Dive Brief:
- Factual, a self-described “location platform,” announced location data deals with Facebook and Apple.
- The data behind the deals will offer marketers something of a cookie-equivalent on mobile devices, although more accurate and in a way more valuable than cookies.
- Factual CEO Gil Elbaz says location is an underutilized data point in mobile marketing.
Dive Insight:
In a blog post, Factual CEO Gil Elbaz speaking on the company’s recent location data deals with Facebook and Apple said, “Our data stack is designed to distill down billions of pieces of information from millions of different sources into a clean, comprehensive, up-to-date database of places in 50 countries. It incorporates new inputs in real-time and can quickly rebuild the entire data set as we improve the data stack itself, giving us an incredible amount of flexibility and agility in building data.”
Even though location data is seen by most marketers as a tool for real-time geofencing or proximity targeting, the data point can be used in a variety of ways including, gaining insights into customer behavior, analytics tool to combine with other marketing channels. For retail marketers, it can also be used as a way to reach customers whenever and wherever beyond just via proximity targeting.