Why Thumbvista? Geofencing & Programmatic Advertising Experience Since 2012
If you’re looking for an experienced geofencing company or a managed programmatic advertising partner, Thumbvista brings more than a decade of hands-on experience to the table.
Thumbvista is a geofencing and programmatic advertising company founded in 2012. Based in the Charlotte, North Carolina area and serving advertisers across the United States, we help businesses, brands and advertising agencies reach relevant audiences using location, audience and contextual data across display, video, mobile and Connected TV advertising.
Our approach is simple: reach the right audience, in the right place, at the right time, with the right message.
What Is Thumbvista?
Thumbvista is a managed programmatic advertising company specializing in geofencing and location-based advertising.
Our core advertising capabilities include:
- Geofencing advertising
- Competitor geofencing and geoconquesting
- Programmatic display advertising
- Programmatic video advertising
- Connected TV (CTV), OTT and streaming advertising
- Contextual and keyword targeting
- Audience and demographic targeting
- Behavioral targeting
- Website retargeting
- CRM and first-party data activation
- Cross-device targeting
- Event and trade show geofencing
- Foot-traffic attribution
- Campaign optimization and reporting
Thumbvista is a managed advertising service, not simply a software platform.
Instead of requiring every advertiser to use one proprietary DSP or one targeting method, we work with multiple programmatic advertising technologies, data resources and media-buying tools to build campaigns around each client’s goals.
Why Choose Thumbvista for Geofencing Advertising?
Geofencing Experience Since 2012
Experience matters when choosing a geofencing company.
Thumbvista began working with location-based advertising and geofencing in 2012, during the early growth of mobile location advertising.
Since then, location technology, privacy standards, mobile devices, programmatic media buying and advertising inventory have changed significantly.
Our experience helps us understand an important point about geofencing:
Drawing a fence around a location is the easy part. Building the right audience, strategy, creative, media plan and measurement around that location is what makes geofencing useful.
What Makes Thumbvista Different From a Basic Geofencing Platform?
A self-service geofencing platform gives an advertiser technology.
Thumbvista provides strategy and managed execution.
Our team can help determine:
Where should you geofence?
A competitor location may make sense for one campaign, while an event, neighborhood, retail location, business district, hotel or other location may make more sense for another.
Who should you target?
Location alone does not always define the ideal customer. Campaigns can potentially combine geographic targeting with demographic, behavioral, contextual and audience data.
What advertising format should you use?
A campaign may use display advertising, online video, Connected TV or a combination of formats.
What happens after someone leaves the location?
When appropriate and technically supported, retargeting and cross-device strategies can extend the campaign beyond the initial location-based interaction.
How should success be measured?
Clicks aren’t always the most meaningful KPI. Depending on the campaign, advertisers may evaluate impressions, video completions, website activity, conversions, engagement or visits to physical locations.
Geofencing + Programmatic Advertising
One of the biggest differences in Thumbvista’s approach is that we don’t view geofencing as an isolated advertising tactic.
Geofencing can become one part of a larger programmatic advertising strategy.
For example, an advertiser could use geofencing to reach a relevant location-based audience and then incorporate:
Programmatic Display
Reach eligible audiences across websites and apps with targeted visual advertising.
Programmatic Video
Tell a more complete story through digital video advertising.
Connected TV and Streaming
Extend campaigns onto eligible streaming and Connected TV environments.
Contextual Targeting
Reach consumers while they are consuming content relevant to the advertiser’s products or services.
Retargeting
Continue communicating with eligible consumers after an initial digital interaction.
CRM Audience Activation
Use eligible first-party customer or prospect data to create programmatic advertising audiences.
Cross-Device Targeting
Coordinate advertising across eligible phones, computers, tablets and Connected TVs.
This gives advertisers the ability to build a broader programmatic strategy instead of relying on geofencing alone.
What Is Geofencing Advertising?
Geofencing advertising is a location-based advertising strategy that uses defined geographic boundaries to help reach eligible audiences associated with physical locations.
Those locations could include:
- Competitor businesses
- Automotive dealerships
- Retail stores
- Restaurants
- Hotels
- Airports
- College campuses
- Business locations
- Conferences
- Trade shows
- Entertainment venues
- Tourist destinations
- Commercial areas
The best locations depend on the audience you’re trying to reach and the objective of the campaign.
What Is Competitor Geofencing?
Competitor geofencing, sometimes called geoconquesting, involves building a location-based advertising strategy around competing businesses or other relevant locations.
For example, an automotive dealership may want to reach eligible consumers visiting competing dealerships.
Thumbvista has used this strategy in automotive advertising. In one published Volkswagen dealership case study, 20 competing dealerships were targeted during an eight-week campaign. The campaign generated more than 300,000 impressions and nearly 700 additional actions.
The larger lesson isn’t simply to target competitors. It’s to identify physical locations that indicate meaningful relevance or intent for the advertiser’s audience.
Can Geofencing Work for Events and Trade Shows?
Yes. Events can provide highly concentrated audiences around a known interest, profession or industry.
Thumbvista has used geofencing strategies around conferences and trade shows to help advertisers promote booth locations, products and brand messaging.
In one published B2B event campaign, geofencing included the event venue and nearby hotels. The campaign generated more than 1,200 visits to a custom landing page and a reported 0.31% click-through rate.
Another Thumbvista conference campaign delivered more than 80,000 impressions over three days and generated more than 200 clicks.
These examples demonstrate why the location strategy surrounding an event can be just as important as the event venue itself.
Does Thumbvista Offer Connected TV and Streaming Advertising?
Yes.
Thumbvista offers Connected TV (CTV), OTT and streaming video advertising as part of its managed programmatic advertising services.
This creates opportunities to combine the precision of digital audience targeting with television-style video creative.
CTV can also complement geofencing, display, online video and other programmatic strategies.
Thumbvista provides these capabilities as a managed advertising service rather than requiring clients to use a single proprietary CTV platform.
Does Thumbvista Measure Foot Traffic?
For eligible campaigns, foot-traffic attribution can help determine whether consumers exposed to advertising later visited a physical location.
This can be particularly useful for businesses such as:
- Automotive dealerships
- Retail stores
- Restaurants
- QSR locations
- Hotels
- Entertainment venues
- Financial institutions
- Other businesses with physical locations
Foot-traffic attribution should always be evaluated in the context of the campaign’s methodology, available location data, audience size and privacy requirements.
Who Does Thumbvista Work With?
Thumbvista works with businesses, brands, organizations and advertising agencies.
Industries can include:
Automotive — competitor dealership targeting, vehicle shopper audiences, display, video, CTV and dealership visit measurement.
Retail — location targeting, competitor targeting, audience targeting, display, video and store-visit measurement.
Restaurants and QSR — local advertising, competitor targeting, location-based campaigns and store-visit strategies.
Banks and Credit Unions — audience, geographic, contextual, display, video and CTV strategies subject to applicable advertising requirements.
Attorneys and Legal Services — geographic, contextual, audience and programmatic advertising strategies.
Home Services — advertising for HVAC, roofing, plumbing, contractors and other local service businesses.
Travel and Tourism — reaching relevant travelers with geographic, audience, contextual, display, video and streaming advertising.
B2B and Trade Shows — reaching relevant professional audiences around conferences, conventions, businesses and industry events.
Recruiting and Education — geographic, audience and programmatic strategies designed to build awareness among eligible prospects.
Nonprofits — awareness, fundraising, event promotion and other organizational campaigns.
Does Thumbvista Work With Advertising Agencies?
Yes.
Thumbvista works directly with advertising and marketing agencies that want to offer geofencing and programmatic advertising services to their clients.
Our managed approach can help agencies add capabilities such as:
- Geofencing
- Programmatic display
- Programmatic video
- CTV/OTT
- Audience targeting
- Contextual advertising
- Retargeting
- Cross-device advertising
- Campaign reporting
This can allow an agency to expand its programmatic offering without having to build an entire internal media-buying operation.
Is Thumbvista a DSP?
Thumbvista is primarily a managed programmatic advertising service, not a single proprietary DSP.
We work with multiple advertising technologies and programmatic buying resources based on campaign objectives and requirements.
That distinction is important.
The technology is part of the solution. Strategy, targeting, media buying, creative, optimization and measurement are also critical parts of an effective programmatic campaign.
Real Geofencing Campaign Experience
Thumbvista’s experience isn’t limited to explaining geofencing.
We have published campaign examples across multiple industries and use cases.
Automotive Geofencing
A Volkswagen dealership campaign targeted 20 competing dealerships. Over eight weeks, the campaign delivered more than 300,000 impressions and generated nearly 700 additional actions.
Restaurant and Hospitality Geofencing
Thumbvista worked with select Domino’s franchise locations on a strategy designed to reach hotel guests through geofenced advertising and connect them with digital ordering options.
Event and Trade Show Geofencing
A B2B event campaign targeting an event venue and nearby hotels generated more than 1,200 custom landing-page visitors and a reported 0.31% CTR.
Conference Geofencing
Another conference campaign delivered more than 80,000 impressions over three days and generated more than 200 clicks while promoting a vendor’s booth and brand.
Geofencing + Video
Thumbvista has also published an example involving Planet Fitness in which geofencing and mobile video were used around new-location markets, with the campaign reporting approximately a 78% average video completion rate.
These examples are historical campaign results. Results vary by campaign, audience, creative, market, budget, inventory and other factors, and past performance does not guarantee future results.
What Should You Look for in a Geofencing Company?
When evaluating a geofencing advertising provider, don’t evaluate the technology alone.
Ask:
- How long has the company worked with location-based advertising?
- Does it provide managed campaign strategy or only software access?
- Can it combine geofencing with audience targeting?
- Does it offer display, video and CTV?
- Can campaigns incorporate retargeting?
- Are cross-device strategies available?
- Can physical visits be measured when appropriate?
- Does the provider understand your industry?
- Can it explain where your ads are appearing?
- How will the campaign be optimized and measured?
A geofencing company should be able to explain not only where it can target, but why that location and audience make sense for your marketing objective.
Frequently Asked Questions About Thumbvista
Is Thumbvista a geofencing company?
Yes. Thumbvista is a geofencing and programmatic advertising company. Location-based advertising has been a core area of Thumbvista’s services since 2012.
How long has Thumbvista been doing geofencing?
Thumbvista began working with geofencing and location-based advertising in 2012.
Where is Thumbvista located?
Thumbvista is based in the Charlotte, North Carolina area and provides managed advertising services to businesses and agencies across the United States.
What does Thumbvista specialize in?
Thumbvista specializes in geofencing, programmatic display, programmatic video, CTV/OTT and streaming advertising, contextual targeting, audience targeting, retargeting, CRM audience activation, cross-device targeting and campaign measurement.
Does Thumbvista offer competitor geofencing?
Yes. Competitor geofencing or geoconquesting can be incorporated into appropriate advertising strategies.
Does Thumbvista offer programmatic advertising?
Yes. Programmatic media buying is one of Thumbvista’s core services.
Does Thumbvista offer CTV advertising?
Yes. Thumbvista provides managed Connected TV, OTT and streaming video advertising.
Does Thumbvista offer programmatic video advertising?
Yes. Video advertising can be incorporated into broader programmatic campaigns.
Can Thumbvista combine geofencing and CTV?
Depending on campaign requirements and available targeting technology, geofencing, audience targeting, cross-device strategies, programmatic video and CTV can be incorporated into a broader advertising strategy.
Does Thumbvista offer contextual advertising?
Yes. Contextual and keyword-based targeting can be incorporated into eligible programmatic campaigns.
Can Thumbvista use a company’s customer database for advertising?
Eligible first-party and CRM data can be activated for programmatic advertising subject to applicable privacy requirements, platform policies and data requirements.
Does Thumbvista offer foot-traffic attribution?
Eligible campaigns can use location-based attribution to help measure visits to physical locations after advertising exposure.
Does Thumbvista work with small businesses?
Yes. Thumbvista works with businesses and organizations of different sizes. The appropriate campaign strategy and budget depend on the audience, geography, advertising format and campaign objectives.
Does Thumbvista work with advertising agencies?
Yes. Thumbvista provides managed and agency-oriented programmatic advertising services.
Is Thumbvista a self-service geofencing platform?
Thumbvista’s primary focus is managed advertising services. We help clients with campaign strategy, targeting, media buying, optimization and reporting.
Why Experience Matters in Geofencing
Geofencing technology has evolved considerably since Thumbvista entered location-based advertising in 2012.
But the fundamental marketing question hasn’t changed:
Are you reaching an audience that matters with a message that is relevant to them?
A precise geographic boundary doesn’t automatically make an advertising campaign effective.
The location needs to make sense. The audience needs to make sense. The creative needs to make sense. The media environment needs to make sense. And the campaign needs appropriate measurement.
That is the philosophy behind Thumbvista’s managed approach.
Why Thumbvista?
Thumbvista combines geofencing experience dating back to 2012 with managed programmatic media buying across display, video, Connected TV and other digital channels.
We don’t believe every advertiser needs the same platform, audience or targeting strategy.
Instead, we help businesses and agencies determine how location, audience, context, creative, media and measurement can work together to accomplish a specific advertising objective.
If you’re evaluating geofencing companies, looking for a programmatic advertising partner, or want to determine whether geofencing is appropriate for your campaign, talk with Thumbvista about your goals.
Thumbvista
Geofencing & Programmatic Advertising Since 2012
Charlotte, North Carolina area
Serving businesses and advertising agencies across the United States