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Unacast Blog

We love to share stories about us, and the new and quickly growing location industry. Each week we publish insights gleaned from how we build Unacast, our platform and our clients' results.

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26/10/2016

What a Sock Budget has to do with Company Identity

The benefits program at Unacast is awesome, but it is the item mentioned at the very bottom of the long list of benefits that best describes how we think about work: We provide a yearly budget for everyone to buy socks 🧦

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Apr 12, 2018

What a Sock Budget has to do with Company Identity

The benefits program at Unacast is awesome, but it is the item mentioned at the very bottom of the long list of benefits that best describes how we think about work: We provide a yearly budget for everyone to buy socks 🧦

Apr 6, 2018

An Open Letter: Transparency, Privacy and Individual Rights

As questions surrounding data transparency, privacy and compliance become increasingly prevalent, I want to take the time to address these topics and make the values and business practices of Unacast clear.

Mar 28, 2018

Help! We're Hiring Again

Curious to know how our hiring process works for technical roles at Unacast? You're in luck! VP of Engineering Andreas Heim is breaking it down.

Mar 8, 2018

Celebrating International Women's Day: Women of Unacast Talk Inspiration, Advice and Careers in Tech

In celebration of International Women's Day, we're sharing the inspiration, advice and career stories of a few of the many talented women who call Unacast their professional home.

Feb 28, 2018

Location Intelligence in the Automotive Industry - The Q4 2017 Prox.Report

Major players of the automotive industry are leveraging the power of mobile data and location-based services to create more personalized customer experiences - and merge the physical and digital worlds.

Feb 26, 2018

This 8th of March, I'll do More Than March

March 8th is International Women's Day. I'll be truthful with you - I haven't been 8th of March marching before. This year I am doing more than marching. I'm getting up on stage to speak.

Feb 21, 2018

How Can Big Game Location Data Translate to Better Business?

Check out the first edition of our monthly data insights series to find out how location data from the big game can affect strategic planning for businesses.

Feb 13, 2018

Unacast Raises $17.5m to Bring the Real World Graph® to New Geographies and Verticals – and to Mars

I’m excited to share that Unacast has raised a new round of capital from Transatlantic VC White Star Capital with the European telco Telia as follower. Existing investors Open Ocean Capital and Investinor are also participating - both increasing their investments from the previous round.

Feb 8, 2018

How Location Data Will Create the Cities of the Future

The cities of the future might not look like The Jetsons, but they will take the idea of "smart" to a new level.

Feb 1, 2018

It's Time for Brands to Demand Transparency

In evolving industries, it's not uncommon to see companies claiming to offer the best product or most accurate information as a way of carving out market share. The location data space is no different - but brands want more than just information.

Jan 25, 2018

Why a Good Company with Good People Should Have a Code of Conduct

Why would an already "good" company like Unacast want or need to remind ourselves to #begood? Simple: We're working to create a tidal wave of our own.

Jan 11, 2018

Oh, Snap: Why Wall Street's Wild Card Needs to Focus on Data

It's impossible for Snap to escape comparisons to Google and Facebook. But there's a fundamental problem. Google and Facebook are data companies. Snap is simply ... not. And it needs to change its stripes.

Jan 2, 2018

2018: Full Speed Ahead

Over the holidays I took some time to reflect and write to our friends and partners about what 2017 brought to the industry, and what Unacast is excited about in 2018.

Dec 22, 2017

Happy Holidays from The Unacast Team

Wishing you a merry and bright holiday season!

Dec 21, 2017

One Year with BigQuery

After one year of using BigQuery, it's time to dive deeper into the pros and cons of using this powerful - but not perfect - tool.

Dec 5, 2017

Unacast ProxSummit Panel: Measuring the "Right" Stuff

How do we measure consumer behavior today and what measurements really matter? Panelists Aniq Rahman (President, Moat) and David Shim (CEO, Placed) dive into this discussion with moderator Gayle Meyers (CMO, LUMA Partners) at the 2017 Unacast ProxSummit.

Nov 28, 2017

Unacast ProxSummit Panel: Recipe for Location Data 2.0

As the appetite for location data evolves, companies are digging deeper into what makes it valuable. Dive in with this video from the 2017 Unacast ProxSummit

Nov 17, 2017

Location Intelligence in the Financial Industry - The Q3 2017 Prox.Report

A rapid growth in the number of smartphones, IoT connected devices, and proximity sensors has led to an explosion of alternative data sources that enrich investment models and commercial banking experiences with new insights, often in real-time. The Q3 2017 Prox.Report looks at the impact of these technologies.

Nov 7, 2017

Why Location Is the Next CRM

With geolocation data being a part of everything we do these days, advertising or otherwise, why shouldn’t this data be layered into existing consumer profiles?

Oct 27, 2017

Why location data should matter to all consumer brands

Not paying attention to location data simply because you don’t run a physical store? If that’s the case, I’d like to make an argument for paying greater attention to location. Simply put, location needs to matter to all consumer brands. It’s not just for brick-and-mortar retailers - it’s for everyone.

Oct 16, 2017

The Big Leagues: Transparency Reaches Location

Throughout the conferences I attended last year, it was often an uphill battle for me as I worked to educate people there about the merits of location data and why companies need a proximity strategy in order to thrive. This year was very different.

Oct 10, 2017

We stopped talking about diversity, and did something about it

In just six months we have greatly improved the gender balance at Unacast, now at 36% women and 64% men. How did we do this? The answer is as easy to communicate as it is hard to do: We wanted to improve, and we worked hard to do

Sep 25, 2017

How Brands Can And Should Be Using Proximity Data

Over the past few years, location and proximity data have transformed the retail space — both literally and figuratively. Proximity data is no longer a nice-to-have; it's quickly becoming a requirement for doing business in the modern age.

Sep 23, 2017

See video from ProxSummit 17

Watch the highlight video from ProxSummit 2017 and relive the magic from when the location and proximity industry came together in NYC to discuss the future of the industry. See you all at ProxSummit 2018

Sep 15, 2017

How it is to be a summer intern at Unacast

I was challenged every day, worked autonomously on multiple projects, and felt a lot of support and encouragement from colleagues who were always ready to help. Also, I loved that everybody took their shoes off at the office and ate lunch all together every day

Sep 9, 2017

See pictures from ProxSummit 17

The first ProxSummit was held in NYC on September 7th. Over 100 guests and speakers from the location and proximity industry came together to share stories and plan for the future.

Sep 1, 2017

Introducing the speakers at ProxSummit 17 – understanding the real world

Meet some of the amazing speakers at ProxSummit 17 that define the location and proximity industry

Aug 22, 2017

Introducing ProxSummit 2017 – understanding the real world

On September 7th, Unacast will bring together the top 50 leaders in Marketing and advertising to create the inaugural ProxSummit. Hosted at the Midtown Loft & Terrace in NYC, the aim is to advocate transparency, debate how location is used today and also predict what the future holds.

Aug 11, 2017

Asset Tracking: Beyond Retail - The Q2 2017 Prox.Report

Rapid development of proximity and location technologies is pushing the boundaries. Beacons, RFID, Wi-Fi, and other Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) have emerged as a game changer in industries where precise indoor location tracking is paramount. In the Q2 2017 Prox.Report we look at how proximity and location technologies are used for Asset Tracking.

Aug 3, 2017

Data Sources Pros and Cons: How do SDK, Bid Stream & Beacon Compare?

This is a guest contribution by Amy Fox, Head of Product at Blis. To help navigate the constantly evolving landscape of the location and proximity industry, our friends at Blis dig into the pros and cons of the leading data sources on the market.

Jul 25, 2017

For the Auto Industry, Location is key

This is a guest contribution by Ari Saposh, VP of Data at oneAudience. To help navigate the constantly evolving landscape of the location and proximity industry, we invited our friends at oneAudience to discuss the importance of location and proximity technology in the auto industry.

Jul 19, 2017

Breaking down common misconceptions in proximity & location marketing

Marketers have started to realize the importance of understanding customer’s visitation patterns and how they can leverage it to replace the need of having access to sign-in data. Even though the market has come a long way in understanding real-world behavior, there are still many misconceptions and questions around the concept. We want to help break some of the most common of those down for you.

Jul 7, 2017

How advertising technology companies conquer the world beyond advertising

Many of the defining global tech companies are built on proprietary graph data, and some of these have in turn used that strong core position to go from advertising technology to “all kinds of”-technology and industries. I will use Unacast’s proprietary graph to show how.

Jun 28, 2017

Location: Cannes

Unacast CEO & Co-founder, Thomas Walle, takes a look back on this year’s Cannes Lions festival and what it means for the location and proximity industries.

Jun 27, 2017

The Future of Beacons Isn’t Just Retail

This is a guest contribution by Szymon Niemczura, the co-founder and CEO of Kontakt.io. To help navigate the constantly evolving landscape of the location and proximity industry, we invited our friends at Kontakt.io to discuss a case study where proximity technology is used in the healthcare industry.

Jun 16, 2017

If data is the new oil, physical retail needs to build oil platforms - fast

I want to take the narrative further from my previous post and talk about the specific actions a physical retail store (or retail store chain) could take to get closer to that elusive digital future - and to compete as Amazon is moving in on the physical turf.

Jun 7, 2017

Snapchat is going places: Bets big on location data

The intersection of people based products and marketing, big and small data, and accurate location data is quickly becoming a “must have” component of many smart product offerings and companies. The latest “must have” proof point being Snapchat’s 200 million acquisition of location and attribution startup Placed.

May 31, 2017

Context, Context, Context

This is a guest contribution by Josh Anton, Founder X-Mode. To help navigate the constantly evolving landscape of location and proximity marketing, we invited our friends at X-Mode to discuss a case study in which they leveraged their contextual expertise.

May 25, 2017

Is Amazon the Napster of Retail?

The digital tidal wave has and continues to alter the landscapes of most industries, and retail is the latest to find itself submerged in the sea of change. Like the rise of Napster permanently changed the way we listen to music, new technologies are now changing retail.

May 19, 2017

We are hiring! Presenting our improved hiring process

We want to share our hiring process with you as a prospective employee. One of our values is “Trust through transparency” after all. Sharing this openly will make sure everyone that wants to apply to Unacast has access to the same information as everyone else

May 19, 2017

Presenting the Unacast Diversity Dashboard

In this blog post, I want to share with you how we think of diversity and why we think it's important. I’ll end the post by sharing a few ideas on how we can increase and improve efforts to hire a diverse team.

May 15, 2017

Proximity Marketing in Retail - How does it work in practice?

This is the second blog post covering the rest of the Q1 2017 Proximity.Directory report. This time we have looked into the retail vertical. Get the newest information about the proximity industry, learn more about the importance of proximity technologies in retail and find the third PSPi ranking.

May 5, 2017

Proximity Marketing in the Retail Industry

The new Q1 2017 Proximity.Directory report is out and this time we cover the retail vertical. Get the newest information about the proximity industry and learn more about the importance of proximity technologies in retail

Apr 10, 2017

10 things I learned in my first year selling data at Unacast

I’ve been in the marketing and advertising world for 19 years, but it’s only in the last year, since joining Unacast and building the C2.Ventures portfolio, that I’ve really been embedded in data-as-a-service (DaaS) models. These are a few of things I’ve learned after 12 short months as a data guy.

Apr 3, 2017

«Even rotting corpses have culture»

A recent example of how culture is itself not the solution is, of course, the troubles of Uber and its CEO Travis Kalanick. So, what went wrong?

Mar 31, 2017

Presenting our team - Hello, Tomas

In this blog series, we are to presenting our team. Next is Tomas Jansson.

Mar 24, 2017

Unacast Values - we used a mirror instead of binoculars

You don't have to create your values at day one. Create your values when you know who you are and why you are succeeding. And use a mirror rather than binoculars.

Mar 7, 2017

From zero to xerox – how we failed at diversity

I am torn as these thoughts rush through me like the windows in the boardroom were suddenly removed and the New York winter wind demands us to cool our heads and confess: We failed at diversity.

Mar 3, 2017

Presenting our team - Hello, Jarle

In this blog series, we’d like to present our team. Next up is Jarle Fosen.

Mar 1, 2017

Unacast wins best "Verticals & Marketplaces" at LSA17

Wow! Last night we won best "Verticals & Marketplaces" for our Real World Graph™ platform product at the LSA17 Ad to Action Awards in San Diego.

Feb 9, 2017

Smart Cities - The Q4 Proximity.Directory Report

In this edition of the Proximity.Directory report we are cover Smart Cities. Get up to date on the proximity industry with the newest numbers and real life use cases.

Jan 30, 2017

Why being an intern at a startup is the best investment you will ever make

My name is Romet Kallas, and I want to share my experiences going from a project manager intern in a startup to a product manager and now, moving to New York City as an account executive. Here's my story.

Jan 20, 2017

Presenting our team - Hello, Lars

In this blog series, we’d like to present our team. First out is one of our recent hires, Lars Bakke Krogvig.

Jan 9, 2017

Unacast and the Real World Graph™

This post is an elaboration of the keynote that I held at the SLUSH conference in Helsinki where, for the first time, I presented The Real World Graph™

Dec 30, 2016

Proximity to 2017: Predictions

2016 was not the year of Proximity, and 2017 will not be either. The reason being that Proximity is already all around us, hiding in plain sight, with proximity tech like Bluetooth beacons being implemented in all kinds of hardware.

Dec 11, 2016

The biggest thing at Slush was this tiny map

It's always cool to meet our partners in the wild and see how they are each and everyone sensor by sensor changing the world by connecting physical to digital. At the Slush conference in Helsinki, Steerpath showed us the way forward.

Nov 29, 2016

Apple Pay Should Pair With iBeacon

The last few years Apple has invested in the retail industry, primarily through the launch of Apple Pay and iBeacon. Both technologies address separate challenges for the customer experience and the store and they show a massive potential in revolutionizing our real world shopping experience.

Nov 25, 2016

High Performance Read API on Kubernetes using Redis

This post is best read with some prior knowledge to Kubernetes. You should be familiar with concepts like pods, services, secrets and deployments. Also, I'm assuming you've been working with kubectl before. Enjoy!

Nov 21, 2016

Introduction to Programmatic Advertising & Unacast

Here's a jargon busting introduction to programmatic advertising which will help you understand the proximity industry and Unacast better

Nov 8, 2016

Proximity Marketing in Airports and Transportation - The Q3 Proxbook Report 2016

Launching the Proximity Solution Provider index (PSPi) - ranking system of Proxbook profiles

Oct 23, 2016

Make API Documentation Great Again

Could we change the paradigm of how we build HTTP REST APIs such that great API documentation is a consequence instead of a chore?

Oct 14, 2016

Why Bluetooth Will Not Be an Obstacle for Beacon Adoption

Bluetooth is becoming more usual in connecting all of our devices together, and it will help to further increase the beacon adoption

Oct 4, 2016

Granularity vs Scale – Our Problem, the Industry’s Problem

Does scale matter in advertising, location targeting, attribution and does it contribute to success?

Sep 27, 2016

Did Apple sort of announce iBeacon 2.0 by removing the headphone jack from iPhone 7?

Apple being mostly quiet since their 2013 iBeacon release has lead to widespread speculation around the launch of iBeacon 2.0

Sep 20, 2016

The Red vs Blue Ocean Proximity Strategy

Are you willing to challenge your clients to stay ahead of the competition? What differentiates your proximity marketing solution?

Sep 9, 2016

Beacons & Privacy - You Can’t Afford to Miss This

Why should you care about beacons privacy and what happens if you neglect it

Sep 2, 2016

A gift from Proxbook: 55 Proximity Use Cases

Proximity technology is thriving in commercial settings. We have compiled some of the recent uses cases from Proxbook as inspiration

Aug 28, 2016

Location-based Marketing vs Proximity Marketing - What is the Difference?

The most successful mobile marketing campaigns are a combination of location and proximity marketing, but it's important to understand the difference

Aug 14, 2016

An Interns Life at Unacast

If you are looking for a predictable job with regular 9-5 office hours, then you should definitely not work at Unacast

Jul 28, 2016

Beacons Help Sports Teams Reclaim $1B in Lost Ticket Sales

The Q2 proxbook report - proximity marketing in sports & events

Jul 14, 2016

Connecting the Physical World to the Advertising Industry - PROX Partners Pt. 5

Part five of a blog post series where you will get to know all of the PROX partners one by one

Jul 1, 2016

Unacast Writes About Beacon Networks in the Definitive Book on Proximity

Key stakeholders from the proximity industry join forces to share knowledge on beacon deployments and more

Jun 24, 2016

All Eyes on Location Data - Recap From Cannes Lions

Top advertisers, agencies and ad platforms gathered at Cannes to talk about creativity, new technologies and where the industry is heading.

Jun 17, 2016

Unacast gets chosen to Unilever's Foundry 50 out of 4500 companies

We are proud to represent our entire PROX partner network to leading brands and marketers at Cannes Innovation

Jun 15, 2016

Connecting the Physical World to the Advertising Industry – PROX Partners Pt. 4

Part four of a blog post series where you will get to know all the PROX partners one by one

Jun 12, 2016

Proximity Expert Blog Posts Series - Past, Present, Future

Learn about challenges, technologies and trends that will disrupt the proximity industry

Jun 5, 2016

Marketing can be sooo boring! What else can you do with beacons?

Marketing is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to beacons, learn what else can you do with beacons

Jun 2, 2016

Connecting the Physical World to the Advertising Industry – PROX Partners Pt. 3

The third part of a blog post series where you will get to know all the PROX partners one by one

May 26, 2016

The Sensor API is Here

Learn how Unacast maximizes the quality of your proximity data for you

May 17, 2016

Unacast is Hiring: We Want Your Brain

After announcing new funding of $5 million we are ramping up our teams at our Unacastles in NYC and Oslo.

May 17, 2016

Unacast Raises $5M to Index the Physical World

Proximity marketing is maturing as US media veterans invest in Unacast together with European VC Open Ocean Capital

May 14, 2016

Shhh! This is Our Plan. Tell Everyone.

We have written quite a few articles on our product offerings and outlook on the industry, but I recently realized that we hadn’t shared the full plan.

May 10, 2016

Eddystone or iBeacon: Which Beacon Protocol suits your Proximity Marketing Campaign?

Detailed overview of the factors that businesses need to think through before deciding on a beacon protocol

May 4, 2016

Individual Targeting - Brands and Advertising Techs Are Misaligned

If individual targeting is the goal, why ad exchanges, DSPs and other advertising techs all seem to focus on audiences instead of people?

Apr 28, 2016

Connecting the Physical World to the Advertising Industry - PROX Partners Pt. 2

The second part of a blog post series where you will get to know all the PROX partners one by one

Apr 22, 2016

3 Key Takeaways From I-COM

Thomas Walle shares his main takeaways from I-COM, the global forum for marketing, data and measurement companies

Apr 21, 2016

Brands Achieving Impressive Results With Beacons - Q1 Proxbook Report

We are glad to celebrate our 300th member in Proxbook by launching the Q1 Retail themed proximity marketing report

Apr 17, 2016

Connecting the Physical World to the Advertising Industry - PROX Partners Pt. 1

The first part of a blog post series where you will get to know all the PROX partners one by one

Apr 4, 2016

Infographic: Why Proxbook is the No.1 Destination For Global Proximity Marketers

Check out our infographic on how and why Proxbook has become the No.1 destination for global proximity marketers

Mar 31, 2016

Advertisers Are Lining Up For Your Data!

Beacon data has been difficult to scale for advertising due to the fragmentation of the proximity industries, the PROX network solves that

Mar 23, 2016

Proximity Marketing - What, How, Why?

Learn why proximity marketing has become a top priority for global marketers

Mar 20, 2016

One year of Proximity – The Unacast journey

From 0 to 400 million beacons

Mar 13, 2016

What Jay Z and TIDAL Can Teach Us About Adblocking

History doesn't always repeat itself

Mar 7, 2016

The Ultimate Introduction To The World Of Proximity Marketing

Proximity Marketing 101: Learn about what proximity is and why this technology is so powerful

Mar 2, 2016

Opera and Unacast Partnership Finally Connects Advertisers to Global Beacon Data at Scale

Announcing our partnership with the world’s largest, independent mobile ad platform

Feb 28, 2016

How to Monetize Your Beacon Deployments

What can you do to turn beacon deployments into new and meaningful revenue streams

Feb 21, 2016

The Power of Beacon Networks

How could we already use the current amount of beacons in the most efficient and scalable way? The answer lies in Beacon Networks

Feb 12, 2016

Why Eddystone Support on Android Chrome is Huge for the Proximity Industry

Now that Eddystone will be supported on the Android Chrome we will hear a lot more about Eddystone going forward

Feb 9, 2016

Why Would Amazon Open Physical Bookstores? More Data, of Course

Data is the new oil, as Amazon is looking to match your physical self with your digital self

Feb 4, 2016

5 Common Misconceptions About Beacons and Proximity Marketing

2016 has started with exciting news in the beacon world, but there are still some misconceptions

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