4. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION TO PROVIDE LOCATION INTELLIGENCE
Advertising: We use the information we collect to make inferences about what types of activities users tend to spend time doing. For instance, we may notice a particular Device frequently at locations associated with sports (e.g., an arena), music (e.g., a concert venue), eating out (e.g., restaurants) or health and fitness (e.g., a gym or health club). We use this information to categorize Device users into “interest segments” – which advertisers can use to tailor advertising to those users who appear on mobile ad platforms they work with. To see examples of those segments, please click here.
Spectus or its partners may use the information we collect to identify additional interest segments that may be relevant to device users, or to identify other anonymous users that are likely to share similar interests as Spectus users for tailored advertising purposes.
Attribution: We also use some of the information we collect (including location information, IP Address or mobile advertising IDs) to help advertisers analyze aggregate ad performance – such as by measuring whether or how Devices that saw a particular ad, whether it be in the physical world, in the digital world, or on TV, tended to engage with a particular product. In addition, we sometimes use any or all of the above information to help advertisers better understand their customers or their marketing, such as for market research, customer analytics, or analytics of traffic patterns. For example, data such as velocity and altitude may be used to determine a user’s mode of transportation (car, bicycle, walking, etc.) or to determine if a user is inside a location or above/below the location on a different floor of the same building. IP address may also be used for filtering out fraudulent activity, such as that from bots.
We sometimes collect the above data through “pixels” (described above) (“Pixel Data”), and we use such data to perform aggregated “attribution” analysis. This analysis can help marketers and their service providers understand which users have been exposed to which ad campaigns. This data may be measured or matched against aggregate location data in order to provide a “match rate” for an attribution study as to devices that have been detected at a given location – to provide similar services and analysis for marketers as those described above. For instance, if numerous devices that were sent an ad or offer for “Spectus Coffee” on Tuesday then went to a Spectus Coffee on Wednesday or Thursday, an advertiser might conclude that the ad campaign was successful.
Analytics: We help Customers better understand the offline consumer journey with location analytics for use cases, such as: offline competitive intelligence, market-share, consumer preferences, consumer mobility, path-to-purchase and footfall analysis. This helps them identify areas of growth and activate those insights to drive performance. For example, real estate companies use location analytics to identify geographic areas with expanding foot traffic for future development to better serve consumers. This may include sharing more detailed device and location information to allow Customers to bridge their own analytics with Spectus to develop combined aggregate insights.
Research: We work with research partners to allow them to derive inferences about traffic patterns to support causes such as improving the quality of life in underserved communities, natural disaster response, and smart city development through our Data for Good initiative.
Cross-Device Identity: Spectus may use the various identifiers that it has collected from your device, such as Mobile Ad ID (MAID), Device ID or ID for Vendor (IDFV), other Device IDs, IP Address, hashed forms of persistent identifiers such as an email address (for example, an email address has gone through a one-way transformation process that does not reveal the actual email address to Spectus but could be used to link to experiences together where the same email address was provided to different parties), and information about your device (such as model, operating system type and version, carrier) in combination with the location information you have provided to Spectus with consent to help recognize you and your device across the internet. Spectus may also share this information with partners, and receive similar information, to collectively allow each party to better recognize you and your device across the internet. This form of identification may sometimes be based on probability and not certainty that one ID is related to another ID. You may opt-out of cross-device identity at any time – please see your options in the Privacy Controls section.
Spectus contractually requires compliance with our Sensitive Points of Interest (SPOI) Policy that covers categories that are legally or culturally sensitive and that we will not allow to be used for advertising or attribution. This policy can be found here. Additional restrictions or exceptions may apply depending upon circumstances or jurisdiction.