The Forgotten “W” (Where) Improves Media And Creative Outcomes

Image credit: Henry Perks via Unsplash

In an era where advertisers claim to prioritize customer-centric strategies, a striking disconnect remains—most consumers don’t feel understood. A new study commissioned by DAC and conducted by Forrester Consulting reveals a critical yet often overlooked element in audience targeting: location. While brands focus on who their customers are, they frequently neglect where they are. This missing piece in audience strategy is proving to be a game-changer for improving media effectiveness and creative resonance​.

The Challenge: Audience Targeting is Falling Short

Despite 84% of enterprise brands stating they put customers first, only 26% of U.S. consumers believe companies truly understand them​. Advertisers are struggling with signal loss due to privacy regulations, walled gardens, and data fragmentation, which limit their ability to track and target effectively.

As a result, three out of four media and advertising decision-makers report declining effectiveness in audience targeting. Nearly 98% cite poor customer understanding as the primary culprit behind these challenges​. However, rather than reevaluating their targeting strategies, many advertisers attempt to compensate by collecting more first-party data—a tactic that alone does not solve the issue​.

The Missed Opportunity: Location as a Strategic Lever

Historically, advertisers have prioritized who their audience is over where they are. While basic location-based targeting methods—such as ZIP code or designated market area (DMA) segmentation—are widely used, only 26% of advertisers apply location insights to their media and creative planning​.

This lack of location integration leads to inefficient targeting, lower engagement, and poor brand experiences. Without a strategic approach to localized audience targeting, brands risk missing key contextual cues that influence consumer behavior and purchase decisions.

The Barriers to Location-Based Targeting

Despite its potential, integrating location data into advertising strategies presents challenges:

• 58% of advertisers struggle to apply location insights to media planning.
• 56% find it difficult to scale location-based strategies.
• 55% cite measurement difficulties in tracking location-driven performance​.

These roadblocks prevent advertisers from fully leveraging the power of location, keeping audience targeting strategies fragmented and inefficient.

The Way Forward: Localized Targeting as a Growth Driver

The research highlights a clear shift: 80% of advertisers recognize the need for major changes in their targeting strategies​. Localized audience targeting—when done effectively—offers multiple advantages, including:

• More precise audience segmentation.
• Better return on ad spend (ROAS).
• Stronger engagement and full-funnel connectivity​.

To harness the full potential of location-based advertising, brands must move beyond seeing it as a tactic and integrate it as a core strategic pillar.

👉 For more insights on how brands can leverage location intelligence, download the full whitepaper here.