According to the English Dictionary, “Keeping up with the Joneses” means to always want to own the same things as your friends or neighbors, because you are worried about seeming less important socially than they are.
Does this happen in the advertising world? You bet! In fact, that’s what some advertisers are banking on. Meet geo-retargeting look-a-like. This product targets the neighborhoods of people who have recently been to a specific place of business or event.
Here’s how it works: Advertisers can utilize a product call geo-fencing. This allows businesses to draw a virtual fence around a specific location (maybe a competitor) or event, targeting everyone in that location. Once this “fence” is drawn, anyone that enters this area with a mobile device, like a smartphone or tablet, can then be targeted on that mobile device. When they leave the geo-fence we continue to target those people, using a product called geo-retargeting. Once the person we are targeting heads home we can then target people that live in the same neighborhoods.
How does this benefit advertisers? Let’s take a look at an automotive dealership. Let’s say that Lexus wants to target the BMW dealership down the street. We would create a geo-fence around the BMW dealership so that anyone that visits could be targeted with a Lexus advertisement. Then, we continue to target those BMW shoppers after they leave, and then target their neighbors. Why would we do that? Typically, people that live in the same neighborhood are in a similar socioeconomic environment, meaning that they probably have similar incomes, similar lifestyles, and similar desires. Since one person in the neighborhood went shopping for a new car, maybe someone else in the neighborhood would go shopping as well. It’s called neighbor envy!
Don’t take our word for it. In fact, Buick highlights retargeting look-a-like in one of their latest commercials, proving that people still want to “keep up with the Joneses”. Let us show you how we can do this for your clients.
Oh, and if you want to see how Buick highlights this in their latest commercial, check out their ad on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA-I-cN9mh8
