AT&T Begins Service to Text Users in Certain Locations

On Monday, AT&T will announce the company’s first location-based marketing service through which companies can send text messages to users who choose to receive special offers.

The service, called ShopAlerts by AT&T, will send users messages from brand partners including Hewlett-Packard, Kmart, JetBlue and S. C. Johnson. The company is working with Placecast, which supplies a technology known as geo-fencing that allows retailers to send messages to users in a defined geographic area.

AT&T is the first mobile carrier to use such a service in the United States. The service will be available for users in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.

Marketers can create a geo-fence around an event, like a concert, a retail location or a geographic area, said Danielle Lee, the vice president for ad product innovation at AT&T. The messages may also contain information on weather and traffic in the selected area. The service, Ms. Lee said, “allows brands to reach consumers when they are most receptive to the message and when they are in close proximity to take advantage of the offer.”

For one promotion beginning in mid-March, JetBlue will put a geo-fence around certain airports so that when members of their TrueBlue rewards program check in there using the JetBlue Go Places mobile application, they can earn points toward the program.

S. C. Johnson will put a geo-fence around Walmart stores to promote and offer discounts on its brands.

For Hewlett-Packard, the partnership offers an opportunity to understand what messages are most effective in leading the consumer to make a purchase, said Tariq Hassan, a marketing official at H.P. “That’s a pretty powerful opportunity,” Mr. Hassan said.

The cost for brands to use the service will depend on either the number of messages sent or whether the promotion was a one-time occurrence, like an event sponsorship, Ms. Lee said. AT&T is in talks with other retailer outlets, movie theaters and restaurants to offer the service.

Last year, the North Face began using Placecast’s geo-fencing technology to reach shoppers in New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston and send them promotions about things like the arrival of new products.