1st foursquare campaign in Israel – Club Seat

Had an interesting discussion this week at Globes event with Ahuvah, a very wise and internet-savvy friend, about foursquare. She asked me – Why? A simple question, complicated answer. Once, not so long ago, people were asking the same WH-question about Twitter, and look were we are now.

foursquare logo

But back to me. I check-in at places of interest, usually business-oriented – meaning if I’m at a the Finance District of Tel Aviv, or the Hi-Tech district – where I’m more likely to meet people. But so far, as Ahuvah was clever to ask, those check-ins resulted in fewer random meetings than I expected. So again, Why? I guess convenience has something to do with it, meaning a proper application – Gravity. I’ve previewed Gravity before, saying it’s the main reason for my increased use of foursquare – a flick of the navbar, and I’m Here! Nevertheless, I believe foursquare is much more than just a contest for who’s got more Mayorships. It’s a valuable database of knowledge about people habitts – and knowledge is power. Much like twitter that crossed the chasm, foursquare too needs the same things: celebrity, business, media coverage.

Club Seat - 1st Israeli foursquare-based campaign

Club Seat - 1st Israeli foursquare-based campaign

Celebrity we have (not many though), media coverage still lagging, but now we have a business. Seat become the 1st business in Israel (Hebrew) to use foursquare in a digital campaign (Hebrew, again), Club Seat, along with 3 known clubs in Tel Aviv – Gazoz, Galina, and Sublet. People are encouraged to create an account in foursqaure, download the app of their choice and visit the clubs. The campaign is three-fold:

  • The club that receives the most entries by August 30th (end of summer break) is crowned ‘Best Club in Town’;
  • Top 20 people with the  highest number of check-ins at any of the 3 clubs will receive concert tickets;
  • The mayor of each club will receive a plane ticket (round trip I hope)

Personally I was hoping the 1st business will originate from the restaurant/cafe/bar industry, much like Starbucks is doing in the US, or FT.com’s deal to attract youngsters in London. Seat, along with Grey Interactive, have taken a leap into un-charted waters in Israeli advertising, as foursquare is still in early-early adopter stage here. Facebook has transformed the digital space in Israel – more than 3 million people connected (about 60% of internet-connected homes), #2 fastest growing country in the Middle East (7%, monthly), top 10 countries in terms of average time spent (globally!), and more. No campaign is complete here without a facebook presence. Twitter and foursquare are still considered ‘geek-only territory‘, although twitter is gaining momentum in celebrities and media.

Club Seat was only launched this week, so the stats are obviously low (Gazoz 9 check-ins, Galina 3 check-ins, and Sublet 4 check-ins), but it will be interesting to see how this pilot evolves and what impact will it have on the advertising industry. Stay tuned.

4 Responses to “1st foursquare campaign in Israel – Club Seat”


  1. 1 Lindsay October 19, 2010 at 02:58

    So how did the promotion end up going? Is your assessment of Foursquare in Israel any different than when you wrote this?

    At first I thought that maybe it would be a privacy issue; that people outside the US aren’t interested in sharing information the way Americans do. But now I’ve been stuck on the idea that maybe Foursquare doesn’t provide enough information about who’s there especially for the people going to places like Galina.

  2. 2 Dvir Reznik October 19, 2010 at 10:33

    Hi Lindsay,
    Thank you for the comment, and for reminding me to follow-up on this story.. 😉

    Obviously there’s a mentality issue, as Israelies (to my opinion) are less inclined to sharing their location with the public. I do think this will change, as facebook is already ‘helping’ some 3.5M Israelies (over 60% of internet users) to share information about their lives – mostly pictures, brand pages and random status updates.

    Location is the next thing in Israel, but we do need a major business (better yet – businesses) to step in, bringing LBS ‘front and center’ so people can understand the benefits.

    Will find out the results of Club Seat campaign and post shortly.

  3. 3 Dvir Reznik October 26, 2010 at 20:03

    Lindsay,
    The follow-up post is live: http://bit.ly/d4QIkJ
    Thanks 🙂


  1. 1 5 lessons learned from Club Seat Foursquare campaign | Dvir Reznik Trackback on October 26, 2010 at 19:59
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Mobile & Media Consultant. I help startup companies launch products to the consumer market. Reach out: dvir.reznik [at] gmail.com
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