… by Mike Schneider

Location has been hot on the minds of marketers and technologists. Some have even been so bold as to call the ability to know a person’s exact location the holy grail (not really – OK -maybe a piece of the grail).

We do know is that location is a key activity stream in the new era of data-driven personal marketing. This new piece of context gives message makers of all kinds an opportunity to give someone a piece of content that they need at exactly the perfect time. At BlogWorld NY, we will explore three key opportunities with 3 of the world’s top 25 brands: deals, discovery and loyalty.

Deals

And the content that is delivered is not just advertising, but that is one critical component. Location-based platforms present a great opportunity to give a person a deal when they need a deal and certainly there is a difference between deals for acquisition and retention. American Express just announced a partnership with SCVNGR that will make this easier. PepsiCo has tried deals with their Loot app.

Discovery

Content in the place that you want it is key. People are attaching secrets to places on a number of mobile platforms like Yelp, foursquare, Bizzy, foodspotting, Gowalla and more.  Disney in particular has been a leader in enhancing the experience of its guests by giving them reasons to check in to every attraction in the park.

Loyalty

Acquiring a customer is expensive for a business so keeping them is paramount. Using innovative ways to get customers to return has been the business of American Express and PepsiCo for years. American Express has introduced new ways to pay, reward and surprise and delight their customers by partnering with location-based services like foursquare and SCVNGR as well as with merchants. PepsiCo has built and participated in a number of loyalty driven initiatives including a social program based on a person’s checkin history.

The co-authors of Location-based Marketing for Dummies, SchneiderMike of allen & gerritsen and Aaron Strout of WCG will lead the discussion with Josh Karpf of PepsiCo, Tom Aronson of Disney and David Wolf of American Express. The panel will be late-night talk show style with Mike hosting the show and Aaron providing color and insight and also keeping his bananas peeled for interesting audience questions via the iPad.

Hope to see you there. If you could ask these brands one question about their location-based initiatives, what would it be?