Our very own Associate Partner of Client Strategy, Daniela Bafico, was a featured speaker at 2024 AdWeek NYC, for the presentation, "Location Intelligence in Advertising." Moderated by Ashley Cashion of Esri, this presentation explored the transformative role of location intelligence in marketing.
Esri, a close partner with Jakala known for its advanced geospatial information systems (GIS), provides tools that enable businesses to leverage location data to make marketing more precise and relevant. Ashley highlighted how GIS technology is reshaping advertising, focusing on real-time data to address critical questions such as where customers are located, their travel habits, and preferences, allowing brands to target their audience effectively.
Making Every Media Spend Dollar Count
In the presentation, Dani shared how we at Jakala incorporate location insights into network development, media strategies, and CRM activities to empower our clients to more confidently and efficiently engage with and serve ads to their audiences.
Dani shared an example of one of our clients who is a leader in the fashion industry, where our use of location data led to a 21% revenue increase for the client by identifying that 57% of their sales came from just 6% of their geographic investment. By targeting this high-performing area more effectively, they significantly increased revenue with only a minor budget increase. This example highlighted how location intelligence can guide clients in prioritizing investments, reducing wasted spend, and maximizing impact.
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.”
-John Wanamaker
Understanding your audiences’ physical and mental attributes with Location Intelligence
Location intelligence has a profound impact on advertising by enabling businesses to tailor campaigns based on customer demographics and psychographics. Through location-based data, companies can pinpoint ideal audiences and optimize their budget by avoiding areas with low potential reach, demonstrating a significant advantage in today's highly competitive landscape.
Jakala deftly uses location intelligence for real-time campaign optimization, particularly in high-stakes scenarios. Illustrating an example, for a Jakala client in the insurance sector, we used mapping and analytics to turn off ads in areas affected by hurricanes, where insurance policies wouldn’t be sold. Such strategic use of location intelligence ensures ad spend is allocated wisely and prevents brands from promoting services at inappropriate times.
A key advantage of GIS in advertising is visualizing complex data through maps and geographic segmentation. Specifically, Esri’s mapping technology allows brands to break down campaigns by ZIP code, identifying areas where brand awareness is needed versus areas that need more targeted messaging. This capability prevents redundant spending in familiar markets and enhances engagement where brand recognition is low. Such granular targeting improves campaign efficiency and helps businesses focus on high-potential regions.
Data visualization helps clients see the full picture.
Location-based data is layered with additional information, such as demographic and weather patterns, to create a comprehensive customer profile. This multi-layered approach enables companies to "rummage through" data creatively, uncovering insights that traditional analysis may miss. By overlaying various datasets, businesses gain deeper insights into customer behaviors and preferences, guiding data-driven marketing decisions.
A key takeaway from Dani’s discussion was the “sandwich approach” that Jakala employs, layering multiple data sources to build comprehensive customer profiles. First-party data from CRM and web analytics is combined with territorial data, provided by Esri, to enrich client understanding of customer locations and preferences. This layered approach allows Jakala to provide detailed audience segmentation, enabling clients to make precise marketing decisions.
The future potential of integrating AI with location intelligence.
What’s really driving excitement is the incredible potential of integrating AI with location intelligence. AI-driven analysis will allow Jakala to refine and adjust campaigns in real-time, enhancing the relevance and timeliness of messages based on emerging location data. This integration promises to make location-based advertising even more efficient and personalized, especially as customer needs evolve.
Using location data effectively.
Many clients have access to vast amounts of data but struggle to identify which parts are actionable. By helping clients understand and utilize these insights, Jakala ensures that location intelligence not only supports marketing efforts and optimized media spend, but also provides valuable insights across all business departments, from finance to operations, so our clients can better engage their audiences where they are, with the information they need.
