Now, I have read a few other posts about Foursquare etiquette and my favorite has to be from Old Media, New Tricks. I would like to take some of those thoughts and add a few of my own regarding Foursquare (and any other application like it; Gowalla for example). I have been using Foursquare for a while now, but I am by no means an expert or the final answer in proper etiquette when using this location-based social gaming platform. These are just some observations and suggestions…

How can there be two Chili’s restaurants on this street? If you go to check-in at local business and you notice that there’s already a listing for that establishment, but it isn’t very detailed, just update the existing listing. Please don’t create a 2nd listing for the same place. This goes the same for deleting a closed location or updating the address of a business that moved down the street.

Integrating Facebook and Twitter. I am going to paste this one verbatim from Old Media, New Tricks courtesy of Benedict Wong because I don’t think I could word it better: it’s easy to connect your Foursquare account to your Facebook and Twitter profiles; that said, it’s easy to spam your Facebook and Twitter contacts with your check-ins. Be mindful of how often you cross-post, and make sure to cross-post only things you think are important. Going to McDonald’s in a drunken stupor at 4am with someone who’s not your significant other? It may be risky enough to post it on Foursquare, but especially don’t post it elsewhere.

Do you really want me checking-in at your house? Just for fun, drive around your neighborhood and see how many people list their homes as check-in spots. Points or no points, I’m not checking-in at your house even if I am just one more check-in away from unlocking the next badge. Plus, you should already be the Mayor of your home, and if you’re not, Foursquare can’t really help you. That brings me to the next point…

Does being the Mayor of your company come with perks? I know a lot of people who like to check-in and become the Mayor of the company they work for, but I don’t really see the point. Checking-in should be more organic and spontaneous than checking-in at a place where you have to be every workday. You and a Foursquare friend check-in at a local restaurant at the same time by coincidence? Awesome. You and a coworker check-in at your company’s break room at the same time? Not so awesome.

Be cautious of the Foursquare “drive-by.” Please don’t pull into the parking lot of your favorite local watering hole just to check-in and drive off. I have heard of this happening several times, and I will say that I’ve seen this done once, but I will not list the name of the drive-by offender.

Companies, tread lightly. I have received a handful of friend requests from people in other countries whom I’ve never met or heard of. I will almost always accept a friend request if the person has an avatar picture and at least a few other friends. But, I have also received friend requests from companies and I usually decline them. To me, it’s a lot like a company making a Facebook profile page for the business instead of a business page just so they can send out friend requests. I know of several companies that do this, and I’m sure you do, too.

If you want to offer location-based specials and incentives for checking-in at your business, I’m all for that and I think it is a great marketing decision to do so.

Here comes the important part — what do you think? I would love your thoughts, additions, funny Foursquare stories, and so on. If you live in Texas and have any questions about advertising or social media in the Fort Worth area, let me know. If you live in another state/city, I might be able to answer any questions that you have, too! Feel free to comment below or send me an email.

I came across an interesting campaign for the New Zealand Transport Agency that is meant to dissuade people from drinking and driving. The ads are clever and they have a strong message to go along with the creative, too: If you drink then drive you’re a bloody criminal. NZ Transport Agency and NZ Police.

I think that sentiment gets straight to the point! Here are two of the ads:

Advertising Agency: Clemenger BBDO, Wellington, New Zealand

What do you think of this campaign? Think it gets the “don’t drink and drive” point across? I would love to see the a TV spot to go along with these ads that would help visualize the flipping of the coin and the decision to (or not to) drink and drive.

My name tag for the evening.

If you read my last post — and honestly, why wouldn’t you have? — then you know that the Social Media Club of Fort Worth had its Launch Party last night at the Cowtown Diner on Main Street. Was it tons of fun? Absolutely! So, if you missed it, the magic will never be recreated…OK, maybe a little bit of that magic will be at the next meet, so make sure you come if you missed the Launch Party.

The night started off by signing in and making yourself a nifty name tag so everyone would know who you were (some people even added their Twitter @ name). There was plenty of socializing going on at the bar with meet-and-greets and intros from partygoers, and I got to meet several interesting and knowledgeable people. Fort Worth definitely has a great pool of social and creative people, so it’s great to have a local chapter of the Social Media Club to rep Fort Worth proudly!

From there, the group moved to the outside patio area where there was food and a live stream of the SMC Fort Worth Twitter feed projected on one of the walls. There was even a signature cocktail of the night called “In Your Facebook” and here’s a little peek at it:

"In Your Facebook" picture taken by Lauren Turner.

Another popular drink making the rounds was last night was a jalapeno margarita called the “Cowtown-rita” and it was garnished with cucumber slices. It looked adventurous, and judging by how many of them I saw around the party throughout the night, it must have been delicious.

The only downside of the evening was glancing over at the bar’s TV and watching the Texas Rangers lose to the Twins. Don’t worry, I didn’t let it spoil the rest of the fun. To sum up: the Social Media Club of Fort Worth Launch Party was a blast, and if you missed it, you need to come to the next event (rumors are that there might be a guest speaker) and follow the club on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date on social media happenings in the area and around the globe.

The Social Media Club of Fort Worth is up and running! Help us kick things off in style by joining our very first tweet-up in downtown Fort Worth at the Cowtown Diner!

In addition to a gang of geeks, there will be happy hour specials and plenty of hors d’oeuvres. Cowtown Diner also offers free valet parking. We’ll share tips and tricks, so bring your iPhones, Droids, and iPads!

Please feel free to invite your fellow social media enthusiasts.

Definitely looking forward to it and I’m hoping for a great turnout, so make sure you come to it if you’re in the area — and don’t forget to spread the word to others! This event was even picked up last week by the Star-Telegram, where SMC Fort Worth founder Stephanie Scott, social media manager at the Balcom Agency, said she’s starting the chapter to offer education to “an already robust community of Fort Worth social media aficionados.”

Many thanks to Stephanie and everyone else involved in putting the club and launch party together. If you’re looking for more info, here’s the Social Media Club of Fort Worth’s Facebook page, the Twitter page, and the Launch Party page on the main Social Media Club site.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for with those links, I don’t know what to tell you! As always, feel free to email me with any questions about anything on this site.

To grow that number, your Fans are probably interacting and are involved with your page. Your content is keeping them entertained and informed, so they have a reason to come back and hopefully even suggest your page to their friends and families. Content is king when it comes to getting Fans, and it’s best to offer your Fans something that they can’t get anywhere else — like a song written about them from your band, for example.

That’s exactly what the band Revive did for its 10,000th Facebook Fan. Here’s the video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=82g5h8gPJ2k

Granted, some of us can’t sing that well, but it should get your mind buzzing about what you could do, to not only get Fans, but to also keep them engaged. I’d love to hear about some of your attempts (good or bad) to get and retain Fans on your Facebook site. Comment below or send me an email!

Are you going to start writing your 10,000th Fan song?

I have always been a fan of print advertising, but it seems to be the first thing a client cuts when trimming down the monthly advertising budget. Direct mail seems to hold on fairly well, but newspaper and magazine ads are out of the campaign long before TV and radio are considered. Now, this is what I’ve noticed from my experience, but it seems to hold true from client to client.

So, I wanted to take this post and highlight some of my favorite print pieces that have been popping up around the globe lately. I will probably make this a mulit-post series and I would love your contributions if you see a print ad that catches your attention.

Join me in a little print appreciation:

It might take a minute to get this one, but once you do, you’ll appreciate it for its imagination. The imagery is different and I was drawn to it because I thought there was more to it than it seemed. There’s yellow car and a blue streetlamp, and when those two colors are mixed, you get green. So, in case of green — Nissan Auto Insurance. If you want to see a few more executions of this campaign click here.

OK, this one might not be a favorite (especially if you’re reading this while eating, sorry!) but it’s hard to argue that the visual isn’t strong. I saw this one on a website and I stopped scrolling to see what it was about. Then I read the header at the top and the strong statement backed up the strong image.

I think this one speaks for itself! Amusing message with a nice usage of white space.

This is has to be one of my favorite print campaigns that I’ve seen recently. I love the vintage look of the ads, and I actually did a post about this campaign that you can see here.

Send over your favorite ads from print, TV, outdoor, or anything you want! Just comment below or send me an email.

Here’s how it worked: each person entering the Coca-Cola Village would receive a bracelet that would release a radio-frequency identification (RFID) signal. Then, there would be devices around the village that would be RFID-readable so visitors could hold their bracelets up to them and “Like” a specific area of the village on Facebook. So, if you’re by the pool and want all of your Facebook friends to see that you “Like” the pool, it’s as easy as holding up your arm!

Even cooler, there was a photographer walking around taking pictures, and if you touched your RFID bracelet to the photographer’s bracelet, the picture would be uploaded to the Coca-Cola Village’s Facebook page and it would already be “tagged.”

To see some footage from the actual event, take a look at this video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUv0GU5rfHg

Any interest in wearing one of those RFID bracelets on a daily basis so you can “Like” thinks in real life?

Bernbach graduated from New York University with a degree in English, and he spent his early years working in a mail room before moving on as a speechwriter. After serving two years in the Army during World War II, he quickly created his own agency with an investment of $1,200 (he was one of three founders of Doyle Dane Bernbach, aka DDB). According to the book Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy, Bernbach once told Ogilvy that he (Bernbach) never stayed in the office after five, never took any work home, and never worked weekends. Bernbach went on to explain that this was because he loved his family.

One of his most memorable pieces of work was the Volkswagen “Think Small” campaign, and it is at the top of the list on Advertising Age’s Top 100 Advertising Campaigns:

(click to enlarge)

Two other popular campaigns of Bernbach’s were, “We Try Harder” for Avis, and “Hey, Mikey” for Life Cereal.

“Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from a formula.” — Bill Bernbach

Flogos is a company that specializes in taking your logo and turning it into a synthesized proprietary surfactant…or soap if you want to keep it simple. Then, since the material is lighter than air, it floats up into the sky like a balloon. The logo will last for about 30 minutes, so that’s plenty of time to get your company’s logo noticed by a lot of potential customers.

Plus, they travel up to 30 miles and float as high as 5,000 feet, so even if you’re the only one watching, it can still be a visual treat.

Nintendo used Flogos to promote the release of Kirby Super Star Ultra for the company’s DS gaming system. It was a multi-city event, and using Flogos was a great idea for the game promotion because Kirby (the star character of the game) can float, so it showcases Kirby’s floating ability. Take a look:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmK4UEN2EwM

Here’s a closer look at the machinery with a Flogo peace symbol:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=utWnBGXKVB0

Kudos to the geniuses over there! A really great idea, but I could see how it might not be “right” for every company. So…which company logo do you want to see flying high above as a Flogo?

Did you know that an octopus has excellent eyesight and a well-developed brain? It can also use camouflage as a method of protection by changing the color and texture of its skin to match a surrounding area. Lastly, the octopus can appear in separate commercials for different products, so if you’re in a bit of a pinch because your creative well ran dry, harness the power of the varying octopus! Will the cephalopod mollusk equal big bucks for your favorite brand? Well, it seems to be working well for Kraken rum, Jameson whiskey, Pepsi, and Toyota.

Take a look:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCUuQH54kwA

Here we see what happens when you attempt to put a beast in your belly. If you order this brand of spiced rum at your local watering hole, you might run the risk of getting snatched right off your bar stool by a mythical sea monster of gargantuan size. Unless your name is Perseus, this would be a bad thing. Decent little spot here, but nothing that is knocking me off my seat.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOydQFJdx1k

By now I’m thinking that octopuses really don’t want humans to drink alcohol. If they’re not pulling you off your seat, they are going to confront you if you go diving into the ocean after a barrel of your favorite spirit. This spot has more creativity, and the production value is definitely higher than the Kraken spot.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_tYcv_R5xI

Take the bar from the Kraken spot, then add the ocean from the Jameson spot, and you might get something that looks like this Pepsi spot. The suave, umbrella-wielding guy is your typical fare for a soft drink ad, and the guy either in an octopus suit, or actually part octopus, adds something a little interesting to the end. Mildly amusing, but I still feel no need to “MAX IT!”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrAninYnuwY

My favorite of the four. Unexpected, amusing, and the most clever overall. Almost feels like a Nike ad there at the beginning.

Which is your favorite?