Sonata launches global battle for hyperlocal mobile marketing

Act global, think local.

That could be the slogan of local marketing platform Sonata. In yet another sign that the mobile marketing scene is becoming a battle of geolocation, the company is today boosting the mass geotargeting of its global advertising platform.

Launched early in 2014 to provide local mobile marketing that increases foot traffic to actual stores, the platform is now enabled for beacons. Late last year, Sonata bought and has now integrated the beacon provider Grasner SL.

U.S. general manager Lara Mehanna told me that the platform is also now “able to service global brands with multiple campaigns in multiple locations using location-specific actions” that can target users down to the square foot. In other words, a global battlefield for hyperlocal marketing.

One wonders when we’ll see the resolution of such targeting — based on beacons, GPS, location information derived from the delivery of Apple Passbook coupons, and other geolocators — down to the square inch.

Above: A geotargeted map in Sonata

Image Credit: Sonata

The platform’s previous emphasis, she said, had been on small businesses conducting self-serviced, relatively small campaigns using GPS or other location indicators.

Now, larger brands as well as small businesses — Sonata claims about 250 clients globally — can readily launch a wide, geotargeted campaign to deliver in-app messaging, push notifications, and web ads.

To better match conditions on the ground, Sonata is conducting its geotargeting with consideration for weather so marketers can decide the best time to pitch discounts on say, ice cream cones. Expect to see other local data becoming commonly integrated into mobile marketing, like Google-derived automotive traffic conditions.

Sonata, a subsidiary of ad network TAPTAP in Spain, is one of a number of tools that have emerged to take mobile and other kinds of marketing to the local level. Recently, for instance, Five Stars boosted its offerings to mom-and-pops, and OwnLocal bought a website builder.

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Geolocation in its various flavors is becoming standard on mobile advertising and marketing platforms. Mehanna pointed to InMarket as a beacon competitor, as well as Xad, Thinknear, PlaceIQ, and Verve as competitors in the mobile marketing space.

Sonata’s edge, she said, is offering global, hyperlocal campaigns.

However, the Sonata platform is not yet integrated with generalized marketing automation platforms, making it less capable of being part of multichannel campaigns.