About a month ago, TechCrunch reported of local offers being issued through Foursquare specifically to mayors. It is a powerful example of in-application monetization that both enhances the experience (users are motivated to become mayors) and the advertiser experience (local businesses are able to connect directly with influential users).
Well, this week, I spotted my first local offers in the Foursquare mobile app. Because I am mayor of a nearby location, I was offered $2.00 off at The Marsh for a show that evening. And if I am mayor of The Marsh, drinks would also be free.
The offer is compelling for a couple reasons: - it is contextual based on location and neighborhood - there is an offer specifically for me... and users always love coupons / deals - the UI is excellent. Within the normal application experience, I get a clever alert both in the header and the footer. Eye-catching and well-explained
Interesting to see if similar experiences and local offers make their way into other social & local applications like Yelp.
