If there’s one trend you need to watch in the communications landscape in 2010, location based media is it. Why? Because this is the one shift that will fundamentally change how people relate to your brand. It also gives brands no other choice than to reassess how they can connect with their audiences.

Today let’s start with the basics…

Location based media is when information, entertainment and multimedia content is delivered to your mobile phone based on your location at that moment in time.

It first started appearing on the radar in 2004, but it’s only now that we have the technology to experience it (iPhones, smartphones).

With penetration of smartphones predicted to be at 448 million by 2011, this isn’t something that won’t happen. Currently in Australia smartphone penetration is at 30% and growing at a healthy rate.

The way developers and brands are delivering the experience to consumers is also becoming more sophisticated. It’s not all about being sent coupons for $1 Big Macs every time you walk past a McDonalds.

Take Foursquare, an example from the US that is rumoured to replace Twitter.

Foursquare is downloaded onto your smartphone and instantly gives you and your friends (who you can also choose to sign in to let you know of their whereabouts) a new way of experiencing old environments. As you are signed in and go about your day – visit a café, go to a theme park etc – you can earn points, receive promotional offers and so on.

You are also given information about new places in the area you might not have tried. Information like peer reviews on restaurants, discount vouchers and more. The more you interact, the more points you earn, the more brands can allow you to experience.

Foursquare is just one application. More will follow as developers refine their understanding of what people are looking for in their experience and we’ll be back with more reviews on such applications in the months to come.

Posted by: Carmen Campbell
Thanks to: RBC Capital Markets, “Sizing the Global Smartphone Market”, 2009 & AIMIA figures 2009