NAVTEQ unveils location-based mobile advertising service

NAVTEQ has announced that it will be launching an advertising service, LocationPoint. The entirely location-based service will send targeted ads and promotions to “consumers-on-the-go”.

NAVTEQ specialises in digital maps for in-car navigation, and the new service will be integrated with that map system. Advertisers will pay to be embedded in the NAVTEQ map, and consumers who are near their location will receive ads and promotions. NAVTEQ is careful to point out how “unobtrusive” the service is, and gives the impression that consumers will only be targeted when they are already looking for information on the area.

The service is really intended for “consumers-on-the-go” who are searching for nearby retail options: fuel, food and drink, convenience, grocery, pharmacy, auto services, lodging, banking and retail shopping.

From the release:

“Location-based services are one of the most exciting and relevant solutions for marketers to explore in the coming year,” said Lori H. Schwartz, senior vice president, director, IPG Emerging Media Lab.  “NAVTEQ is best-in-class in its category and we are thrilled to be working together to share the technology with our agency and marketer partners.”

“With the rapidly increasing consumer demand for GPS–based systems and mobile navigation content, we’re helping marketers take advantage of powerful advertising opportunities.  Using NAVTEQ LocationPoint, advertisers can target mobile audiences with meaningful messages that provide immediate benefits to consumers exactly where and when they’re making purchase decisions,” said David Klein, vice president, NAVTEQ.  “This exciting work with the IPG Emerging Media Lab will bring these new capabilities and benefits to life for marketers, and I look forward to working with IPG agencies and their clients.”

What we think?

When I said that NAVTEQ “specialises in digital maps for in-car navigation”, I was just being concise. That’s an incredible understatement for what NAVTEQ does. It maintains a digital map of the world that powers car navigation systems, mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, and government and business solutions. It’s been in this business for over 20 years, and it has over 4,000 employees in 43 countries.

So I would regard it as a big thing for retailers that this company is integrating mobile advertising into it’s services. As a retailer, it must be hugely tempting to have your storefront simply pop up on the navigation device of any one of the huge number of products powered by NAVTEQ that happens to be nearby.