The survey found that 99% of UK marketing and brand managers plan to invest in proximity marketing. 79% have already invested or plan to within the next 6 months, seeing it as crucial to staying competitive. Respondents saw driving footfall, delivering timely messages, and gathering customer data as very important benefits. Rather than just coupons, brands intend to use proximity for loyalty programs, promotions, and optimizing stores based on customer movement insights. Overall, 93% believe proximity marketing will greatly increase their marketing value.

1. How they see the future of
marketing-to-mobile in-store
Brands and proximity
marketing
Results from the independent survey of UK brands by Vanson Bourne, January 2015

2. Introduction
Proximity marketing - delivering contextual messages
to in-store smartphones and gathering insights from
the data the interactions produce - is going to have a
significant impact on retail, leisure and hospitality
marketing, to name but three sectors. So says anyone
with the words ‘mobile’ or ‘futurologist’ in their job title.
But what do the people who are expected to
implement it, the brand managers, the people with
the problems to solve and budgets to spread thinly,
have to say?
That’s what we set off to discover when we
commissioned independent research company
Vanson Bourne to ask brand managers in 100
significantly-sized UK brands what they thought of the
technology.
What they came back with, frankly, shocked us. From
our own conversations with brands we knew that they
were very interested in the benefits the tech brings.
What we didn’t really expect was exactly how keen
they were.
As you will see from the data collected here, the
overwhelming majority of brands surveyed are looking
to implement proximity marketing. In fact only 1
person in the whole hundred wasn’t interested.
Maybe we got lucky with the sample size? Maybe
Vanson Bourne’s questions were very cleverly phrased.
In both cases I don’t think that’s what’s happening
here. I think, in a sign of just how quickly brands are
realising the importance of mobile to consumers, they
are determined not to lose competitive advantage to
a rival brand who will, in their eyes and backed up by
the survey, almost certainly will be benefiting from the
technology.
What the survey tells us, more than anything else, is
that brands are not just ready to embrace the
technology, they are doing so right now.
Ian Malone
CEO Airspace
January 2015
Brands and proximity marketing
2

3. %!
The survey was conducted in
January 2015, in the United
Kingdom, by Vanson Bourne,
an independent research
company who specialise in
technology industry research.
The survey is an independent
study which surveyed 100
marketing and brand decision
makers from organisations in
the retail, hospitality and leisure
industries with at least 500
employees in the UK.
Vansonbourne.com
3
Brands and proximity marketing

4. ADOPTION
Who will adopt the technology and how quickly?

5. 99% of UK marketing and brand
managers surveyed are going
to invest in proximity marketing
From Airspace’s own, direct conversations with
brand and marketing managers we know that,
overall, their attitudes towards proximity marketing
are positive – the benefits for both consumer and
brand are so clear there is little reason not to think
this is going to be a very effective channel – but
even we, as proximity marketing specialists, were
quite staggered by just how many of the
respondents were looking to adopt the channel.
Just 1% of the retail, hospitality and leisure brands
weren’t looking to invest at any stage (it was a
leisure brand, in case you were wondering).
Of the positive respondents, there are interesting
geographical differences. In Yorkshire and The
Humber, for example 67% had already
implemented proximity whereas that figure
dropped to 24% in London, although a much
larger percentage in London were actually in the
process of investing.
Northern Ireland was the only region that hadn’t
either already or was in the process of investing in
proximity and Wales was the region that has
embraced the technology the most, with 100% of
respondents saying they had either already
invested or were currently doing so.
The time is now

6. 79% of UK marketing and brand
managers surveyed have
already or are in the process of
investing in proximity marketing.
28% of the brands surveyed have already invested
in proximity marketing in one form or another.
51% are currently in the process of investing the
the channel.
As we’ll see from other questions in the survey, it’s
not just the sheer volume of respondents
answering positively but the fact that they are
acting immediately.
This implies that proximity marketing is well-and-
truly on it’s way to becoming an established
channel in the marketing mix.
It’s no longer a case of ‘if’ but ‘when’ a brand
adds proximity to its shopper engagement
strategy.
Even clearer, as seen from the graphic, any brand
that isn’t committed to engaging consumers in-
store and in-venue is going to be in the minority
and is very likely to lose out to their competitor’s
advantage.
The time is nowThe time is now

7. 79% of UK marketing and brand
managers surveyed are either
already investing or looking to
invest in proximity marketing in
the next six months.
When is key. The last to invest will be the biggest
losers as, like with any new technology, there are
insights to be made and processes to optimise
before campaigns deliver the best ROI.
22% of respondents were looking to invest within 3
months. 57% were looking to invest between 3 and
6 months, with the average amount of time they
would ideally be looking to invest coming in at 4
months. 10% will be investing in 6-12 months.
The larger companies, those with more than 3000
employees, are slightly more likely to invest within 6
months (77%) whereas of the smaller sized
500-1000 employee companies 71% were investing
within that timescale.
The retail sector is most eager, with 80% of brands
ready to invest within 6 months and of that 24%
investing within 3 months. The hospitality industry is
dragging its heals slightly; although 78% will invest
within 6 months, it’s all within a 3-6 month period.
Another 17% in hospitality will deploy within the
year.
Only 2% of respondents hadn’t put a date on
investment.
The time is nowThe time is now

8. 79% of the UK
marketing and
brand managers
surveyed are
either already
investing or
looking to invest
in proximity
marketing in the
next six months.
The time is nowThe time is now
8%
22%
57%
10%
1%
0%
2%
Would ideally already
have implemented it
0-3 months
3-6 months
6-12 months
12-24 months
Longer than 24 months
Not sure

9. IMMEDIATE ENGAGEMENT
What stands out for brand and marketing managers?

10. The time is nowReal-time interaction
of respondents think the ability
to drive footfall is an important
benefit of proximity marketing
Driving footfall is just one benefit of proximity
marketing, but it’s a benefit that the respondents
rated very highly.
The ability to draw nearby traffic into store, using
techniques including geo-fencing, was given a
rating from 1 to 9, with 9 being ‘very important’.
66% scored this capability as rating a 7 or higher
and another 12% thinking it was more important
than not.
Interestingly, the larger the business (by number of
employees) the more importance was given to
driving footfall. For companies with more than 3000
employees, the percentage rating 7 or higher rose
to 77% and overall 98% of this group believed it
was more important than not.
By industry, the retailers seem most keen to benefit
with 92% feeling it’s an important benefit with the
leisure sector still keen, but the least enthusiastic
with 81% seeing driving footfall as more important
than not. Still a very high score.
Regionally, the respondents outside of the London
area were more likely to see driving footfall as a
benefit compared to those in London.

11. The time is nowReal-time interaction
of respondents reported the
ability to be more timely in
delivering infor mation to
customers is an important
benefit
Context is the key to delivering relevant
communications, which is why proximity marketing
is so exciting for businesses with physical visitors.
The ability to deliver engagement quickly when a
consumer is nearby means brands can engage in
activity not possible with other channels. It’s the
ultimate definition of ‘in the moment’ marketing
and rightly scores very highly with our group of
brand and marketing professionals.
80% of respondents rated the ability to deliver
timely information at least 7-out-of-9 (with 9 being
‘very important’). Only 6% felt the capability to be
less important than more important.
Using timely (as in nearby) engagement also
scored very highly in a specific example of
proximity in action: Cross promoting other products
was a popular benefit, scoring 7 or more with 84%
of the survey. The larger companies especially
seemed to highly rate the ability to market nearby
or associated products, with 90% seeing it as a key
benefit.

12. NOT JUST VOUCHERS
How are brands going to be using proximity?

13. The time is nowBeyond the voucher
say the ability to drive loyalty
with their customers is an
important benefit
There are many reasons to deploy proximity
marketing. At these early stages of this new, hyper
accurate stage of the channel it would be
understandable if brands simply wished to use
financial incentives, like vouchers, to convert
visitors to consumers.
But we are glad to report that the brand and
marketing managers surveyed absolutely see the
potential of the technology to do so much more.
Driving loyalty, especially, was very highly rated by
the group. Only 5% rated it as less than important
and the vast majority scored 7/9 or more, with 9
being very important.
It was the more medium sized companies (1,000 –
3,000 employees) that rated the benefit the most,
with all of them seeing driving loyalty as important
and a whopping 92% giving it a score of 7 or more.
Loyalty was also important to the retail
respondents, who score it more highly than the
leisure and hospitality sectors.

14. The time is now
Enhance displays or deals that
already exist 32%
How they see the technology being used
Giveaways 47%
Offering vouchers/coupons 50%
Promote new displays or deals 68%
Special offers 56%

15. The time is nowHow they see the technology being used
Tactical campaigns that can
be started and withdrawn quickly 52%
Welcome back / hello again 50%
Draw to specific locations 50%
Draw in passers-by to enter 47%
Maps or store guides 21%
Invitations to special events 18%

16. DATA & INSIGHTS
It’s not just about engagement:

17. The time is nowInsights to drive conversion
say the ability to gather more
accurate data to better
understand their customers is an
important benefit of proximity
marketing
How long has someone dwelt in a department or
next to a product? Do they react to shoe offers
better than dress offers?
These insights are going to be vital not just for
campaign planning but they are going to better
inform how stores should be stocked, staffed and
designed. The same level of analytics that has
previously only been available from website data
is now going to be available as real-time in-store
analytics and it’s going to potentially revolutionise
retail and leisure locations especially.
This has clearly not been lost on UK marketing
managers who highly rate the ability to gather
more insights on the way consumers act in store.
In larger companies, these insights are more
valued than in the smaller companies, with just 4%
feeling more accurate data was neither important
or unimportant, a figure that rose to 12% of the
companies in the 500-1000 employee category.
Across the board, each sector was naturally very
much in favour of gathering insights, although the
hospitality respondents were more likely to mark
this ability as very important to them.

18. The time is nowInsights to drive conversion
report proximity marketing is
useful for understanding which
online customers also shop in-
store
There is an interesting conversation to be had
around who owns the proximity relationship with
the customer. Is it the eCommerce people, who
understand digital relationships and metrics? Or is
it the retail team, who know best how to
effectively market in-store?
Organisations need to realise that proximity
delivers a new possibility; bridging the gap
between digital and bricks and mortar. As such
they will either need to create new roles or deeply
integrate previously unconnected departments.
So whilst understanding the value of connecting
online browsing history with a customer in-store is
obviously key, especially with larger brands where
90% of respondents think the ability is important,
putting it into practice is going to be an interesting
challenge as message delivery and legacy CRM
systems are integrated.
However, it will be worth it. The survey reveals
there’s obviously an appetite for this symbiotic
relationship and it’s not lost on all three industries
involved. Retail brands see the most benefit with
100% agreeing that the ability to connect digital to
physical is more important than not. They get it.

19. The time is nowInsights to drive conversion
Say it is useful for understanding
customer movement patterns
around stores
Much of the excitement around proximity
marketing is understandably about the quality of
engagement that precise location detection
delivers. But many brands, Walmart in the US being
a prime example, use hyper-accurate detection
to learn more about their customers’ behaviour,
movement patterns, product preferences and
more.
Until the super accuracy delivered by beacons, for
example, was available, understanding in-store
behaviour meant undertaking surveys, expensive
monitoring equipment and more. There isn’t yet
universal app engagement, so proximity marketing
will only deliver a sample snapshot of what might
be happening in-store, but it delivers it in real time,
meaning business managers can react instantly to
potential problems and opportunities.
This is not lost on our respondents, with three
quarters agreeing it’s going to be an important
benefit. Interestingly, nearly twice as many
managers in the hospitality sector gave a
maximum 10/10 importance score versus the retail
industry. As hotels reside in this sector, the easy
assumption to make is that - knowing a guest is
actually in the hotel - is going to make up-sell and
cross-promotion offers more effective.

20. The time is nowProximity is the way forward
93%
believe
proximity
marketing will
add more value
to their
company’s
marketing

21. The time is now
93%
In summary
It’s obvious the retail, leisure and hospital industries get
the benefit of proximity marketing.
It’s equally obvious that the absolute minority who
don’t get it (remember the lonely guy in the first
infographic?) are going to lose out to the majority that
do embrace the opportunity.
What we can see ahead is a blossoming of disruptive
technology that will deliver benefits to both consumers
and the organisations that market to them. We can
see brands, who have previously struggled to get a
decent return on their investment in mobile, realise
that mobile could be their most effective channel.
For the visiting customer, benefits don’t just come in
the form of deals or offers or extra content, but from
the improved store layouts or extra staff that the in-
store analytics might have brought into play.
For the locations, whether it’s a chain of 600 cafes or a
single football stadium, the technology is going to help
them learn more about what we as visitors want, how
we like to ‘be’ in-store and ultimately what will make
us convert a visit into a purchase. Becoming more
loyal to the brand in the process.
If you would like to know more about how your
organisation can benefit from proximity engagement
and insights, please contact us using the channels
below.
The full survey, including all data, may be made
available upon request.
Website: www.airspace.cc
Email: enquiries@airspace.cc
Telephone: 00 44 (0) 7043 0718
Twitter: @airspacenetwork