AUSTIN — If you think you haven’t seen much evidence of location beacons’ use in a marketing context, following initial hype, you soon will. That’s according to one agency mobile marketing leader.
“Apple just rolled out the Beacon API last year,” MEC Global’s north America lead for mobile and emerging technologies, Rachel Pasqua, tells Beet.TV in this video interview.
“Because you haven’t seen a lot of stats come out, you think it’s not happening. But it’s happening everywhere. Every big box store, supermarket, stadium, concert venue, every public space from train stations to airports to government buildings are putting beacons in to their infrastructure to enable all sorts of interactions.”
Bluetooth beacons, which Apple is calling iBeacons, have existed in one form of another for several years. Unlike GPS, they enable precise targeting within buildings by detecting proximity to a user’s smartphone.
Some retailers are getting excited about pinging messages to customers as they walk by product shelves.
Pasqua imagines “everything from quietly measuring foot traffic … to seamless delivery of useful information… about a public monument or something as useful as a coupon delivered at point of sale”.
Pasqua was interviewed by Beet.TV at the 4As’ (American Association of Advertising Agencies) Transformation 2015 event in Austin, Texas. Our coverage is sponsored by Videology. Please find more coverage from the conference here.