Thermal Targeted Proximity Messaging triggers messages when the sun is out

From today tourists, visitors and Londoners alike who are enjoying free O2 Wifi in some of the busiest parts of London will see Unilever’s first ever sponsorship of the landing pages. As the temperature rises and the crowds congregate in London Unilever brand Wall’s Ice Cream is sponsoring O2 Wifi Metro for the month of August.

Unilever has partnered with O2 Wifi and O2 Media to bring the Wall’s ‘Love Ice Cream’ campaign to the busiest streets of London. The collaboration sees iconic Wall’s brands including Magnum and Cornetto owning all media placements on the wifi welcome pages on the streets of London.

The campaign combines two fast-emerging trends in digital media: location-based and contextual marketing, using them in tandem. The new concept in mobile messaging is called Thermal Targeted Proximity Messaging which supports the wifi placement. The proximity messaging within Zone 1 in London is triggered by a temperature setting, sending out messages only when the sun is out and the weather reaches a certain temperature.

Iconic areas such as Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Exhibition Road are amongst the seven squares and shopping streets benefiting from the free wifi deal between Westminster City Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and O2.

Claire Valoti, managing director of O2 Media said: “It is great to see a company such as Unilever and their brand Wall’s Ice Cream exploring new ways of reaching their consumer. The fantastic thing about the partnership is that it integrates O2 Media and O2 Wifi to deliver something that consumers love – free wifi – but places a Wall’s Ice Cream right in their path when the sun shines, creating amazing relevance. We have big plans for Thermal Messaging because of the increased accuracy in terms of delivering the right message to the right consumer and the ability to message a consumer based on the British weather, something we know many of the brands we work with are hugely interested in.”

O2 Wifi’s service in the centre of London was deployed in the summer of 2012. It enables millions of people living in or visiting the capital to enjoy fast, free, reliable wifi whilst out and about. O2 Wifi is free for everyone, regardless of network or broadband provider and, once registered, customers will be automatically connected each time they enter a coverage area.

Notes to Editors:

O2 Wifi will span Exhibition Road, High Street Kensington, Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street/ Regent Street, Leicester Square and Piccadilly.

For more information contact:

O2 Press Office
O2
t:01753565656
e: pressoffice@o2.com

About O2 in the UK
O2 is the commercial brand of Telefónica UK Limited and is a leading communications company with over 23 million customers – read more about O2 at www.o2.co.uk/news. O2 runs 2G and 3G networks and was the first to trial 4G/LTE, reaching speeds of over 100Mpbs, as well as owning half of Tesco Mobile. It also operates O2 Wifi, O2 Health, O2 Unify, O2 Media and has recently launched the O2 Wallet. O2 employs over 11,000 people in the UK, has 450 retail stores and sponsors The O2, O2 Academy venues and the England rugby team. Telefónica UK Limited is part of Telefónica Europe plc which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic and is a business division of Telefónica SA.

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