Vertical outdoor retailer The North Face is taking advantage of geo-targeting capabilities on mobile devices to send text messages to potential customers in certain US cities whenever they are near a store that carries North Face gear. Text alerts are sent only to those who have opted in to receive such messages, reports The New York Times.
The North Face campaign was put together by location-based mobile ad company Placecast, which works by drawing a virtual "fence" around different locations. When a person enters the fenced area, the text message is sent. For the campaign, Placecast created 1,000 fenced areas in and around the cities where the North Face has many stores. The North Face also chose locations where there is a lot of snow and rain, so it could tailor its messages to the weather. Eventually, the company hopes to send branded text messages to people arriving at hiking trails, alerting them to weather conditions.
(Source: Retailer Daily)