May 23, 2011
Placecast Founder Invited to eG8 Forum
Placecast Founder and President Anne Bezancon has been invited to attend the eG8 Forum, which is hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and is part of the G8 Summit. Anne will offer her insights on the evolution of the internet and digital media. She joins other notables like Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt, Jeffrey Bezos, and Rupert Murdoch in attending this important event.
This eG8 Forum event marks the first time that information technology formally takes a place on the agenda of a summit of Heads of State – a recognition of how critically important these sectors are to sustaining and accelerating global economic growth. Topics of discussion will include the future of ecommerce, new digital economic models and best practices, mobility, intellectual property, net neutrality, and the management of personal data, including location information.
The full agenda for the event can be found here: http://www.eg8forum.com/index_EN.html
May 3, 2011
Placecast on CNET/CBS News: Opt-in and Transparency
In this CNET/CBS News interview, Placecast CEO Alistair Goodman talks about the importance of consumer choice and protecting privacy when delivering mobile marketing messages. “We use the location provided by the carrier networks to be able to deliver you a message when you’re nearby something that’s interesting… In the case of our ShopAlerts programs, consumers double opt-in, they can opt out at any time and we only use location information to send you an offer.”
http://cnettv.cnet.com/how-mobile-tracking-can-benefit-consumers/9742-1_53-50104254.html
March 31, 2011
Placecast Does SXSW, Talks Geofencing with WebProNews
Placecast CEO Alistair Goodman presented a well-attended session at South by Southwest (SXSW) titled “Building Fences in the Sky”. In this interview with WebProNews, Placecast talks about geofencing, the success of the company’s ShopAlerts platform, partnerships with AT&T and O2, mobile deals and how to achieve scale, and the growth and future of LBS:
http://videos.webpronews.com/2011/03/30/what-placecast-is-doing-for-mobile-marketing/
March 24, 2011
Placecast at CTIA
Mobile Commerce Daily posted an interesting wrap-up of the “Hit the Target: Location-Based Advertising” panel that Placecast participated in yesterday at CTIA Wireless 2011.
The surge of interest in moving beyond apps and tapping into scalable, location-based deals and offers via SMS has been tremendous, and the ShopAlerts programs we’ve been running with retailers such as The North Face and White House Black Market provided great insights for the discussion around consumers exchanging their real-time locations for valuable deals and promotions. Much was also discussed about moving LBA into programs from carriers.
For the full post, click here: Location-based mobile offers key to driving in-store visits: CTIA panelist
March 2, 2011
Anne Bezancon on ShopAlerts - in French
In this recent video interview made in Paris (and therefore in French), Placecast Founder Anne Bezançon talks about location-based mobile marketing and ShopAlerts. Central to this new form of marketing is the need for consumer opt-in and the idea that “offers find you” automatically. The video also dives deeper into what the future of geolocation marketing will be.
Dans cette interview récente faite à Paris (et donc en français), Anne Bezançon, Fondatrice et Présidente de Placecast, parle de marketing mobile geo-localisé et de ShopAlerts. Deux thèmes-clé se dégagent de cette nouvelle forme de marketing: le choix du consommateur qui “opt-in”, et le fait que “les offres vous trouvent” automatiquement. La video explore aussi le futur du marketing geolocalisé.
February 28, 2011
AT&T & Placecast: ShopAlerts Goes Mainstream in the U.S.
Today we are announcing our partnership with AT&T, one of the largest and most innovative carriers in the United States.
ShopAlerts by AT&T are special offers delivered to consumers via their mobile phones when they are near participating stores or brands. To start, the unique location-based mobile messaging service will be available for pilot groups of AT&T customers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco who have opted-in to receive such messages. Participating brands include HP, Kmart, JetBlue, SC Johnson, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Nature’s Recipe, and the National Milk Mustache “got milk?” Campaign. We expect to add more brands over the coming months as the program grows.
AT&T is the first U.S. mobile carrier to offer a large-scale, location-based mobile marketing program to consumers and advertisers. Our partnership combines the Placecast technology platform with the location-based experience we’ve gained from both our trial and commercial programs with AT&T’s customer base, its network, and AT&T’s strong relationships with brands and agencies. We’re excited to be working with AT&T and look forward to bringing location-based services to consumers across the U.S.
New York Times
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/att-begins-service-to-text-users-in-certain-locations/?src=twr
Tech Crunch
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/27/att-taps-placecast-for-location-based-shopping-alerts/
January 18, 2011
Geo-Fence Marketing in the UK
Over the past week, our partner O2 has announced that two of the UK’s top retail brands have launched geo-fence marketing programs. Marks & Spencer, with more than 700 stores in the UK, and luxury retailer House of Fraser have both activated programs using the Placecast platform to promote January sales. These top UK retailers join brands like Starbucks and L’Oreal in using geo-fence marketing to deliver relevant offers on any phone to consumers at the right place and time and to drive traffic into their stores. You can read more about these programs here:
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/retail/ms-joins-o2-for-location-based-marketing/3022367.article
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/disciplines/digital/house-of-fraser-joins-pilot-location-marketing-scheme/3022236.article
December 30, 2010
How Location-Based Services Can Boost Your Small Business
Via Huffington Post: Our tactics for SMBs in navigating location-based services to increase traffic, grow revenue, and build loyalty
How Location-Based Services Can Boost Your Small Business
December 20, 2010
Vote for Placecast - TechCrunch’s Crunchie Awards!
You can help Placecast win a Crunchie! Crunchies are annual awards from TechCrunch, one of the best tech publications that’s read around the world.
Here’s the link: http://crunchies2010.techcrunch.com/nominate/
Please nominate Placecast as “Best Location Based Service” and also nominate our product “ShopAlerts by Placecast” for “Best New Startup Or Product Of 2010.”
Voting ends this week and can be done each day – please nominate Placecast every day!
December 14, 2010
The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Vanity Apps
This week, Mobithinking.com published a comprehensive look into what they’ve called the “false economy” created by the hype around vanity apps, their real-world benefit, and the actual ROI they provide given the highly specific and segmented audience (iPhone users only), limited downloads, and minimal use thereafter. For these same reasons, Placecast has chosen to focus on SMS for our location-based mobile programs with retailers, as the scope and scalability it provides are very worth the tradeoff for a less-sexy interface. When it comes to driving retail traffic and revenue, a focus on function over fashion is a driving force in reaching consumers.
Full article here: http://mobithinking.com/blog/vanity-apps
