Starbucks and L’Oreal Test Location-Based SMS Coupons in UK

UK network provider O2 has partnered with location services platform Placecast to enable brands to automatically deliver targeted SMS and MMS to more than one million opted-in O2 customers based on their exact whereabouts.
O2 Media, the mobile marketing arm of O2, has signed on Starbucks and L’Oreal as the first two brands to test the location-based messaging service in the UK for a six month trial period. The O2/Placecast partnership lets Starbucks and L’Oreal fence off geographic zones and push SMS discounts to O2 customers who enter those areas.
Starbucks is offering O2 customers 50% off discounts — delivered via SMS and redeemable at nearby stores — on its Starbucks VIA Ready Brew product. The discount will be delivered to individuals who have expressed an interest in food and beverage. As for L’Oreal, the makeup brand will dole out a buy-one-get-one-free discount on a hair care product to customers interested in beauty.
If you’re an O2 customer, you will start receiving offers from Starbucks, L’Oreal and other brands that sign-on, if you’ve opted-in to the O2 More program, are 16 years of age or older and have shared your interests.
While O2 serves as the gateway between brand and mobile consumer, the network promises not to share your data with partner brands. The carrier also regulates SMS delivery frequency to a maximum of one per day.
The partnership between Placecast and O2 is a first of its kind in the UK and one that we find quite interesting. The combination of geo-fencing technology and carrier distribution is a potentially huge, and device-independent, way to deliver mobile marketing messages to the consumers who want them.