The concept for giving mayoral candidates an opportunity to appeal to young voters was to create the Foursquarian Candidate. With Foursquarian Candidate, candidates could “become mayor, then become mayor.” That is, they could check into a designated place on Foursquare as often as they’d like until the deadline. After that, whomever is the “mayor” of that location on Foursquare would become the Foursquarian Candidate for the real-life mayor race, and would win free campaign materials for their campaign. The promotion’s elements were simple: a website, a designated location on Foursquare, and an aggressive PR campaign.

The Foursquarian Candidate was not supported by paid media; instead, the program relied on earned media. The program received significant coverage from major news media in Chicago and beyond. The number of participating candidates exceeded the program’s goals by 104%, and candidates checked in hundreds of times, with leading candidates checking in an average of every 3 minutes on the weekend before the promotion’s deadline. In fact, the Foursquarian Candidate even earned accolades from the Foursquare founder himself.