Location-targeted ads are regarded as untapped goldmines for the advertising and retail domains, and nothing seems to be slowing down this trend.  For just about every industry, location-awareness appeals as a launchpad to hyperactive, social consumerism. Several industries, including search, social, banking, auto and shopping have found some point of leverage for location-awareness.  Even carriers are re-working their way back to users, finding new ways to tap into data they’ve long had access to.  AT&T, The New York Times and Loopt are among the most recent to launch their location-driven initiative.

With the AT&T ShopAlerts system, customers will be able to opt in to receiving location-based deals by text message, which means the service won’t be limited to smartphone customers. Users will either be directed to a mobile website where they can redeem the deal or, like Loopt, they will be told to redeem it at a local establishment. On the other side, Loopt’s Reward Alerts application will send participating Android and iPhone users notifications that a deal is immediately available in their area. Loopt customers would then need to present their phone message to a retailer to redeem the offer.

Another established brand that will greatly benefit from advertising to its current customers, and will make a move to location-based services, is The New York Times, with TimesLimited. TimesLimited will not require a minimum number of buyers for any particular offer, but the offers will be limited to a certain time frame.  The format is gaining popularity, being applied to a number of retail and publishing companies, which have a natural audience for targeting these types of consumer campaigns.

Spinning the globe a bit, we reach Germany, where Alex Springer buys 74.9 percent of KaufDa, a German online service which lists retailers online brochures and makes coupons available on a location-aware basis via mobile. A few thousand miles westwards we have Archant, a regional news publisher that buys 50 percent of Tickles, an English daily group deals service in order to maintain financially after print advertisement fallout.

Location-awareness is not reduced to advertising solely; it is also a new contextualization of brands’ communication with customers, a prerequisite for any business that wants to maintain useful correspondence with current or potential clients. It draws much more attention and opportunities of luring current or potential clients by delivering purpose-driven ads instead of launching mass-marketing campaigns that are often too broad and imply a higher non-response rate from current or potential customers. At a collective level, location infuses with  numerous domains and services, informing users of weather conditions, distance to friends, families and favorite restaurants, it tracks travel routes, associates photos and gives precise information of stores in close proximity.