Starbucks and L'Oreal sign up to O2 mobile marketing

Starbucks and L'Oreal have announced they are taking part in a six-month trial of mobile location-based marketing using a service from O2.

The service will send SMS and MMS location-based marketing messages to the more than one million O2 customers who are signed up to O2 More.

O2 More is an opt-in service where O2 customers can record their personal information — including age, gender and interests, such as football, travel and cinema — and receive offers from companies based on the details they have provided. O2 More customers will now also receive offers based on their location. O2's location-based marketing works by using geo-fencing technology — provided by US company Placecast — whereby certain geographical areas are 'owned' by particular brands.

For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Starbucks, L'Oreal to trial location-based mobile marketing on silicon.com.