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Álvaro de Gracia (CEO and founder at APPcelerate), Macarena Estévez y Laureano Turienzo (counselors).
Article written by Macarena Estévez, counselor at APPcelerate.
Some years ago, there was a lot of talk about intrusive advertising, the adverts that appeared in the middle of a film and the advertising that forced you to watch content you had no interest in. People felt ill at ease and adverts were the big enemy.
Then the internet appeared and technology advanced at breakneck speed giving access to data and endless possibilities. Companies therefore decided not to show just any old content to everyone, but rather to target content that would be of interest to specific people.
Things moved fast, until we reached a before and after moment: the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which set alarm bells ringing in both the individual and corporate camps.
Since then, governments around the world have passed laws regulating the types of data that can be collected about users, how they can be used, and how they should be stored and protected. Much of this wealth of data came from third-party cookies, which provided companies with information about how people browsed on different websites (if they were looking at fashion websites for example, this information could be of interest to clothing advertisers).
One of these laws is the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation of 2018, which stipulates the need for companies to obtain the explicit consent of users to be able to collect information that can be used in advertising campaigns. Furthermore, the Organic Law on Data Protection in Europe, also in force since 2018, establishes that third-party cookies do not comply with the regulations and directly infringe the user’s privacy. The term cookieless was created to refer to the disappearance of third-party cookies.
“Instead of focusing only on the digital environment of websites and the information that can be gleaned from them, why not look further afield, to the geographical environment for example? People’s routes also provide a lot of information”.
Macarena Estévez, counselor APPcelerate.
Since then, companies have been concerned about how this could impact on them. Not only in terms of the technological investment made to make systems operational, but, above all, thinking that this would mean the return of intrusive advertising.
Consumers do not, however, seem to be entirely relieved. The Forrester Analytics Consumer Technographics® Benchmark 2021 study shows that consumers are not comfortable with the way companies use their data for advertising.
There may be an alternative solution however. Instead of focusing only on the digital environment of websites and the information that can be gleaned from them, why not look further afield, to the geographical environment for example? People’s routes also provide a lot of information.
An individual often shares their location if they’re catching a taxi. They share this information because they want to be picked up exactly where they are waiting. Sharing our geographical location is something we are used to. Moreover, if we make the most of the relationship between where people are and their possible interests, we can send them appropriate messages at the best times. Why would I mind being sent interesting offers just as I’m doing my shopping in my local supermarket? There is no better time!
Different geo-information sources provide sociodemographic data, information on points of interest, mobility, traffic, consumption, and much more. By combining all these sources, we can create a picture of which individuals are in certain places and when. This gives rise to a new concept, Geoaudience; an anonymous audience, contextualised using geographic data and with self-serving consent influenced by an individual’s geographic location.
By observing the routes people take, we can estimate where, when, what and how they consume, as well as how they interact and at what kind of events or places. With this information, we can expose them geographically to advertising with appropriate content, so that we are less intrusive.