• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, August 26, 2009

Mojiva CEO Dave Gwozdz and I had an interesting conversation last week after Twitter announced it would allow developers to write applications that embed a person's latitude and longitude in tweets. He referred to the overused example of someone walking by an automobile storefront and getting served up a mobile phone ad for a shiny Lexus, black on black, convertible. Actually, I added the car name. He provided the example.

Gwozdz called the mobile marketing application "disingenuous," reminding me that people would need to opt-in and agree to receive the ads. "Not a problem," I say. In fact, that's the least complicated piece in the puzzle.

I'm not an engineer, but considering Twitter's announcement, and my imagination, Gwozdz and I began to discuss possibilities for behavioral targeting and retargeting ads. What if marketers could retarget ads to consumers based on lat-long coordinates on mobile phones? What if those mobile coordinates somehow synced up with the browser on the person's PC to cut across platforms? This would allow marketers not only to target consumers on their mobile phone, but on their PC, too, depending on where they were earlier in the day or the week.

Industry execs have mentioned that a mandated opt-in process would improve targeting and results for marketers, allowing advertisers to serve fewer ads, make more money, and annoy consumer less by showing them ads they'll find relevant. But, again, consumers would need to take the time and go online and opt in.

The opt-in process could fuel a cottage industry built on aggregators that manage opt-in services, allowing consumers to pick and choose from a list of companies. The coupons and information would span across mobile to PCs, integrating not only the signals gathered on mobile phones, but browser cookies and code in the footer of Web pages.

If publishers required an opt-in to view free content in exchange for targeted ads, they would place cookies on user browsers indicating acceptance of agreement to the terms. That agreement would give browsers access to site content. Publishers would exchange free content for the ability to serve up ads, similar to the way Pandora allows consumers to listen to music for free, or pay a fee.

And while that describes the opt-in process, the BT and retargeting platform would prove a little more complicated. It would, however, cut across mobile to PCs. The mobile phone's GPS application would pick up the geographic coordinates. The application might tie into the mobile number or the email address of the person who opted into the program. Sending the service through carriers like AT&T, Verizon or Sprint would transfer a signal each time the mobile phone passed through a WAP gateway or application that provides longitude and latitude coordinates, allowing any of the companies on the consumer's opt-in list to serve up ads. In this hypothetical scenario, Gwozdz suggested the consumer would need to initiate the process. A sign on the door to the store might read: "Text 262777 for more information." When the consumer texts the number, it would time-stamp the message and provide confirmation to blast the consumer an email depending on the person's long-lat coordinates. The application pulls in the merchant's CRM platform, too, but it wouldn't happen without the consumer initiating the event, Gwozdz says.

This is not an easy application to coordinate. It would take many companies working together. That's probably the main reason why it hasn't been done. The technologies exist, but the cooperation and collaboration between telecom carriers, behavioral target and other companies are way down the road.

Gwozdz says the logistical problems that a company needs to solve before offering what he refers to as an "Orwellian location-based advertising service" don't seem to make sense for "micro-mobile geographical marketers."Not yet, anyway.