Marketing by demographics is an ‘age-old’ concept.

When Manifesto first had the opportunity to combine location-based technologies with Hong Kong traffic flow data for a client in 2005, we were excited by its possible applications for advertising. Acquiring and mapping consumer demographics against the Hong Kong landscape however, proved to be too daunting in terms of cost.

Having such information would help advertisers plan their out-of-home media buying more effectively.

Rooftops untouched

In Hong Kong, outdoor advertising is rampant. It also scores some of the strongest year-on-year increases in 2007, with ad spend in the MTR and wall signages rising by over 20% for example.

With urban areas becoming ever more crowded with posters, billboards, wall signages, neon signs, TV walls etc., will advertisers turn to advertising on rooftops, to be viewed from the air? There are currently none at the moment, as far as we can tell from Google Maps. The arguments to consider rooftop ads however are not likely to be too convincing.

Googly demographic mapping

On the subject of Google Maps, we think it has interesting possibilities for the location-based consumer demographics mapping we mentioned. With their financial clout and focus on “Search, Ads and Apps” (according to their new tagline), they are well placed to aggregate information in the user-friendly “Googly” format we have grown accustomed to.

For more information, please contact Manifesto.