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Snapchat is partnering with location intelligence company Foursquare to provide marketers with more highly-targeted location-based data for geofilters (animated overlays on pictures or video), according to AdWeek.
While Snapchat launched geofilters a year ago, the Foursquare deal will give Snapchat advertisers access to over 90 million locations for campaigns. The pinpoint accuracy of Foursquare data will allow advertisers to accurately target highly precise location parameters, even at the the storefront level. The new deal has several implications for Foursquare, Snapchat and the location-based ad market:
- Data is becoming a key asset for Foursquare. Since data is collected directly from a user’s smartphone, it tends to be highly precise, and the company has signed on other companies like Apple, Pinterest, Twitter and Uber. Foursquare has already proven the validity of its data by accurately forecasting iPhone 6s sales last year, and Chipotle’s 30% year-over-year decline in same-store-sales in Q1 2016.
- Snapchat is inching closer to offline attribution. Foursquare’s campaign data bridges the gap for offline attribution as in-store sales can potentially be matched to user’s snapping in the store. Foursquare launched offline attribution tools early this year and has been a major focus for the company.
- Snapchat can sell more filters while enhancing the user experience. Reducing the square footage of geofilter boundaries will increase Snapchat’s overall ad load. In addition, users will be exposed to more filters, which could boost engagement with the app. Snapchat could borrow from Pokémon Go’s playbook and encourage users to collect or share rare geofilters. Parent company Snap is already playing with the scarcity strategy by constantly relocating the vending machine through which it's selling its Spectacles device each day.
- Local advertising may get more creative. Google, Yelp, and Facebook all want to get into the local advertising market. However, these ad units are often searchable indexes with display ads running at the top of results, or overlapped on a map (Google promoted pins). Hyper-local Snapchat geofilters provide an alternative creative format to the local ad market, albeit with a niche audience of young folks.
Foursquare is one of 11 data and measurement companies that Snapchat partners with, and it's willing to work with others to complement data sets and add value to geofilters. Similarly, Uber partners with Foursquare, Google Maps, and Tom Tom to add value to the ride-sharing platform.
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