July, 2016
Why One Of The Best Places For A Beacon May Be A Parking Lot
By David Kaplan | GeoMarketing.com – Link to Full Article
Proximity platforms Access Mobility 24 and Gimbal are adding 4,000 beacons to parking lots on behalf of local merchants in Chicago, NYC, LA, Boston, and other cites.
After launching a beacon and geofencing program at 249 parking lots in Chicago earlier this year, proximity platforms Access Mobility 24 and Gimbal are adding 4,000 beacons to lots across the country to better connect drivers and local businesses.
The Chicago parking proximity program, known as Push Local 24, is concentrated on the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood, where dozens of lots are situated. The area also has a number of tony restaurants and cafes that will happily connect with workers who park their cars during the week as well as shoppers coming into to town.
“You have a consumer who is coming downtown to go shopping, but there’s also a significant number of people with a monthly parking profile that merchants want to reach,” says Access Mobility 24 CEO Joe Wright. “People who come to park at work every day are going out for coffee, they’re going out for lunch, or to pick something up after work. Families are shopping on the weekend and leaving their car in a lot. This program provides a new level of reach-and-frequency to a specific audience for nearby marketers in major metropolitan areas.”
To attract parking lot users, Access Mobility 24’s is operating on the premise that finding a good parking spot is tough when you want to get to a specific place of business, so offers and information from nearby businesses might make it easier to decide on a quick purchase.
Beacon Attendants
Access Mobility 24 is working with two major partners that will spread its proximity program to New York, Los Angeles, and Boston by the end of Q3. SP+ (aka Standard Parking), operates 4,200 parking facility locations. It also runs parking at sports and entertainment venues and airports. In other words, the scale is clear in terms of reaching the greatest number of consumers.
Among the first advertisers to sign on to Push Local 24 are Chicago spots Sweetwater Tavern and Grill, Bin 36 Wine Bar and Restaurant, Robert Morris University, and Great Clips.
While Access Mobility 24 has its own SDK for mobile apps to plug into for proximity marketing, Gimbal has the software and hardware infrastructure to manage the rollout.
“The PushLocal24 program highlights the importance of hyperlocal communication and gives a voice to local merchants to reach consumers in real time,” says Brian Dunphy, Gimbal’s SVP of Business Development. “For example, in an initiative enabled by C.Thru.Us and Gimbal shows how SMBs can leverage the value of proximity and location-based solutions similar to ways major enterprises do.”
As the program evolves and is spread more widely to other cities, Wright notes that Access Mobility 24’s app platform can work with any proximity network.
“We’re using the Gimbal beacon, but we can also be beacon agnostic,” Wright says. “The value in working with Gimbal is that we can open our network to that company’s partners. For example, RetailMeNot is a Gimbal partner and reaches tens of thousands of consumers with its app. As for being beacon agnostic, we can work with any app program that is tied to another beacon network as well.”
January, 2016
National Beacon Network Launched
Access Mobility 24 launches a National Beacon Network (PUSH LOCAL 24) in partnership with SP Plus. (SP+) is a diverse provider of professional parking, ground transportation, facility maintenance, security and event logistics services to real estate owners and managers in a wide array of markets. With over 4000 locations where consumer park and walk by thousands of merchants every day, this is the perfect way to market to consumers that carry the SP+ App. CEO, Joe Wright of Access Mobility 24 says, “We are delivering consumers right to the Merchants door steps, we know they are parking, we know they are walking, now we are delivering value from local merchants that want those consumers to frequent their establishment.” The Push Local 24 Network, uses the AM24-cThru Platform and Gimbal Beacons to deliver push notifications to alert consumers that there is a nearby offer.
