• by Ben Frederick  @mp_benfred, August 18, 2015

A truck drives past with an advertisement for your favorite soft drink, at the same time, your phone pings you with a special offer for that same drink. The consumer sees a seamless brand experience, but a marketer sees an opportunity to bridge the tantalizing gap between out-of-home and digital.

Gimbal, Inc., a location-based services company, today announced a partnership with do it outdoors media, a mobile billboard and field marketing company. do it outdoors plans to leverage Gimbal’s beacon technology to essentially create a fleet of roving proximity ads.

Beacons will be placed in the company’s mobile billboard units, which are all owned and operated by do it outdoors, along with placement on Segways, jet packs, brand ambassador teams and other field marketing activation sites.

When a consumer comes within 50 meters of a beacon, their phone will see push notifications either directly from an advertiser’s mobile app or from a third party app to introduce consumers to the brand.

“To a consumer, it will feel less like an interruption and more like being rewarded with content that makes sense to their real-world environment and helps guide them into taking a beneficial action,” states Regis Maher, do it outdoors co-founder and president.

Gimbal’s beacons use Bluetooth Smart (BLE), and supports iOS and Android devices, plus advanced geofencing, analytics, unmatched security features and privacy controls. Content can be delivered in real-time, programmed to only serve messages once or within specific parameters.

Gimbal has earned TRUSTe’s certification for consumer-controlled privacy and is a member of the Future of Privacy Forum.