Commentary

Foursquare: The Radio Shack Battery Card On Steroids?

by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, July 8, 2010

I've always believed that the Radio Shack battery card was one of the great retail marketing innovations of all time. For those who don't remember, Radio Shack used to give you a card to bring into the store each month to get a free store-brand battery. When you came in, they punched the corresponding month on the card, gave you your battery and, certainly in my case, won a lot of loyalty -- and usually some impulse purchasing -- with each and every visit. This popular loyalty program went on for decades, and was finally discontinued in the early 1990s.

For years, I've wondered why Radio Shack or other ecommerce vendors haven't created online-enabled versions of the "battery card." Well, I have finally found one. This past weekend, when I visited my local Whole Foods store, I pulled out my iPhone and did one of my occasional Foursquare check-ins. While I am not a huge Foursquare user, I am a big fan. I do use it on and off, as much to see how the platform is evolving as to win or defend mayorships. I am proud to be the mayor of Gemma, a restaurant at the Bowery Hotel, and I defend it vigorously (just ask Patrick Keane).

One of my pet peeves with Foursquare has been that the special offers nearby tend to have very little creativity and are only available to mayors. For example, a typical offer will be that mayors of a restaurant may get a free drink when they buy a meal (unfortunately, Gemma does not have such an offer). While it is a good deal for mayors, it is inconsequential for most visitors to these establishments, since so few of them have a meaningful chance to win the mayorship. Most good mayorships require almost daily visitation to the business.

I've wondered why we don't see more businesses offer value for just checking in. That, as I discovered at Whole Foods, is exactly what it is now doing with Foursquare.

Currently, the store gives a free bottle of water on a first check-in -- a very welcome freebie during this heat wave. Last week, the offer was a free product on a 10^th check-in. This is really taking advantage of the Foursquare platform -- a great way to use a location-based service to drive a lot of repeat store visitation with minimal investment. I can't wait to see where Foursquare takes this a year from now as its user base grows, as the marketing elements of the platform become more robust, and as marketers and agencies get more familiar and creative with its capabilities.

Is Foursquare the next Radio Shack battery card? No, I don't think so. But I do think that it will be the platform that launches thousands of battery-card-like retail loyalty programs. What do you think?

commentary, social media

7 comments about "Foursquare: The Radio Shack Battery Card On Steroids?".

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Kate Lafrance from Hartford Woman Online Magazine, July 8, 2010 at 6:15 p.m.
Great idea! The current economy needs more "radio shack battery" type offers - the smallest freebie makes consumers feel incredibly appreciated - thus the popularity of the "mommy bloggers".
Reply

Douglas Cleek from Magnitude 9.6, July 8, 2010 at 6:26 p.m.

Dead-on.
Local establishments need to think about rewarding initial check-ins. Some locations, if not many, require massive amounts of time and energy to attain or defend. Some are just unattainable.

There are far more first-time check-ins that can benefit immediately. Opportunities that brands should capitalize on. As you mentioned Whole foods seems to have jumped on this opportunity.

Good read.

Doug Cleek
Magnitude 9.6

Amber Foreman from Texas Instruments, July 8, 2010 at 8:10 p.m.

Completely agree!

I recently published a similar article, "A Plea to Foursquare Businesses" to my agency's blog.

http://thehub.swmediagroup.com/?p=1140

While waiting on an email from Foursquare, praising me for this mind-bending insight, I try to draw ANY logic in rewarding only one customer. The goal of business is still to increase transactions and ultimately revenue right?

Ted Rubin from The Rubin Organization / Return on Relationship, July 9, 2010 at 2:15 a.m.

Checking in for loyalty give-aways will get old fast on Foursquare and in my opinion not add longevity to the service or keep people coming back, The novelty will wear off rather quickly and many will stop checking in as it takes more and more visits to earn the giveaways. Foursquare is nothing but an acquisition target for a larger, more valuable platform to add to it's stable of services. Will this happen or will Facebook simply add the functionality to theirs and make foursquare an after thought.

Jamie Gorman, July 9, 2010 at 7:43 a.m.

Dave, great post. I am intrigued by Foursquare and what it can be used for. It pretty much creates a very informal and easy rewards program for any business, with a kick of instant "word of mouth" referral!
Thanks,
Jamie

jacquie whitt, July 9, 2010 at 7:57 a.m.

Would love to get some feedback on ideas to use this promotional model for international travel tours.

"Get a funny hat on your first visit to Machu Picchu and on you're 5th visit to South America, get a 10% discount."

Judit Nagy from FOX, July 10, 2010 at 7:02 p.m.

As with anything in life, consumers will ask "what's in it for me"? What's the value proposition of each media? Well, in this case it is very clear, local digital marketing simplifying reward, couponing and loyalty. Can it be better? Yes, but this is a great start...