Location, Location, Location...

I have just spotted an interesting article from Elizabeth Clifford-Marsh at Revolution Magazine.

Vodafone in the UK are launching location based advertising on their map services later this year. We all know the potential for more location based promotion, but this is one of the first examples of it that I have seen actually coming to fruition.

The basic premise behind it is that if you use a map application on your phone it will show you 'points of interest', i.e. advertising, overlayed on the map. This could include restaurants, shops, almost anything thats in the local area.

In principle I think this is a great idea for driving footfall, but as the service is going to be opt-in for phone users I am struggling to see why they would accept the advertising if they don't have to (and when there doesn't appear to be any great value to them).

Also, completely un-related to the article itself, it is interesting to see that o2 are serving ads on a page with a story about Vodafone... I wonder if that's luck or clever targeting?