Singapore is proud to announce that their local carrier, StarHub, has introduced Singapore’s very first island-wide, location-based, mobile advertising service. This new service will offer a new opportunity for advertisers to contact a wider range of consumers. Users will be able to receive instant messages from advertisers when they are in the vicinity of certain advertised goods such as shopping malls and other retail venues. Of course, customers will not be charged for this service. They will be able to receive free information and special promotions through with new services.

Users may also choose not to receive these text message promotions and may unsubscribe to the service at any time. If users choose to keep the service, it will be a constant bombardment of SMS messages. The service will only be activated when they are close to a participating merchant with an advertisement or promotion to send out.

The belief is that with this sort of advertisement, recipients are more likely to respond. With advertisements such as direct mailers and the like, users may not be close to a retailer at all. With these SMS advertisements, users will already be close to the retailer and can easy take advantage of the promotion, discount, or sale while they are already out. Not only will retail shops be able to take advantage of this new and powerful advertising tool, but other businesses as well. For example, one travel agency has signed on to advertise their best deals and locations for travel when users are near to agency.

Source: zdnetasia.com