In digital advertising, Device ID Targeting is one way to support location-based campaigns. Understanding the technology and its limits is important for marketing managers and business owners considering geofencing.
At its core, Device ID Targeting uses mobile advertising identifiers, such as Apple’s IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) or Android’s GAID (Google Advertising ID), in advertising workflows. These identifiers may be pseudonymous or linkable; they are not automatically anonymous. Data availability and permitted use can vary by platform, vendor arrangement, user permissions, and applicable law.
How Device ID Targeting Works with Geofencing
When used for permitted, non-sensitive campaigns, geofencing can help define a location-based advertising approach. A simplified workflow may include:
- Geofence Creation: A virtual boundary is established around a relevant non-sensitive setting, such as a retail district, public event venue, or broad neighborhood.
- Data Availability Review: The campaign team confirms what data and inventory may be used under the relevant platform, vendor, permission, and legal requirements.
- Audience Planning: Campaigns may use approved non-sensitive geographic or contextual criteria. They should not use past location or behavior to infer a person’s health, treatment, procedure, medication, or provider visit.
- Ad Delivery: Where permitted, ads may be delivered through eligible mobile-app and website inventory using the campaign’s approved criteria.
The Technology Behind the Scenes
Location-based advertising involves several parts of the advertising ecosystem, including:
- Location Data Providers: Companies that may collect and aggregate location data from mobile devices, often through relationships with app developers.
- Data Management Platforms (DMPs): Platforms that can organize advertising data for approved campaign uses. Advertising IDs and location data should not be represented as automatically anonymous or used to create profiles that infer health-related information.
- Programmatic Advertising Platforms: Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) can facilitate real-time bidding and ad delivery across available mobile inventory.
Practical Uses for Marketing Teams
For permitted non-sensitive campaigns, teams can focus on relevance and clear planning rather than treating a device identifier as a proxy for a person.
Contextual and Geographic Relevance
Broad geographic and contextual criteria can help align creative with a shopping district, public event, or local area without making sensitive inferences about individuals.
Message Relevance
Creative should be appropriate to the setting and audience context. It should not be tailored from an inference about a person’s health, care, treatment, or provider visit.
Community and Professional Outreach
Local awareness efforts can use broad community messaging, public events, professional gatherings, and other non-sensitive settings when those approaches fit the campaign objective.
Event-Based Marketing Opportunities
Conferences, trade shows, and local public events can support relevant promotions when the audience and setting are non-sensitive and the campaign is reviewed for the applicable requirements.
Measurement Considerations
Measurement plans should define the reporting method and its limits. Teams should avoid presenting device-level signals as proof of a person’s identity, health status, or individual action.
Examples of Lower-Risk Campaign Contexts
- Retail: A clothing boutique uses creative relevant to a shopping district and measures aggregate campaign reporting under its approved campaign plan.
- Automotive: A dealership promotes a community event through approved inventory and broad geographic messaging.
- Restaurants: A restaurant runs neighborhood-awareness creative for a local promotion without using visits to other businesses as a retargeting trigger.
- Tourism: A city tourism board promotes local events, tours, and restaurants through broad visitor-oriented messaging.
Campaign Considerations
Device ID Targeting requires careful planning and campaign-specific review:
- Privacy and Permissions: Review the data, vendor roles, permissions, applicable state and other law, and platform rules for the specific campaign. Mediavision2020 does not certify legal compliance.
- Health-Related Restrictions: Do not use health-provider visits, patient or clinical inputs, care or procedure signals, or health-linked household expansion as audience sources or targeting triggers.
- Audience Design: Prefer sufficiently broad, non-sensitive criteria and avoid narrow segments that could expose or imply sensitive information.
- Creative Review: Use clear, context-appropriate creative and avoid messaging based on sensitive inferences.
- Frequency Capping: Where available, consider frequency controls to help manage repetition.
Device ID Targeting can be part of a location-based advertising plan when its limits are understood and the campaign uses approved, non-sensitive criteria. It should not treat advertising identifiers as automatically anonymous or turn location history into health-related profiles.
Contact our team at Mediavision2020 for a free consultation.
