Rip Gerber, CIPP

Why would Chief Location Officer celebrate privacy? In today’s mobile society, we are always on the move and always connected. We have agreed to a new evolution of commerce — if Adam Smith and Charles Darwin had a baby theory together, they would call it Cambrian Explosion of the Invisible Hand. Every moment we trade bits of information about ourselves for free services and entertaining apps.   Think you haven’t written a huge check to Facebook lately?  Think again.  On average we Americans spend over 54 billion minutes on it every month. That’s 8 hours a month for you, reader, during which your information, activities and popularity are paying for that “free” service.

This new economic contract only works when we are providing users with information, choices and controls around privacy.  And that’s why I studied all of last year and was ultimately accepted into the elite ranks of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), after passing several examinations to earn a Certified Information Privacy Professional accreditation. I am proud that I am the first mobile CEO to earn such a distinction. Now I can put CIPP on my business card. (I’m still waiting for endorsement solicitations from Nike and Allstate).

How are others celebrating data privacy in 2012? Over the past six months I’ve gotten many more calls from CEOs and mobile developers on the topic of location privacy. There is common concern in these discussions — that “industry” needs to pull together to properly protect consumer privacy all while providing innovative new services consumers want.  Location and privacy is not just a mobile issue. Whether its smartphones or credit cards or FastTraks or connected toasters, we live in a cyber-society in which location data is ubiquitous. Our customers need to trust “industry”, for if they don’t, our customers will call upon the government to enforce such trust. Whether it is the recent Supreme Court Decision (United States v. Jones) for GPS trackers of the proposed bill from Ed Markey for a Mobile Device Privacy Act, those of us in “industry” need to celebrate privacy and get our collective act together to preempt crude if caring Acts from Congress.

Happy  Birthday Data Privacy Day.

Happy Birthday Data Privacy Day

You share January 28th with some of the best: Elijah Wood, Sarah McLachlan, Jackson Pollock, Saint Thomas Aquinas and the United States Coast Guard. Data Privacy Day at 3 years: glad to see you can now feed yourself, recognize sounds in your environment, and jump with both feet.

Here are some ideas for the best mobile gifts for the people on your “Naughty List” that you can easily send using your Android or iPhone this year:

Groupon for Jenny Craig
Send your annoying colleague or boss who could lose a few pounds a groupon for Jenny Craig.  In fact maybe there’s a great teenager stocking stuffer deal from Texters Anonymous.

Photo of Yourself
That girlfriend or boyfriend who dumped you in high school and wants to friend you on Facebook? Nothing says, “Thinking of you at the holidays,” more than a photo of yourself. Since mobile devices go everywhere with you, why not?

(Dis) Advantage Subscription to AOL

Slow down Spamma’s chain letters and kitten videos with an AOL subscription, or wrap up one of those start-up CDs and slide it under the tree.  It’ll keep Granny occupied troubleshooting “awful software, inaccessible dial-up numbers, rapacious marketing, in-your-face advertising, questionable billing practices, inexcusably poor customer service, and enough spam to last a lifetime.” That’s an actual quote from PC World.

Worthless Mobile Apps
These applications give new meaning to “there’s an app for that.” For the especially  annoying someone on your list who can’t put down their Android or iPhone, consider one of these apps:

iFireplace – Your rude cousin can take the “yule log” with him or her any time and anywhere he or she goes. Experience it here.

iTan – Give your weird Aunt Ruby a tan in her pocket but she’ll have to get the color she wants from another cancer causing source however. Experience it here.

Spin the Bottle – You’re crazy, single co-worker who loves to frequent bars on Monday nights can use this one. Experience it here.

Online Offer to A Self-Help Seminar
That irritating friend who is constantly giving you copies of “The 7 Secrets to Success” or “The Secret” could use an online offer to a fire-walking, secret-seeking, spandex-wearing seminar in Arizona.

Artwork by Your Kids
The finger-painting of the Mona Lisa that looks like a frog in a monk’s robe (not that I have one in my garage behind the chainsaws), the purple blob representing Barney, or the stick figure with a mustache can all be easily emailed to your friends or posted on their Facebook wall.

Credits to Farmville, Castleville, or Any-ville
These highly addictive games that spread like a bad disease are the perfect way to get your in-laws off your back. They’ll be so consumed with growing their farms, kingdoms, or whatever that you won’t have to hear from them ever again!

The Cell Mate
There’s no better way to say, “you really annoy me” than to give someone one of these. Although, The Cell Mate would have been really awesome in a Miami Vice show back in the 80s.

What’s the best gift for someone you love? Use mobile giving to donate money in the name of your loved one.

But there is something retail (and other less prudent) marketers ARE spending money on these days. Location.

Now there’s hard evidence that proves it: more and more advertisers are putting hard cash into mobile ads that include location data. Gigaom recently reported on this (shocking) phenomenon, stating that mobile publishers and developers are getting 3.8 times more for ad impressions, that include location data in the last three months.

Wonder why Facebook bought Gowalla? Location. Why location? Location-based advertising targets customers where they are and delivers results. When you combine relevance with location, you get a powerful combination. At the same time, marketers may be cheap, but they are smart. The good ones think through any location-based strategy, the technologies, the consumer impact (I advise a few really big ones, so I know). A very good synopsis on dealing with this elephant in the room can be found on Mobile Marketer: Location-based Advertising without the Fear. This blogger brings up some great questions that you can review with your team as well as some opportunities to leverage location in a non-intrusive way.

The location demand is only going to continue to grow as advertisers see real revenue boosts from location-based ad campaigns. How are you going to use location to ramp up your business?  You cannot be more Scrooge-like than a retailer when it comes to marketing spend. Yet even those guys are opening the wallets for location data. Are you missing something?

1. Understand that You and Your Company are Part of Something Bigger. You are going to get much more out of it and you’ll be more successful if you invest in ecosystem around you. Give back
2. Invest in Your Team. Put the right team in place and nurture them because they are an investment in your success. Sometimes we forget the human beings and only invest in the products.
3. Embrace Change. You need to be resilient as a company and there will be a time when you have to change directions. It’s no so much a big vision change but the strategy might need to take a radical shift.

If you look at Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerburg, they all followed these cardinal rules. The formula for becoming a billionaire is not so complicated when you think about it. I’ll check back with you all after I’ve hit my first billion…

I recently read that 90% of marketing managers plan to use mapping technology in the next year. That’s according to Google’s Enterprise Division and Vanson Borne. Nearly half of marketing professionals using the technology (46%) said that it improves productivity, and one in five (21%) are using it to combine different sets of data and spot patterns, agreeing that this would not have been possible without being able to visualize information.

Location-based marketing is rapidly becoming a popular strategy and I expect it will become the norm sooner than later. When you think about it, there is a location component to many marketing campaigns. Where are customers located? How do you reach them when they are close to your product or service? Can you devise timely promotions based on location?

If that many marketing managers are planing to use mapping, why aren’t you part of the 90%?

Looks like a company in the UK may have found a potential solution. Using a smartphone rigged with a new CSR chip and software, the company recently demonstrated its SiRFstarV and SiRFusion indoor location technologies at a recent conference in San Francisco. To some degree, CSR still relies on GPS to determine your position. But it also gathers real-time information from other satellite systems (Galileo, Glonass and Compass) and combines that data with info pulled from Wi-Fi and cellular radios, along with multiple sensors such as accelerometers, gyros and compasses. It all gets fused together with mapping and other data, to help figure out your precise whereabouts.

Nokia is already in the midst of developing this technology on its mobile phones. There’s a huge opportunity for companies that want to create inside mapping databases (hint, hint…Google). Who else is going to take location indoors?

How do I know this? Well, I’ve never been to Starkville, Mississippi, but I recently read in The New York Times that the owner of the coffee house has figured out an ingenious way to use location to boost sales of this strange brew and other drinks he offers by 35%. When customers check in at the location, they get a 10% discount off any drink. The owner says his location-based marketing strategy has increased walk-in traffic much more than any of his other social media activities, with an average of 4 to 5 check-ins a day. When friends of those checking see it, that also has an impact on driving business. Even better if the person checking in gives the joint a good review.

Small businesses are seeing the advantages of location-based services because it points customers in the right direction: the front door. What’s even more exciting is that in the future, people won’t even have to check in. Network location means businesses already know where customers are so they can push out notifications, all the customer has to do is accept it.

That sounds like reason enough for another latte.

Looks like someone has figured out a way to generate some heat:

I’m not sure these people on homemade generators could withstand a Nor’easter. Could weather be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Occupy Wall Street?

Lots of media and pundits have criticized this movement for not having a clear message. Does it really matter? The sheer size and geography of something like this could be record-breaking or historic. The movement recently claims protests Berlin, to Athens, Auckland to Mumbai, Tokyo to Seoul. Perhaps we are seeing the world’s largest protest?

Check out this Google map of people who have checked-in: http://occupywallst.org/attendees/

Think about where all these people are sleeping, eating, or going to the bathroom. I certainly hope all these people are picking up their trash. If it’s anything like what people left post-Woodstock, we’re going to need a killer clean up crew.

You’d have to Google each one of those scenarios and then scroll through all the results. Wouldn’t it just be easier if there was a site called Worst Locations Ever? This site would have categories like restaurants, social events, safety, fun, sports activities, life events, and more! You could also have people check-in to these sites and post photos, videos, and reviews. People love to complain. Think of all the SNL material you’d get out of a site like this, and it just may crush Facebook.

Here are more worst locations for those of you who want to avoid frustration, being killed while shopping for Bok Choi, or losing money on your restaurant:

Worst location for a newscast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdfYm5VcZxY

Worst location for an outdoor market:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3_BN7gm4SLA

Worst location for a restaurant:
http://www.kcci.com/r/28697781/detail.html

Apple sold 20 million iPhones (up by 142%) and 9.25 million iPads (jumping up by 182%)—nearly doubling revenue last quarter. I’m sure the average American household doesn’t have an iProduct budget right now since a top-of-the-line iPad can cost up to $829. Why?

A blog post I recently read, “Broke and Buying Anyway” written by Dan Lyons, says it could be a matter of trying to appear more financially stable than you really are—or that you’re in denial. When life pretty much sucks, people want a distraction. Smartphones and tablets are a way to escape. It’s easy to forget that you can’t pay your mortgage when you’re watching movies on your iPad, checking in on your Facebook friends, or playing Angry Birds on your iPhone.

Lipstick, liquor, and cigarettes are typically indicators of a bad economy. During the Great Depression, cosmetic sales jumped 25%, and after September 11, 2011, lipstick sale doubled. CNN recently reported that alcohol sales are up, and thanks to the Great Depression (again) for the end of prohibition because now we can tax alcohol.

Although an iPhone costs a lot more than a tube of fuchsia lipstick, or a six pack, it does give people a level of control in an otherwise chaotic and scary world. Perhaps Apple has figured out how to develop recession-proof products.