Obama’s ex-chief of staff might get some hefty competition when he puts his hat in the ring for Mayor of Chicago. Mayorships, long an intrinsic component of location-based social network Foursquare has just launched their run for the office with a contest called "The Foursquarian Candidate" at "FoursquareCandidate.com."
Rob MowryThe check-in location is the "City of Chicago- Mayoral HQ" which is actually City Hall located at 401 N. Michigan Ave, and to date Rob Mowry who’s "ready to clean up this city with the mop and justice," is leading with a whopping 13 check-ins, as of this posting.
City Hall Check-in for Foursquare Mayorship Race in Chicago
The contest directions are fairly straight forward as are all Foursquare mayorship awards. It’s all about racking up the most number of check-ins at any registered Foursquare location, whether it be the local bar or a five-star restaurant. The deadline date for the most check-ins is appropriately Halloween, October 31 when the clock strikes 11:59 PM, Central Time.
Whoever accumulates the most check-ins wins the endorsement for ACTUAL Chicago mayor. With that comes all of the marketing materials, and if Foursquare believes in the candidate’s cause, the service will help gather the 12,500 signatures needed to get him or her on the Chicago ballot. Only in America, folks!
Unique to this year’s 2011 race is that it’s open game for any candidate since the incumbent Mayor Richard M. Daley will be stepping down after twenty years of service. Apparently Chicago is the largest city in the country that does not impose a mayoral term limit. To date, Daley’s father holds the longest record having served as mayor for 21 years between 1955 and 1976.
So this year’s race will be hotly contended as Foursquarers start ramping up support from their location-based followers. As odd as it sounds – with fringe elements in today’s society like Tea Party candidates gaining mindshare – might there be room for a Foursquarian Party to gain prominence in this country as well?
The digital marketing firm and BDDO subcompany Proximity is the agency that developed this contest for Foursquare. They’ve been a pioneer in marketing since 1994 and have created other online marketing campaigns for Rockweel Automation, Penton and the Cleveland Clinic.
In tandem with the election competition, Foursquare itself is in a heated race to become the preeminent leader in the location-based social networking space. Based on their unique promotions that have scaled faster then some of their competition including Gowalla, they have gained significant traction this year. Yet Facebook is hot on their tail and really hasn’t shown us what they can do to steal marketshare. This next year will be a free-for-all to see who comes out victorious in the geolocation race- also see previous post, "While Facebook Conquers The Web, Foursquare Targets TV."
However in the Chicago Mayoral race, don’t know if Emanuel truly sees the Foursquarian candidate as a formidable opponent as when I reached out to him for a comment, he did return any of my calls! With that said, "go, Rob Mowry!"
