This is part four of a five part series of the major trends VivaKi leaders see for 2012. Read Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3. For the remaining trends, please continue to visit VivaKi.com or stay up to date via Facebook or Twitter.

Every year – for seemingly the past five years – has been dubbed the “Year of Mobile.” But what we’re seeing now is not the importance of the smartphone alone. Instead mobility is making our physical location and real (i.e. analog) places more important because, as Chief Strategy Officer Rishad Tobaccowala, points out “we now can go where we want and bring our technology assistants with us.”

The rise of the always-on, always-available Internet is making location planning and knowledge even more important. As consumers customize their content to fit their needs, they’ll expect it to be relevant to where they are and what they’re doing at any given time, not just who they are. “GPS technology will create the highest level of the ability to fit communication with consumers’ receptivity. The industry business model around mobile technology is still complex and lacks a user-centered focus,” says Guillermo Tafet, VivaKi Country Chair (South America).

Therefore, it will be increasingly important for us to know where our consumers are not just in their lives or purchase funnel, but physically. A message targeted to a consumer who is out and about in the world will (and should) be different than one targeted a consumer on his or her couch. “The context of the offline world is crucial for marketers so they know what kind of message to deliver and how to interact with a customer at any given time,” says Avi Savar, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Big Fuel.

Tobaccowala also believes this new focus on place will drive an increasing importance of the in-store transaction. People are analog and as such we interact with our world physically first. Therefore, we are still receptive to well thought-out and helpful in-store experiences. At the same time our digital devices give us access to more information than ever before as we shop. Amazon’s push to get the in-store shopper to comparison shop on its site is just one example. As the use of location-based services and smartphones increases around the world, catering digital experiences to analog environments will become increasingly important.