I am very proud to be involved with this.

At a time when marketing budgets are being cut and funding for new projects is being withdrawn, NAVTEQ have developed and launched a product which advertisers have been crying out for – In short, brands can now communicate with their current/potential customers on a location specific AND interactive basis.

Cian @ GoMo news wrote a good piece covering this:

It’s been a good few weeks for NAVTEQ. At the end of April, Samsung announced that it would be going to the Nokia-owned mapping service to get all location data for the Omnia HDs on-phone services. And today, NAVTEQ has announced the launch of it’s turn-key mobile advertising service, LocationPoint, in Europe.

 Launched in the US in January, LocationPoint allows location-based applicationsto access its global, digital map. NAVTEQ is one of the most comprehensive digital mapping services around – if you’ve got a GPS device in your car, chances are it’s powered by NAVTEQ. The LocationPoint service allows advertisers to buy information points on that digital map, which appear on the screens of GPS devices and LBS mobile serviceswhen they come within range. The service also delivers ads relevant to a service when devices powered by NAVTEQ get close, and offers click-to-action on any of the ads it delivers.

From the release:

“LocationPoint gives advertisers a dynamic new medium to reach consumers with more relevant advertisements that research indicates have a higher perceived value,” said Chris Rothey, vice president, NAVTEQ.  “Consumers see the exchange of content for advertising as adding value when presented in the right location-relevant context and integrated tactfully within the navigation experience.  We believe that this new advertising service provides a valuable tool to meet industry needs.”

What we think?

NAVTEQ is looking like one of the wiser investments that Nokia has made in the last while. Following on from the Samsung deal last month, we could reasonably expect that LocationPoint will do good business in Europe. My initial feeling that this service might just serve to clog up yet another channel with advertising is probably inaccurate. Instead, it’s better to think of it as a comprehensive advertising-map that LBS can dip into as it needs to.