Acquiring Placed: Snapchat’s Segue Into Location Measurement

Snapchat recently announced its acquisition of Placed- a Seattle-based startup that specializes in consumer location measurement and offline attribution. Placed’s expertise in consumer location analytics derives from their use of proprietary technology coupled with smartphone GPS data.

Founded in 2011, Placed has been successful in attributing online campaigns to offline behaviors such as Black Friday store visits, Pokémon Go user location, and Amazon’s impact on brick and mortar retailers. Among the most notable is Sprint’s “Cut Your Bill in Half” campaign where consumers took advantage of the promotion by bringing their current cell phone bills into Sprint stores. Sprint saw a dramatic increase in in-store traffic, and Placed was able to attribute these analytics to Sprint’s online campaigns.

The multi-million-dollar partnership is said to be the largest of its kind in Snapchat’s history. This investment is exciting for companies and advertisers who enjoy utilizing Snapchat’s unique audience but are currently unable to analyze the campaign’s success in drive to store initiatives. The acquisition of Placed may help Snapchat to scale its measurement systems such as Snap to Store, giving advertisers the opportunity to track how online Snapchat ads translate into offline ROI. Industries such as restaurants and retailers may especially benefit from the partnership as they craft their social campaigns, and utilize Placed’s data to optimize their strategies.