Location Based Mobile Advertising Just Got Serious

Mobile advertising is already expected to be a $1+ billion market in 2011. But recent announcements by both AT&T and California based Loopt may have just taken the market to a new level. Within the last week, both companies have announced new programs that allow location based ads and coupons to be pushed out to subscribers phones without users initiating any action.

The two programs differ slightly, but both deliver the same end result - a brand initiated mobile marketing conversation that is based on the subscriber’s location. Loopt is a smartphone app that runs on the four major smartphone OS. Set to be launched at this year’s SXSW Interactive conference, Loopt’s ‘Reward Alerts’ program will push limited time and perishable inventory deals to Loopt users based on location.

AT&T announced ‘ShopAlerts by AT&T’, a SMS based service that is available to all phones, not just smartphones. Subscribers must opt into the program, which uses geofencing to define a specific location and send out marketing texts to subscribers who enter or exit that location. For instance, JetBlue is planning on offering its rewards program members extra points for entering certain airports. It is currently operational in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, but is expected to go nationwide over the summer.

Both programs are huge leaps forward for location based marketing because they allow the user’s location to be the trigger that initiates the conversation.