he warns, thanks to imperfect methodologies and this lack of reliable information regarding Points of Interest (POI), which the agency is now seeking to address.”
