Kids love their cellphones. And they sure love malls. So it’s only natural that youth marketers are getting in on mobile promotions at the mall.

L’Oréal has just inked a six-figure deal with Vancouver-based Digital Youth (DY) to promote its ColourPulse brand on DY’s ‘Mobile Minutes’ – a five-minute interactive segment sandwiched into the Digital Advertising Network (DAN)’s 15-minute TV broadcast loop. DAN, based in Montreal, has screens set up in 67 mall food courts across the country. Its loop includes entertainment news and, of course, ads. ‘It provides a captive audience right at the point of purchase,’ explains DY president Dan Reitzik.

L’Oréal is currently testing the waters with an eight-week Mobile Minutes promotion in the GTA that launched April 25. The ColourPulse 30-second creative loop runs across all three DAN screens, prompting viewers to text their sign to PULSE (78573) to receive free daily horoscopes tagged with the ColourPulse logo. Respondents are automatically entered to win a grand prize of an iPod Shuffle, and a one-year supply of L’Oréal products. DY is providing mall street teams to support the L’Oréal promotion.

‘This is fundamentally a new way for the kid and the brand to interact,’ says Gary Schwartz, president of Toronto-based Impact Mobile, the program’s aggregator. ‘Right now, L’Oréal is talking to a kid every day.’

Mobile Minutes features free interactive content, including trivia, text-in-to-win contests and mobile-on-demand features like the horoscopes. Reitzik, who offers category exclusivity, plans to have five advertisers on board. Prices vary depending on factors like duration and number of malls, but the minimum commitment for a Mobile Minutes campaign is $50,000. L’Oréal has already snagged the cosmetics spot,

but there are still opportunities for sports, hair care, soft drink and retail clothing companies.