Verizon’s Precision Market Insights

Also launched last October, Verizon’s analytics arm, Precision Market Insights, gathers the interesting bits about customers on the CSP’s network and uses them to guide the likes of outdoor advertisers and sports venues that want to have a better understanding of who their customers are and what they want. Verizon plans to introduce relevant mobile-marketing services in order to put only the most pertinent messages in front of its customers, who are also invited to opt in to Verizon Selects, for which the company supplies coupons and other offers to customers who agree to let their data be mined (they will then receive targeted mobile advertising based on their behaviors).

Mobile advertising

According to venture capitalist Mary Meeker, nicknamed the “Queen of the Net” by Barron’s back in 1998, mobile advertising currently accounts for 3 percent of spend versus around 12 percent of consumers’ time. That statistic speaks to just how ineffective mobile advertising is in its current state.

The first service provider to get mobile advertising right wins. Considering how many people carry a mobile phone, the potential to reach customers with pertinent offers at precise times and locations is astronomical. Imagine the power of marketers sending offers by NFC (near-field communication) directly to the mobile devices of customers as they pass a storefront, or the improved experience of those customers when each and every mobile-advertising message they see is relevant and tailored specifically to their interests and needs.

Telefónica Digital recently doubled down on its efforts by setting up shop in Silicon Valley to develop a format for personalized, relevant mobile advertising that will engage customers and make them rethink the way they interact with ads.

Even cable companies are noticing the shift from traditional advertising to a more informed, personal approach. Guavus, a Big Data solutions provider, acquired the IPDR (internet protocol detailed records) solution from Applied Broadband in June to expand Big Data for multiple-system operators (MSOs). “Clearly, the time for cable Big Data is now,” said Jason Schnitzer, Applied Broadband’s founder and principal, in a news release regarding the acquisition.

Before any of these next-gen Big Data services can truly take a foothold in the industry, however, issues surrounding data storage and integration have to be addressed on a wider scale. Cloud computing also has a significant role to play: as the cloud becomes more powerful and flexible, so too will Big Data and the services it enables.

Reading the tea leaves is about to get a whole lot easier for marketers. Because of the limitless number of transactions they have with their customers and the intimate relationships that evolve through each of those transactions, CSPs are in a unique position to capitalize on, and supercharge, the way business gets done, not to mention their own bottom line.