Location-based technology will redefine behavioral targeting, maybe sooner than you think

That future in which a bus-shelter ad equipped with geofencing technology scans your smartphone as you stroll by—inviting you to, say, a free latte or a cut-rate back rub—may not be so far off after all.

“2012 is going to be a huge year in terms of innovation—not just with respect to being able to leverage location to contextualize the types of advertising and offers that a consumer receives, but also then to turn the corner on that and turn it into actual commerce in the physical world,” said Walt Doyle, CEO of the location-based service Where. Last spring, eBay bought Where to facilitate its mobile transactions. It will figure heavily in the forthcoming mobile-commerce initiative of eBay’s electronic payment service PayPal, which has already been tested with Best Buy and Home Depot.

And geotargeting doesn’t stop with the widely cited example of a free cup of Starbucks. While often accused of not living up to its promise, we likely will see the day, and soon, when location-based technology redefines behavioral targeting as we know it, when a consumer packaged-goods company recognizes that a shopper is in the cereal aisle and sends a Wheaties coupon to her phone.

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