We asked Marvel a few questions about their plans to use GeoTargeted digital advertising to drive customer into comic shops and here’s what we found out:

There are plans in place to expand the program to Twitter, Facebook and banner advertising, but the initial roll out will be email. “Fans who subscribe, not only to Marvel Comics emails, but Marvel main, Video Games, TV, etc. will also receive these pushes.”

Retailers should be all set if their information is correct in the ComicShopLocator – “The database is being pulled directly from our records and Diamond’s – the same that’s used by ComicShopLocator.com. If a retailer is interested in this prospect, we’d encourage them to make sure Diamond has their correct store address and other info.”

This tech is confirmed as IP based, so privacy blockers that cloak the IP will thwart this. (One suspects Facebook’s user data can get around that when it’s time for that segment of the roll out, so there you go.)

This is far from a new technology, but it’s the first time we’ve seen a large implementation for the comics market. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Want to learn more about how comics publishing and digital comics work? Try Todd’s book, Economics of Digital Comics or try some fiction.