Commentary
Going Places: PlaceIQ Expanding Overseas
- by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, April 22, 2015
Mobile data and cross-platform analytics firm PlaceIQ is launching a major international expansion with a new division
covering Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the company announced today. Led by General Manager Mandeep Mason, formerly of Microsoft, the new division is kicking off in the UK with other countries
to follow.
PlaceIQ’s EMEA operation will serve marketers in categories including consumer
packaged goods, retail, automotive, entertainment, and consumer electronics with data and analytics on consumers’ locations and activities in order to target mobile advertising. Its capabilities
include real-time targeting based on consumers’ current locations and recent actions, including retail purchases, as well as delivering ads based on media consumption habits. The latter includes
integration of mobile and set-top-box data through a partnership with Rentrak.
Mason previously led mobile advertising sales and strategy in EMEA for Microsoft. Before that he held senior roles in
Nokia’s advertising group and NAVTEQ, now Nokia Here. Along the way he helped launch one of the industry’s first location-based advertising products in the EMEA. He has also held advisory
board roles for both the IAB and MMA in Europe.
PlaceIQ CEO and co-founder Duncan McCall noted that the company already has momentum behind the new international
business, as some of its brand and agency customers with global operations asked it to bring its mobile analytics products to markets outside the U.S.
Although McCall declined to
name specific clients, he said the first UK customers will probably include major brands in the retail and automotive spaces -- categories which have
shown themselves especially receptive to new marketing techniques incorporating location data from mobile.
Erik Sass is editor of Publishers Daily. You can reach Erik at eriksass@gmail.com.