The creative strategic solution 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 channels maximized attention for the campaign. A website highlighted the leaderboard, offered details, and amplified social media buzz about the program. A designated location on foursquare tracked all check-ins. A direct mail effort was created specifically for mayoral candidates, and an aggressive PR campaign assured the effort tapped into existing media attention about the mayoral race.

As a result of the communication activity, the Foursquarian Candidate became part of the conversation about the next mayor of Chicago. The communication relied heavily on generating earned media, and received significant coverage from major news media in Chicago and beyond. The number of participating candidates exceeded the program’s goals by 104%. Candidate check-ins also far surpassed expectations, with leading candidates checking in an average of every 3 minutes on the weekend before the program’s deadline. In fact, the Foursquarian Candidate even earned accolades from the foursquare founder himself.