McDonald’s and Facebook Partner for Location Based Ads

Facebook continues to spread it’s wings and take on all competitors. This time Facebook has all of the location based check-in services in their sights. Within the next few weeks, Facebook will allow users to check in via their mobile devices and share their location  within a status update. McDonald’s, through digital agency Tribal DDB, is building an app with Facebook would allow users to check in at one of its restaurants and have a featured product appear in the post, such as an Big Mac.

Reports say that Facebook is not charging McDonald’s for the creation of the app. This is a part of a larger “media buy” between McDonald’s and Facebook. Facebook’s new geolocation platform will allow a user to check-in at a specific location and see a target ad from that specific location as long as they are a part of Facebook’s location based ad campaign.

This is a slippery slope because of the advertising that is a major part of this new platform. If there is one factor that will cause people to turn away from Facebook, it will be more advertising throughout the experience. The recent news that many of the games (Farmville, etc) no longer appearing in people’s home feeds now makes more sense as there will be new pop-ups coming to a Facebook home feed near you. Seeing Fillet-O-Fish sandwiches or Espresso drink offers pop up during my Facebook perusal does not excite me. How do you feel about it?

Who will be next to create a location based ad campaign and partner with Facebook? Common sense says that Starbucks will be on of the next brands to hop on board. The distribution worldwide would make this a win/win for Facebook and Starbucks. I would think Starbucks would take this one step further and offer some sort of giveaway or discount to ensure people continue to check-in at Starbucks and build some type of buzz. A retail store I expect to participate Best Buy. The premier electronics retail store has large distribution throughout the United States and would be a strong partner with Facebook.

A few under the radar brands that come to mind would be Fresh & Easy (affordable grocery store with green intentions), the city of San Francisco (international city with a huge tech influence), Tesla (high-end electric car brand) Urban Outfitters and Forever 21 (two popular clothing retailers). One brand I suggest getting involved in someway would be LRG/Karmaloop which provides hip and edgy t-shirts and is growing in popularity every month.

Overall, a positive move for Facebook with some risks involved. I am more interested in seeing what other brands besides McDonald’s go live at launch date. What other brands do you feel should get on board? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

About the Author
I am a developing social and digital media junkie on an adventure through life. Right now I am on the chapter in the book where I live in Los Angeles. Reach me on twitter @ahr19. Thanks for reading my post.
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