• by Mark Walsh , February 4, 2011

In the second keynote of the day, Sean Finnegan, the CEO of Interpublic's new Geomentum unit, declared that "local is the arena of opportunity." Well, perhaps that's not surprising for the head of a hyper-local marketing agency. Finnegan outlined a new "14-10-3" paradigm for local, essentially meaning 80% of retail takes place 14 minute drive from a store, then there's another opportunity to engage consumers within 10 yards of a store, and finally, 3-feet is the distance between a sales person and a shopper.

Using different technologies from geo-fencing, to QR codes to GPS, marketers and retailers can take advantage of mobile devices at each of those levels to draw consumers and make conversions. Groupon's local deals for shoppers on mobile devices would be one example, recognizing through their smartphones where they are and sending them relevant offers for their city. Finnegan overall  advised marketers to use mobile as "the closer' within that 14-minute "trade radius" to convert shoppers into buyers.