For those of you unfamilar with Foursquare and what it actually does, a brief synopsis from the aformentioned blog is as follows:

So a new game has emerged online called Foursquare.  Well, it's not really new and it's not really a game, but nonetheless, it's here and it's creating quite the buzz around the internet amongst addicts like myself.  What is it?  Look no further than the developers description:

"Think: 50% friend-finder, 30% social cityguide, 20% nightlife game. We wanted to build something that not only helps you keep up with your friends, but exposes you to new things in and challenges you to explore cities in different ways."

Alright, time to do some translating.  Foursquare is a social media platform that uses your mobile phone as a human GPS device.  You check in at various locations around St. Louis, and earn points with each checkin.  It not only tells your friends where you are, but allows you to compete against them to become the "king of the streets."

If you join foursquare, you will find out a lot about what people are doing and what places you should visit in your area.  You're getting tips from the very people who go to these places.  You're not getting reviews, your getting objectives.  The possibilities are endless.

Nothing much has changed here, but the invovlement of some big brand names has really broadened the horizons for the platform.  Restaurants, hotel chains, entertainment venues, and airports are starting to now offer incentives to those who check in.  If you think about it, it's free marketing.  Your telling all your friends, family, and followers where you hang out, what you're doing there, and who's with you, all with the click of a few buttons. 

To bring things down to a local level, I'll use Robust Wine Bar as an example.  They are offering an incentive during the month of June by giving anyone who checks in on Foursquare a free 3oz. glass of wine (limit one per day).  Then, at the end of month, the person with the most check-ins (aka the Mayor) will be given a $50 gift certicate and a magnum bottle of wine/champage.  It's giving people a reason to choose Robust for that after-work drink, it's giving people a reason to share (socially) thier passion for the restaurant (and the wine) and it's giving friends, family, and followers a reason to care about this person, this platform, and this restaurant.  The best part?  It's all done through simple word-of-mouth marketing. 

So don't just take my word for it.  Download Foursquare.  Check out Robust.  Hell, go there tonight for a Tweetup where you can meet other Foursquare/Twitter users and enjoy a glass of wine that will cost you a whopping one check-in on Foursquare.  Sound crazy?  It is.  But let me tell you.  It's a whole lotta fun.

*For more details around the Robust Tweetup taking place on June 9, 2010, click here.

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Looking at advertising and what it is now, it’s pretty easy to see that it’s nothing like it used to be.  Sure some elements remain the same, there’s a client, an agency, a brief, and a creative execution, but the channels, the platforms, the programs, and the strategic thinking have all changed drastically over the years.

It’s good to be in something from the ground floor.  I came in too late for that.  I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end.  The best is over.  Advertising will never be the same.  I think many Americans think that way.   I think many advertisers do too.  The good thing is, I don’t think this is the end of an era.  I think it’s the beginning of a new one.  There’s a lot more opportunity around the corner, we just need to realize that things aren’t quite as easy as they used to be.  

Edward Boches, chief creative officer at Mullen, has a lot of great insights on the topic of what it takes to be a successful agency of the future.  He states, “Digital isn’t about technology, it’s about the people.  We want to do business with people, not companies.  The focus shouldn’t be on telling a story, it should be on getting other people to tell it for you.”  With all of this, I couldn’t agree more.  As consumers, we have new sources of information (RSS, Delicious, Twitter, Buzz) and the platforms and tools to create quality content (flip cams, blogspot, wordpress, web cams).  The goal is no longer about producing the content ourselves.  It’s about conceiving ideas that generate content from consumers.  It sounds easy on paper.  Getting it to happen is a different story.

In the past, advertising was about buying impressions.  The future is all about earning them.  As agencies evolve, we will continually need to focus on adopting new practices that cater to this new, radically different business model.  The consumers have spoken, and continue to get louder and louder as they go.  This isn’t going to be easy, it isn’t going to be fast, but we must evolve.  If you can’t be a digital native, at least be a digital immigrant.  It would’ve been easier from the ground level, but it’s far too late.  This isn’t the end.  It’s the beginning.  There’s still much more to come.

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