Foursquare expands Attribution solution with new channel measurement for out-of-home

Aaron Sebastian Unsplash

We know advertisers are grappling with how to choose the right measurement partner. There are three key factors to consider when finding a best-in-class partner: precision in the measurement itself (with considerations for data quality, ease of use, panel scale, and methodology); addressing the growing demand for more sophisticated multi-touch attribution (MTA); and the ability to provide a complete view of omni-channel measurement.

Attribution by Foursquare meets all those needs. A stand-out in the advertising world thanks to our always-on panel (the largest in the industry), data quality, daily dashboard updates, and measurement methodology, Attribution now has another critical feature: the capability to measure out-of-home (OOH) advertising (otherwise known as outdoor advertising, like billboards).

While OOH advertising may only make up a small piece of the advertising pie, eMarketer expects it to grow faster than most other traditional ad channels this year. Brands are increasingly using OOH to trigger digital retargeting campaigns, bridging the gap between the offline and online worlds. Furthermore, OOH remains one of the original and most fool-proof ways to ensure a brand’s message is amplified to a mass audience in a specific area but has traditionally been very difficult to measure.

The biggest challenge to executing new OOH campaigns is proving the value and return on investment of this medium. That’s why we’re excited to introduce our expanded Attribution solution that now includes out-of-home measurement.

Since 2016, Attribution by Foursquare has helped top brands and agencies address one of the most common (and yet difficult to answer) questions every media planner asks: “Did my ad actually drive store visits and ultimately improve sales?” With Attribution, Foursquare answers the question easily with our ability to measure digital, social, TV (linear and OTT), print, audio (streaming and terrestrial ratio) and now, OOH ads, giving marketers an end-to-end view of their omni-channel campaign success.

No one knows location better than Foursquare. Ten years in the game, we’ve established a measured audience of 70 million unique devices in the US, 10 million of which are part of our first-party “always on” panel (the industry’s largest), allowing us to understand how people move through the real world. From our consumer roots, we’ve grown into the most trusted independent location technology platform. Attribution is a core part of our product offering.

How it works

In the case of a billboard on the side of a highway, first we define the specific area around each billboard from which the client’s advertisement is viewable. Our Pilgrim technology determines when a mobile device moves through this viewable area, so we know the user was exposed to the advertisement. Next, we match exposed devices to store visits. Our industry-leading machine learning methodology (which debuted last year with Spotify) then takes this exposure data and uses it to calculate incremental lift (in other words: how many more people went to a store as a result of the billboard) to show a marketer the effectiveness of an ad campaign.

Foursquare can uniquely measure lift by 500+ distinct consumer factors and attributes, such as DMA, gender, age group, historical visits, loyalty to certain types of retailers and more, uncovering granular insights into the true characteristics that drive incrementality. We also help marketers unlock demographic insights about their visitors to make more strategic planning decisions and improve future campaigns. (Data is shared in the aggregate and individual journeys are never sold.)

We’re also releasing a number of new features to add even more context to measurement campaigns. See results by categories such as ‘new customers’ (consumers who haven’t visited a chain in the past 60 days); view in-store lift by region and state; and assess lift by aggregated daypart.

The most complete tool for omni-channel measurement

Last year, our launch of TV Attribution with Subway unlocked clear visibility for marketers into their television advertising ROI. With the latest Foursquare addition of OOH to our offline attribution measurement arsenal, we’re meeting the needs of data-driven brands and media agencies who want a full view of the return on omnichannel media.

Plus: more than half of marketers surveyed by eMarketer are taking omnichannel measurement further by employing multi-touch attribution, but they aren’t able to compare advertising performance in a consistent way across every major channel. We’ve answered that need. Today, Foursquare Attribution, our end-to-end solution, is the tool you need for proving ROI across all channels—giving you daily insight into how your money is best spent and where.

For more information: email ads@foursquare.com.

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