At a recent roundtable hosted by New Digital Age in partnership with Outra, leaders from across the industry discussed the role of location as a signal in online advertising. In the third part of the writeup, participants gave their expert view on the role of location in the year ahead.
Each attendee was asked a simple question: “What is your view on the importance of location and household-level data in marketing over the next year?”
Graham Field, Chief Revenue Officer, Outra “In a world full of uncertainty and rapid technological change, location data provides a grounding point. It’s tied to something real and physical. That makes it stable and reliable. The opportunity for brands is huge.”
Oli Bello, Head of Growth at Outra “The big opportunity for location is about understanding life events and turning them into moments for action. If you know someone is about to move house, or has just had a child, you can reach them with real relevance, not just reactive targeting. That’s powerful.”
Billy Brett, Head of Product, Walk-In Media “Location and household data will shine when they are used to find the hard-to-reach audiences. Whether that’s people with high-value properties, niche interests or specific behavioural signals, this kind of data lets you go beyond basic demographics.”
Charles Crotty, Managing Partner, Digitas “The challenge is cutting through the noise. Location needs a fresh narrative that moves beyond old-school geofencing. It’s about behavioural insight, omnichannel connection and strategy. That story needs to be told clearly to clients.”
Chris Appleton, Head of Programmatic, PHD “Understanding the nuances of the household is becoming more important. Location data helps you understand not just individuals, but group decisions. That adds a new layer of intelligence to planning.”
David Ayre, Managing Partner, Programmatic, Dentsu “The real value is in experimentation. Location data enables new approaches, whether that’s targeting competitor store catchments or optimising across regions. It unlocks creative thinking that leads to genuine competitive advantage.”
Emma Glenn, Head of Programmatic UK, Spark Foundry “Location data is one of the strongest tools we have for making omnichannel strategies truly work. We’ve seen brilliant results where we’ve tied location insights into AV, programmatic and even retail media. The next step is scale.”
Ilona Spilker, VP, Head of Partnerships, Choreograph “The role of location will only grow as we move toward privacy-first marketing. It gives us a way to understand real-world behaviour and connect it with digital journeys, without relying on personal identifiers.”
Layla Malki, Director of Programmatic, Havas Media UK “One of the biggest strengths of location data is how universal it is across channels. You can take those insights and apply them to everything from YouTube to retail media to out of home. That’s what makes it so compelling.”
Lina Angelides, Managing Partner, Head of Digital Planning, OMD UK” For me, location data is a planning tool as much as a targeting one. It helps map out intent across a journey. If used right, it’s not intrusive, it’s helpful, and it’s often more accurate than digital-only signals.”
Oliver Williams, Head of Digital Performance, Mediaplus UK “Location offers a way to understand context better than almost any other signal. The key now is in making that data scalable, commercially viable and easy to plug into omnichannel activations. That’s where the future lies.”
