Alcatel-Lucent (Paris: ALU)(NYSE: ALU) and 1020 Placecast, the leading
cross-platform location-based advertising solution provider, today
announced they will jointly provide mobile service providers and brands
with a unique, location-based service – hosted by Alcatel-Lucent - that
delivers highly relevant messaging and advertising to mobile consumers
who opt into the service.
Together, 1020 Placecast and Alcatel-Lucent are offering an end-to-end
service that enables service providers to support brands in reaching
their target audiences wherever they are in innovative new ways. As part
of this service, 1020 Placecast leverages its unique ad engine to weave
location information into highly relevant messages -- enabling brands
and advertising agencies with scalable, proximity marketing campaigns
that will be pushed to consumers' mobile devices in SMS and MMS formats.
Alcatel-Lucent, leveraging its Geographic Messaging Services Platform
(GMSP) as a hosted service, tracks opt-in subscribers’ locations on
behalf of the service provider and pushes mobile content to the
subscriber when and where is appropriate - based on the advertising
campaign developed and managed by the 1020 Placecast platform.
The network service can support millions of subscribers –- far more than
any competing product on the market today -- making proximity marketing
campaigns for service providers and marketers a reality. It creates an
environment where service providers and advertisers can partner in
developing and delivering a new generation of revenue-generating mobile
advertising services to customers -- a market that is expected to reach
nearly $5 billion in U.S. service provider revenue by 2011 according to
the report "Mobile Advertising: The Service Provider Revenue
Opportunity” published by Heavy Reading Research.
Thanks to this joint offering, mobile service providers can, for
example, offer consumers an opt-in service where they will receive a
mobile message offering a discount at a consumer’s favorite retailer
around the corner on their way to work. The message could include the
store address, phone number, proximity to the customer, and other brand
and carrier developed content. For subscribers, receiving messages and
advertising from brands subscribers care about – at the time and place
they are most interested in getting them – enhances the mobile
experience. By maximizing advertising effectiveness in reaching brands'
target audiences, it generates increased advertising spend with service
providers.
"One of the key benefits of mobile marketing is the precise location
targeting inherent in mobile devices and communication networks,” says
Michael Boland, program director, mobile local media, for The Kelsey
Group, a leading provider of local advertising research, analysis, data
and competitive metrics. "Pulling together Alcatel-Lucent’s location
service with Placecast’s location-based ad serving engine should create
a greater ability to deliver more relevant ads that perform better.”
Adds Gani Nayak, President of Alcatel-Lucent's Rich Communication
business, "This offering enables carriers, and the brands they support,
to create a highly-relevant and personalized experience for mobile users
while also delivering immediate return on investment. It combines
Alcatel-Lucent's best-in-class geo-fencing technology -- which supports
millions of virtual fences -- with Placecast's leading location-based ad
platform to launch large-scale, proximity-based mobile marketing
campaigns."
The turnkey service, available in North America, seamlessly delivers
messages and advertisements to any mobile device and screen without a
capital investment by service providers. Subscribers simply sign-up for
the service and select the kinds of messages and offers they want to
receive. Their privacy is protected because their exact location is
never revealed -- only the fact that they have entered a designated
geographical area.
"Alcatel-Lucent’s technology allows us to trigger the delivery of a
tailored marketing message to a subscriber who has opted into the
service when they enter a specific zone,” said Alistair Goodman, CEO of
1020 Placecast. "This enables a direct connection from mobile to the
physical world. We’re excited to partner with such an established
solutions provider and offer carriers the best targeting and delivery in
location-based mobile advertising and marketing.”
About 1020 Placecast, Inc.
1020, Inc. is the developer and owner of Placecast™ Media, the first
online advertising solution to target highly sought-after audiences
using location-based information across the Web, mobile, and Wi-Fi.
1020’s groundbreaking Placecast service recently earned the company the
"OnMedia Top 100” Award, given to game-changing companies in the
marketing, branding, advertising, and PR industries. Current partners
include NAVTEQ and current advertisers include Microsoft Windows Mobile,
FedExOffice, Avis and Budget Rental Cars and Hyatt Hotels. 1020 is
funded by Voyager Capital and Onset Ventures. For more information about
Placecast, visit www.placecast.net.
About the Alcatel-Lucent Geographic Messaging Services Platform
Alcatel-Lucent's unique 5130 Geographic Messaging Services Platform
(GMSP), incubated within Alcatel-Lucent Ventures, enables carriers to
reach mobile users and offer automatic delivery of messages (i.e.
coupons, promotions, information) that are relevant to their immediate
physical environment. Provided as a hosted service at Alcatel-Lucent's
Naperville, IL facility, GMSP is the first truly scalable push-messaging
(geofencing) system that delivers messages based on geographic
targeting. Content is only sent once a user has entered the target zone
- or geofence perimeter. Subscribers opt-in to the types of content and
alerts they want to receive. To learn more, go to www.alcatel-lucent.com/gmsp.
About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is the trusted partner of
service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, providing
solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to
end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking,
IP technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the
unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the
largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With
operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global
services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner
with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 16.98
billion in 2008 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices
located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the
Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com.