GPS Enabled Mobile Marketing – Invasion of Privacy or Good Tradeoff?
Someday in the near future marketers may seek to strategically utilize GPS technology to track and target you with mobile advertisements and promotions. The technology exists already. In fact GPS apps are already avaible for cell phones including both the iPhone and Blackberry. Some experts believe brands will continue to develop and offer free or low cost “apps” including GPS variations that users can download onto their phones or hand-helds – the idea being that users will “opt in” to receive promotional messages via text or e-mail in order to access and utilize the particular app or apps of interest.
Other variations and strategies may be employed although marketers are aware that over-zealous use of GPS-enabled mobile marketing campaigns, especially those targeting users who have not given permission to receive such communications, could very well result in regulatory intervention similar to the “do not call” registries aimed at curbing telemarketers. Obviously getting consumers to opt in is advantageous for marketers and could be seen as beneficial to some consumers interested in low-cost GPS functionality.
Once users have opted in and downloaded the GPS app, marketers can track and send promotional offers directly to them based on their proximity to particular distribution points. Imagine walking or driving down the street and receiving a mobile promotion for a discounted value meal as you approach a McDonald’s or other fast food restaurant. Consider the same scenario but this time you receive a digital coupon for an oil change as you approach a Jiffy Lube or PEP Boys. There might even be a day when your GPS-equipped device might send and receive data that enables marketers to delivery digital coupons as you pass certain sections in the supermarket or to cause coupons to print out from stationary devices affixed to the store’s shelves.
So far those scenarios don’t raise too much concern – or do they? Some consumers might be a bit wary of marketers and potentially other entities tracking their every move. Would you consider the “privacy for GPS functionality” a reasonable tradeoff? Would you rather pay for GPS functionality for your mobile device without the compromise – even if the price was much more expensive? Are you overly concerned about being tracked and information about your habits stored by marketers?
Kind regards,
Chris Daniel
