We got the pitch deck Foursquare is using to sell advertisers location data - even as regulation and privacy concerns mount
- Foursquare acquired Placed from Snap in May and it's since started pitching agencies on its plans to be a one-stop shop for location data.
- In a pitch deck it shared with Business Insider, Foursquare touted its scale, accuracy, and trustworthiness.
- The pitch comes as marketers are asking more questions about privacy regulation in light of laws like the upcoming California Consumer Privacy Act.
- Foursquare also shared plans to give marketers quicker access to measurement and to remove audience overlap, addressing a big question advertisers had about the combined company.
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Foursquare's play to become the biggest location advertising company is getting clearer.
In May, Foursquare acquired location measurement firm Placed from Snap with a $150 million funding round led by The Raine Group with a plan to become the largest location-based advertising company.
Marketers have long been excited about using location-based advertising to track what consumers do after seeing an ad, but privacy regulation has thrown that into question. Europe's General Data Protection Regulation and the upcoming California Consumer Privacy Act limit advertisers' ability to use people's mobile data for ad targeting. Some location targeting firms have shifted their businesses to focus on data software and struggled to stay profitable.
Foursquare claims it's an outlier, though, with Foursquare and Placed together making more than $100 million last year.
David Shim, the founder of Placed and now Foursquare president, shared the company's pitch with Business Insider.
Foursquare wants to supply all marketers' data needs
Foursquare collects location data from 13 million consumers who voluntarily share it in return for money or use of Foursquare's apps to check-in and discover locations. Foursquare also licenses its data to more than 450 companies including Twitter, Amazon and Roku.
Placed matches ad exposure with location data to see stores and locations consumers visit after viewing an ad. Until being acquired by Foursquare, Placed lacked other kinds of location data that marketers use for ad targeting or tools that help developers and publishers plug location into apps, though, said Shim. Now, it can provide the entire location tech stack - similar to The Trade Desk's tech stack that powers programmatic ads across display, mobile and connected TV.
"In two months, we've seen a lot of traction in getting deeper with agencies," he said. "Agencies are telling us that they want a single solution that can do all things well."
These two slides in Foursquare's pitch deck show its scale and breadth of its business.
Marketers are asking new questions about privacy
With California's privacy law coming, Shim said advertisers are asking how Foursquare gets consumers' permission to use their location and where its data comes from. It's similar to the questions they asked several years ago when they realized that many ads were going unseen due to ad fraud and bots.
Shim said Foursquare's first-party panel data gives it a leg up over competitors. Under Snap's ownership, Placed was required by the Federal Trade Commission to follow by the same security rules Snapchat must meet as a public company. Foursquare has a direct relationship with consumers through its own apps, which distinguishes its first-party data, he said.
Foursquare is working towards faster measurement
Foursquare said it's speeding up its delivery so advertisers will get location data reports daily instead of weeks or months. Marketers will also get weekly reports comparing the performance of digital and TV ads, Shim said.
By this fall, it plans to have eliminated any audience overlap between Foursquare and Placed, addressing an agency concern.
It's also working to measure metrics like incremental lift to show how ads affect people's decisions to go to a given location.
"In the early days, measurement in location was about seeing an ad and going to a store," Shim said. "A lot of the partners we work with now are looking at the cost per incremental visit versus the cost per visit."