Mobile Spinach has already built up a large database of exclusive deals at venues ranging from sushi restaurants to concert halls to clothing stores. Currently, it serves San Francisco by texting users with deal notifications, but the partnership with Loopt will make the process that much more effective.
Loopt and Mobile Spinach plan to offer deals in New York and Los Angeles "during the coming months," too.
This advertising model is kind of a no-brainer. A neighborhood business can use a service like Loopt to target someone who lives or works nearby and offer him or her incentives to visit an establishment.
These offers can be redeemed by phone or optionally via e-mail or text message.
Foursquare already struck a deal with 8coupons, which does something very similar to what Mobile Spinach does. Yelp offers local deals, too, so this seems to be the model de jour.