Location‐based mobile advertisements and gender targeting

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the differential effects of location‐based mobile advertisements on men and women in work leisure situations. Design/methodology/approach – The study conducted was in a scenario based experimental design in the 2×2×2 ANOVA format. Independent variables included: Type of locations (private/public); Situations (work/leisure); and Gender (male/female). Dependent variables included Perceptions and Behavioural intentions. Findings – Recent findings often indicate that men are more receptive to location‐based ads (LBA) than women. However, in this paper the authors show that in some circumstances women are more favourable to the same mobile LBAs than men because both women's and men's reactions depend on specific location and task situations. Practical implications – Based on these findings, managers will be able to better target ads to specific genders in different locations and situations, thus maximizing the relevance of the ads, click through rates and affect cost per thousand impressions. Originality/value – There has been little research on how men versus women react to LBAs based on their orientation towards different situations at hand. This research illustrates what differences exist in their perceptions of LBA and why.