April 15, 2008 12:00 ET

1020 Placecast Delivers More Relevant Online Ads Using Real-Time Location Information

New Service "Locates" Wi-Fi, Mobile, DSL/Cable Connection, Allowing Advertisers to Reach Consumers at Home, at Work, or on the Road

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - April 15, 2008) - AD:TECH (Booth # 6044) -- Offline advertisers have taken advantage of the physical location of their target audiences for decades in the local newspaper, in subway cars or at the stadium. Online advertising, however, has been singularly deprived of this ability -- until now.

1020, a San Francisco-based media company, is unveiling Placecast™, a new and powerful way to deliver more relevant online advertising based on where users are connecting.

"By understanding where people are and why, we can reach the audience our advertisers are looking for without tracking the users themselves," says Anne Bezancon, CEO and founder of 1020.

Customers and partners such as FedEx Kinko's, Amtrak, CBS, and the world's largest advertising agencies rely on Placecast to create uniquely relevant advertising campaigns using PlaceAds™. PlaceAds combine three elements: where the ad is seen, when it is seen, and information about that location, to determine the proper message for the audience. Privacy issues are circumvented because Placecast locates only the user's place of connection; it has no way to determine the person's identity.

Place is More than Location

"Most online content does not reflect where a person is located. There is little concept of where the user actually is, but that matters because in the real world, people are in one place at a time, and they are there for a reason," said Bezancon. She noted that each place contains a specific audience that may vary over time; for example, Madison Square Garden has a different audience during a teen idol concert than during a Knicks game, much like an airport's audience varies on weekdays versus weekends.

"A lot can be inferred from where a person is specifically located when going online," Bezancon stated. "If a person is using a Wi-Fi hotspot in the lobby of a five-star hotel during a stockbroker conference, that person is likely to be interested in an ad for a fashion retailer, a luxury car or perhaps the jeweler down the street. He or she is not as likely to be interested in a coupon for the fast food restaurant three blocks away."

Placecast gives advertisers the ability to find online audiences in the real world and then speak to them with messaging tailored to their location like never before. The technology is the world's first to unite an individual's real-time location with related local information. The result is hyper-targeted communications that match the likely interests of the individual receiving the message, whether the person is at home, in an airport, at work, at a convention... or at The Plaza.

"We are definitely reaching our audience where we really want to reach them," noted Alex Stone, OMD Media Strategist for FedEx Kinko's, a Placecast customer. "The ads are driving a good amount of traffic... We're excited about [Placecast] and our client is very happy with the results."

Addressable and Dynamic PlaceAds

Placecast "positions" users by recognizing any online connection, whether through a mobile device, DSL or cable access, or a Wi-Fi hotspot. Then, Placecast combines position and supplemental information like type of venue, time and date, current events and local weather to infer the targeted audience.

Once the right audience is identified, Placecast can show "localized" messages in text, video or rich media format. The service achieves this by treating ad impressions and user location information as perishable inventory, leveraging techniques from supply chain management.

OnMedia Top 100 Winner

1020's groundbreaking Placecast service recently earned the company the "OnMedia Top 100" Award, given to game changing companies in the marketing, branding, advertising, and PR industries. The ranking is produced by AlwaysOn, a publishing company that covers the evolving media field.

As a next-generation media company, 1020 is dedicated to location-enabling online advertising across all devices and networks -- Wi-Fi, fixed broadband and mobile. Placecast, the world's largest place-based advertising network, can deliver location-enabled media across Web, WAP, video, and downloadable mobile GPS applications.

1020 is funded by Voyager Capital and Onset Ventures. For more information about Placecast, visit www.placecast.net.