New results from a Scion campaign earlier this year that leveraged real-time search and location highlights the growing opportunities in the auto industry with mobile to drive traffic to dealerships.

Scion worked with xAd on the location-based campaign, which ran from June 26 ? July 31 in Chicago. The case study is part of the new ?Mobile location insights? from the third-quarter of 2013. 

?We view location as the ultimate intent variable for mobile, and as a result, we use location in three distinct ways to best target the in-market auto shopper,? said Monica Ho, vice president of marketing at xAd, New York.

?One way is through a user?s proximity to a dealership or other target location and past intent for auto-related information as seen in our mobile search behavioral data,? she said.

?If a car shopper is out and about, mobile advertising can be used to remind the user that they are near a dealership and provide immediate calls-to-actions such as ?see current offers,? ?call to schedule a test drive? or ?maps and driving directions.??

Drive on mobile
Scion ran the campaign to target consumers based on their proximity to a dealership in the Chicago area.

The goal was to find in-market auto shoppers to spur traffic to regional dealerships.

The ads were also served to consumers who had either recently visited a Scion or competitor's dealership.

Additionally, ads were targeted towards consumers that conducted a mobile search for auto-related keywords in xAd?s search network of apps. The network consists of search data from local directory and navigation apps, including Mapquest and Waze.

Scion reports that the campaign saw a 40 percent lift in CTR as a result of using the combination of search and location data.

Once consumers clicked on the Scion ad, they were 120 more likely to take a secondary action, such as making a phone call or viewing a map with directions.

Target by location
XAd reports that 97 percent of its campaigns leverage a type of location targeting. The two types of targeting are either standard geographym such as a ZIP code, or geo-precise with geo-fencing or geo-conquesting tactics.

However, the move is towards more precise types of targeting.

In fact, 96 percent of xAd?s location-based campaigns during the third-quarter of 2013 also layered on data into an ad to increase relevance.

XAd?s targeted display ads that leverage data and location average a .60 percent click-through rate, and search ads generate an average 8.9 percent click-through rate.

The report also outlines the retail, restaurant, finance, telecommunications and auto industry as some of the top verticals generating revenue from either display or search ads.

?A second way we use location is to identify where there might be higher indexes of a target behavior and zero in on that for mobile ad delivery,? Ms. Ho said.

?A third way is targeting users based on past visitation behaviors,? she said. ?For instance, re-targeting a mobile user who has recently visited a car lot in the past month. Obviously the third option has lower reach then the above two options, but it can be very powerful depending on the goals of a brand's campaign.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York