Since its launch in 2012, Locala has been a trailblazer in the world of omnichannel advertising, offering granular insights powered by cutting-edge technology. Over the years, it has helped marketers and their agency partners efficiently plan, activate and measure campaigns tailored to target the local consumer.
But this year Locala took a leap forward advancing its planning and insights platform with the introduction of Insights AI, a new tool that meaningfully integrates large language models (LLMs) into marketing workflows. Developed in partnership with San Francisco-based Databricks and leveraging their Mosaic AI platform, Insights AI empowers marketers to make faster, more informed decisions, driving more effective campaigns. While AI-driven intel has become more accessible to marketers in recent years, Insights AI helps deliver media-specific recommendations that are not only highly targeted but immediately actionable, resulting in a streamlined process that can enhance campaign performance, says Michael Colson, chief product technology officer at Locala.
“Our main goal is to help clients in the decision-making process, using data to build the best strategies,” offers Colson. “Now, marketers and media buyers/planners have fewer limits. It’s a tool that will help you understand all the data, summarize trends and make them actionable. We’re pushing for what I would call a human-AI collaboration.”
In regions as diverse as the US and Canada, with their large, varied populations, the ability to understand local nuance is key. Colson notes that each locality has unique consumer behaviours and preferences, which the platform can tap into with precision. “The scale of a country like the US is immense, and every place is really different – not just the people who live there, but how they consume and what attracts them,” he says.

To make sense of it all, Locala combines datasets that include socio-demographic information derived from surveys, censuses and anonymized household data. Mobility data also plays a critical role. “We use mobility data to understand where people are [and what they’re] consuming. For instance, we can track the foot traffic going into a grocery store, or identify patterns for thousands of businesses across the US and Canada. This allows us to develop a behavioural understanding of how people are moving through local environments,” says Colson.
The strength of Insights AI lies in its ability to analyze and derive trends from large volumes of data in an instant, while focusing on what’s most relevant for businesses. Colson stresses that the key is not getting down into the microscopic, accessing data for every individual, but instead using representative samples to understand trends in consumption. “We don’t need 100% of all Canadians’ data,” he explains. “We just need an anonymous sample that can represent the dynamic of a city – how people are moving from the suburbs to downtown areas, for example. This allows us to define the forces shaping specific locations and how they influence behaviour.”
Among the tool’s features, “Quick Analysis” is designed to provide users with an instant understanding of the data they’re viewing. It functions as a real-time assistant that helps marketers comprehend national and local trends. Colson illustrates its capability with an example: “Imagine you’re managing McDonald’s, and you want to know your competitors. At a national level, it might be Subway. But if you look at Vancouver or Toronto, your real competition might be Wendy’s. Quick Analysis helps you identify those nuances quickly and accurately.”For more detailed inquiries beyond Quick Analysis, the Custom Prompts feature allows marketers to dive deeper by asking specific questions in order to receive tailored answers, similar to how one might interact with ChatGPT. “You can ask the tool highly detailed questions, and it will compare your question with the knowledge base we’ve built. You get a customized response, drawing on millions of data points, in under 25 seconds,” he explains.
Locala has a footprint in more than 40 countries and has worked with leading brands in industries such as fast food, automotive, CPG and luxury goods.
With Insights AI, Locala is poised to continue blazing a path in locally personalized advertising, making it easier, faster and more effective for brands to plan and execute data-driven strategies. As Colson sums it up: “Our AI helps brands make smarter decisions, quicker. You can do more with less – and do it better.”
For more information on Locala and how you can work with them visit https://asklocala.com/en/