Six weeks, five countries, four conferences and a pile of travel expense receipts that desperately needs to be sorted. That has been the reality here at Loyalty Truth as we have been on the go while making the most of the final business push of the year before the holiday season settles in and thoughts turn to 2012.

In the middle of the activity, I received a call from a conference organizer seeking my participation in an event being planned for 2012. As many of these conversations go, I initially felt complemented when hearing “You’ve been identified as a thought leader and someone we’d like to have as a key part of our event”.  But as the dialogue wore on, I realized that I was being pitched sponsorship rather than be recognized for thought leadership.

The questions I was asked were intended to help me rationalize writing that big check for sponsorship and included:

• Why do you attend conferences?
• What’s the value of the exposure if you present, exhibit, or sponsor?
• What is the value of just one project that results from contacts made at the event?

You can see where it was all headed. Yes, we attend industry events to learn, but probably the networking is most valued. I fully understand the model and realize that sponsorship dollars fund the event as well as generate a bottom line for organizers.

My revelation was that the conference business is increasingly becoming a game of haves and have-nots. Sponsoring organizations shell out significant dollars to sponsor events and key speaking slots on the agenda are allocated to them as part of the package. That is reasonable considering the investment made.

Suppliers, agencies, and consultants are another matter. I am fascinated by the message that suppliers or vendors are “bad” and can’t be trusted to present without pitching their wares.  Some ground rules are clear, that no presentation should be a sales pitch, veiled or otherwise. Adhering to this rule improves the content of the conference material and raises overall value for delegates. Anyone crossing the line too much or too often should not be invited back as there’s plenty of time for selling during the networking and break times.

On the other hand, there are some highly informed people working in the supplier community that can be of great interest to a delegate group. For example, find the people who are talking about subjects on gamification, location based marketing, mobile payments and NFC, social media measurement, or coalition loyalty. Through their focus and passion for their areas of speciality, they can bring great value to an event.

There are some things in life you can complain about and then there are the ones that we can actually hope to change. I am hoping that the conference business will shift ever so slightly. For example, I would like to see that at least one speaking spot in a morning and afternoon of a typical conference event be allocated based on merit, not money. That means that out of approximately 16 speakers, 4 would be invited based on their material, not just the size of their supporting organization.

This 25% concession would probably not impact the overall sponsorship fees received by organizers. They might even be able to increase revenues through higher registrations or a higher price point.

There’s a very good chance that the model will not change, mostly because it does not have to. Only a Wall Street style boycott would bring that level of change and, since most of us go to conferences for the networking, I don’t expect we’ll see much of an uprising.

At the same time, conference organizers should be on alert. Some brands are shifting attention to proprietary events, where stakeholders are brought together in high quality environments and an open exchange of valuable information takes place. As dollars in travel and marketing budgets stay tight, watch for these high quality privately organized events to become even more attractive.

Maybe that will create the impetus for the general conference industry to alter their approach to the business. We’ll see.

Loyalty marketing is about much more than “marketing”. The essence of influencing consumer behavior has its nexus at the intersection of marketing, payments and technology. If Hanifin Loyalty had a business address that was indicative of focus rather than where we receive our mail, it would be at that interesting little corner of commerce.

As smartphone penetration increases across Consumer 2.0 (nearly half of the US population) and as new payment technologies continue to emerge as challenges to the legacy payments networks (principally Visa and MasterCard), the way consumers shop will change dramatically.

The famous tagline from American Express “don’t leave home without it” referred to their own portfolio of credit cards. The new moniker that will catch the attention of consumers might be something closer to “leave everything at home except your phone”. Lousy copy-writing, I agree, but at the least, the thing we can’t leave home without will be transformed from a plastic card to a mobile handset.

LevelUp is a reasonably new market entry that combines a network of local merchants with a smartphone enabled payment device that seeks to add speed and convenience to the consumer shopping experience while offering rewards to consumers who play the game. The first three markets opened up include Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

Signing up for a LevelUp account gets the user a personalized QR code like the one shown in the graphic to the right. The QR code can be displayed at participating merchant locations to complete a purchase transaction.Merchants participating in the program offer rewards for first time visitors (for example $10 off purchase of $50 or more) and receive subsequent offers as they continue to shop within the network.

Users are required to register a credit card with their LevelUp account and payments made using the QR code are charged to the affiliated card. That points to a conundrum in this concept – the card is not eliminated, only pushed to the background and not physically required to be presented at the time of purchase. In other words, its not really an alternate payment system, unless we agree to redefine that term. On the plus side, LevelUp members can “double-dip” as they earn whatever rewards are offered by LevelUp merchants in addition to those from a rewards card linked to their account.

LevelUp is something that Foursquare could have built as an enhancement but has not done to date. I’ve read recently that the future of pure location based check-in systems like Foursquare is dim. All I can say is that they may have missed a huge opportunity if this is true. Foursquare was there first but never gave merchants the tools needed to really turn the system into a marketing channel nor added payment or other features.

Dwolla is another location based system that offers an alternative payment method, but in their case they truly offer an alternative to credit cards. I’ve done a comparison of several social shopping methods and will have a report for you next week or so. Meanwhile, give thought to whether the future of social shopping lies in registered card models, smartphone enabled payment methods, or channels using ACH that are low cost but still hard to understand for some people.

One aspect of social loyalty that seems clear is that the value proposition will certainly go beyond points. In fact points may be the third or fourth element of the value proposition behind mobility, payment methods and offers which are instantly redeemable. Throw in the increasing importance of recognition and status within online communities and we might see “Whuffie” become an alternate online currency.

The only thing we know about this changing loyalty market is that it is sure to continue to change.

Mark Cavendish is the fastest person in the world on two wheels. At the moment, the professional cyclist, riding for HTC Highroad, holds the lead in the sprinter’s competition in the Tour de France and is a favorite to hang on to the “green jersey” until the race wraps up next Sunday in Paris.

With all due respect to the accomplishments of Mr. Cavendish, there’s still a larger prize to be won, and the sprint competition is a subset of the overall picture in cycling’s greatest race. He’s a critical and fascinating part of the Tour de France story this year as are other similar “races within the race”, i.e. the King of the Mountains, Best Young Rider, Best Team, and some others.

In the business world, similar phenomena take place. The genre of data-driven marketing programs known as Loyalty Marketing were launched in earnest in 1981 and have been evolving steadily over the past 25 years. Throughout this time, there have been a number of subplots, some forgettable (online currencies like Flooz and Beenz) and some significant (1 to 1 Marketing, Word of Mouth Marketing, Deal of the Day).

The important thing to remember is that there’s a big race to be won, and the outcome is still in doubt. Winners are yet to be determined. Some of the “subplots” over past years have been precipitated by payment innovation (smart cards, contactless payment), regulatory/legislative issues (merchant funded rewards, whatever is to come post-Durbin), technology (Customer Relationship Management) or just plain visionary thinking (1 to 1 Marketing).

Today we are experiencing yet another phase of marketing development and, as in the past, the focus of brands, markets, and investment capital is on tactical options that can change how we communicate and deliver value to customers while macro themes are set aside. The current obsession with social loyalty, location based marketing, game based engagement programs, and deal of the day plans like Groupon are examples drawing the market’s attention.

You might be surprised to hear this sort of talk from Loyalty Truth. After all, we’ve invested ourselves to help brands “get ahead of the transaction” and successfully engage with Customer 2.0. To be clear, there is no inconsistency in our thinking, rather an unwavering commitment to help fulfill the greatest promises of data-driven customer strategy.

The three biggest unfulfilled promises of Loyalty Marketing from our viewpoint are the under-utilization of customer data collected, the failure to deliver personalization and relevancy through two-way dialogue between brand and customer, and the shortcoming of Loyalty Marketers to apply what they know works to meet objectives across a Customer Lifecycle.

At Loyalty Truth, we will continue to learn, test and advocate for how best to incorporate new technology and communication channels into customer-facing marketing programs. At the same time, we’ll keep our eyes on the big prize as we apply the benefits of these new tactics, technologies, and channels.

After all, if Cavendish could pull it off, he’d rather have both a Green and a Yellow jersey to wear at the end of the bike race.

Loyalty Truth has been giving a lot of thought towards the shaping of loyalty and rewards programs to engage the interest of Millennials and the broader digital consumer group we are calling Consumer 2.0.

With many merchandise offerings lacking imagination as well as value, and airline miles tough to redeem given capacity restraints on available reward seating, cash back has earned renewed popularity as a quick-to-earn and easy to understand reward.

The problem is, rational can be boring. And easy to understand sometimes means too easy to label. With Groupon offering a 50% off “deal of the day”, a 1% deferred cash reward seems to be teetering on irrelevancy.

A 2010 paper written by an esteemed group of professors from Harvard University, University of Virginia, and University of British Columbia, pointed out that, in most cases, people enjoy experiences over things. While an item purchased can bring temporary pleasure, it is an experience that leaves a lasting impression.

Music is experiential and has been described as a “time machine” by some people. Most of us can attest to the impact of hearing a favorite song on the radio. The opening notes can transport us back in time and bring us vivid memories of first dates, world events, or just plain old good times.

If you don’t believe that music is important to human beings, is pervasive in our culture today and can be used to shape purchase behavior, then at least factor in these statistics:

• MP3 players — Just under half of American adults (47%) own an MP3 player such as an iPod — a nearly five-fold increase from the 11% who owned this type of device in early 2005  – Aaron Smith, Research Specialist, Pew Internet & American Life Project October 14, 2010

• 16 percent of Americans age 13 or older are using devices other than their home computers to download software applications (apps), music, video, and other entertainment content from the Web – NPD Group, May 2010

• 75 percent of iPhone and iPod Touch users are connecting to the Web to download entertainment content and apps – NPD Group, May 2010

Rewards and Music have been linked in an interesting way so far. Several digital content providers, including iTunes, have made forays into the loyalty industry. Reward administrators were asked to pre-purchase exclusively download codes to offer music as a reward, and the redemption process was often cumbersome as it required consumers to leave the brand sponsor’s web environment to collect their music.

To my knowledge, there hasn’t been a fully integrated platform to deliver music and other digital content as a reward until PointTunes™ was announced last year. The platform makes it possible for a loyalty program participant to redeem points or miles directly for music, eBooks, software and games with a patent pending transaction process named PointRobot™.

I had the opportunity to interview the founder of PointTunes™, Bill Cunningham, who shared that PointRobot™ can be used to create a customized digital rewards offering where program administrators have complete control over their digital rewards options.

He told me that PointTunes™ has its origins through his work as a Product Manager for one of the largest employee rewards companies in North America. “During that time I was never presented with a viable digital solution by our vendors” said Cunningham, and “myself and other rewards administrators were looking to add digital reward options to help control costs and find new clients.”

If you understand the shift taking place towards customer engagement, you understand how breakage, while a tempting element of a rewards financial model, can have negative impact on customer relationships. With pressure on reward costs, digital content is attractive to brands sponsoring loyalty programs.

Something had been missing from the previous method of including music as a reward in most loyalty programs and Mr. Cunningham “believes digital rewards is a perfect fit for the loyalty market both from an incentive (do this get that) and a loyalty (points, miles et al.) angle.”

Considering that Consumer 2.0 is perfectly at home with social networks and location based marketing (Gowalla, Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter et al.), using digital rewards that are as mobile as your customers makes sense. To meet the need, Cunningham said a mobile rewards platform is planned for launch in 2011, allowing consumers to redeem for music right from their mobile handset.

Loyalty is evolving to become more social and to meet the needs of the brands that sponsor the programs. PointTunes™ is a group to watch as the “Social Loyalty” continues to unfold during 2011.

There are two forms of brilliance in business – one displayed by people who invent things we haven’t thought about before (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare) and those that find a way to incorporate these new communications channels into mainstream business to generate revenue.

In many aspects of social media, we are waiting for the dots to be connected and for business to understand how to put the tools to use to enhance existing business models, engage customers, and make money. Location based marketing has been a head-scratcher from this perspective. Foursquare launched at SXSW only two years ago in March 2009 and now has an estimated 5.7 Million registered users. Many of these users are interested in doing more than becoming the “mayor” of a location, yet merchants have been slow to take advantage of the platform to deliver targeted and inexpensive marketing. Many people think that 2011 will be the year that Location Based marketing takes off and the predictions here are indicative of the potential.

The launch of SNAP (Social Network Appreciation Platform) today was covered by Mashable in an article here and has my full attention as it represents the second form of brilliance and is a legitimate tool to make any loyalty program “social”. In the spirit of full disclosure, Hanifin Loyalty has been named an agency partner of SNAP and will be advocating SNAP to the market.

In the SNAP press release, capabilities are explained and it is clear that the application can connect any existing loyalty program membership base to local merchants to enable “passive check-in” using Foursquare, Facebook Places, and Twitter. Leaderboards and Badges are supported as are more sophisticated bonusing elements.

“Social Loyalty” using passive social network check-in was pioneered by Tasti D-Lite and Loyalty Truth applauded its launch about this time last year. The work done between Tasti D-Lite and PC America has evolved to become SNAP and can enable social loyalty on a standalone basis for smaller merchants and even work within a gift card platform. You can get the idea even better via this clever video.

To my knowledge, TopGuest is the only other application in market that converts check-ins to rewards points, but they approach the subject from a different angle. TopGuest is a mobile application that enables consumers to check-in and earn extra points with designated rewards programs, principally in the hospitality segment. The fact that TopGuest quickly affiliated with brands such as Virgin America, Hilton, and Intercontinental speaks to the high level of interest by business in bringing a social element to their staid rewards programs.

SNAP is an open platform that can be used by any business – small or large – to enable social check-in, reward word of mouth marketing, and generate referrals and recommendations across a trusted network of friends. It can be integrated to loyalty processing software packages and with POS systems in merchant locations.

I’ve only recently realized that the conversation isn’t about Millennials or Generation Y anymore. It’s about “Consumer 2.0″, those consumers who have grown up with technology and live in an “always on” environment, preferring to communicate with friends and brands through digital channels.

The significance of this realization is that Consumer 2.0 probably numbers about 150 Million, or half of the US population. The figure includes all the Millennials (so you’re not forgotten) and accounts for those of us (Boomer, Gen X, and other groups) influenced by the Millennials we know and the increasing importance of digital marketing.

SNAP opens up many doors to allow brands to connect with their customers and adds a critical component to any loyalty program if it is to stay relevant with Consumer 2.0.

If you want to get a sniff of where Location Based Marketing is headed, you have to go where the leaders are and listen. A good friend of Loyalty Truth, Ron Stack attended the Location Based Marketing Summit held recently in New York. Ron is CEO of Zavee.com, a social shopping network based in Boca Raton, Florida. This report was filed by Loyalty Truth with Ron’s help and published first in The Wise Marketer this week.

The conference blended strategic and tactical insights about location-based marketing techniques, and most of the speakers observed that location based marketing is still in its earliest stages, and getting consumers to ‘check in’ digitally is only the beginning of this emerging marketing technique’s possibilities.

The principal strategic focus of the conference, however, was on consumer engagement and how to increase it. Several speakers referred to Forrester’s recent finding that regular use of the ‘check in’ model was still in single-digit percentages, and that consumer awareness of these services wasn’t much higher – a report that has however been disputed at least once.

Either way, with estimates of more than 12 million people playing what consumers will initially consider “the location game”, smartphone penetration reaching 9% of the handset market, and SMS usage covering 95% of all wireless customers, it is clear that almost all consumers can be reached with marketing messages via a mobile handset.

Ian Schafer, CEO for Deep Focus, discussed ways in which marketers could use the technique for more effective marketing, suggesting that it can grow customer loyalty, increase relevance, and provide useful data and insights. He considers the smartphone to be “the next generation loyalty card”, with targeted deals and discounts being available upon check-in (or perhaps even without a digital check-in). By way of example, he highlighted ShopKick, which has a hardware platform that pushes reward currency to the consumer as soon as they enter the merchant’s store (without the consumer even having to check-in or make a purchase).

Overall, it was agreed that location-based applications can at least provide:

• People – other users who might have something in common with the user;
• Content – messages or offers based on what the user likes that is at/near her location;
• Time and Place – targeted, timely messages or offers based on where the user is right now;
• Context – communications based on prior behaviour, as tracked by the location-based device.

The potential of location-based data is that it can drive better business decisions by adding additional dimensions (i.e. time and place, captured over time in real-time) to what is otherwise known about each consumer’s behaviour. One great example cited was the Microsoft Bing ‘Home Turf Finder’ for the World Cup, which identified certain bars in New York City as “home turf” for fans of a particular team. The determinations were based in part on editorial sources such as Thrillist, but were mostly derived from ‘heat maps’ of consumers who had checked in or tweeted their support as well as their location.

Several speakers also noted Google’s recent announcement that 30% of mobile searches and 20% of all internet searches have local intent, and said that all of the major players (e.g. Facebook, Google, and even wireless carriers) were already focusing on local information.

There was also considerable discussion of Groupon, although some panellists expressed doubts that the “deep discount, deal of the day” model provides sustainable customer growth. Speakers agreed, however, that geo-targeting adds value by increasing both relevance and personalisation.

Overall, panellists agreed that there is great demand for marketers to engage with consumers at “the right place and the right time, all the time”. Mobile couponing, despite being a fragmented space, seems to have taken hold. As a result, one area in which technological developments are anticipated is indoor navigation, where GPS signals are sometimes degraded and are not designed to be accurate enough for navigation within a store.

Finally, the issue of consumer privacy arose in almost every session. John Nicholson of law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman concluded that “the more value a marketer delivers, the more information a consumer is likely to share”, and that an application that seems to exist only for marketing purposes is unlikely to gain the consumer’s trust.

Editor’s note: My thanks to Ron Stack for filing this report and for pushing the envelope on customer loyatly, bringing local merchants into the game with Zavee.com.

After spending two days documenting my recent experiences with location based service Foursquare, I thought it was time for another type of check-in – this time with the threat of data theft in our world and the many ways we are exposed to this important risk.

I’m a JP Morgan Chase customer and suffered through last week’s online banking outage as mystified as everyone else. For me, the banking app was out of service for almost 7 days. At the outset, the bank did not acknowledge it had a problem, posting a message that the site was down for “maintenance”.  After a few days it revealed more, but not all of the circumstances, of the problem only after being pushed by heavy consumer outcry in social media channels.

During the summer, Citi revealed that it found a security flaw in one of its key online banking apps for iPhone. Attesting that no customer information was improperly accessed, the bank noted they had released an update which prevented customer information from being saved to hidden files on the iPhone.

A recent report on CNN attempted to strike the chord of consumer fear, telling us that digital loyalty cards are not secure. The story behind that headline made clear that it was not the digital apps or the loyalty programs that are the problem. It’s the WIFI networks that people use in cafes and other public places that invite risk. Whether you are checking in on Foursquare or checking your online banking account, you are in peril due to the thin security layer of most public WIFI networks.

In August, ConsumersUnion.org reported that consumers could be at risk of losing money through the proliferating number of mobile payment applications hitting the market when mistakes are made by merchants and processors or as a result of fraud.

All of this could be written off as a series of interesting but unrelated events and opinions, except when we recall that TJ Maxx suffered a massive breach of debit and credit card information. In our “what’s important today” world, the 2007 incident is nearly forgotten, except by TJ Maxx shareholders who saw earnings take a $.25/share hit in just one quarter from the $118 Million charge needed to rectify the problem.

Database marketing is by definition enabled by collecting transactional data from consumers. Loyalty programs thrive on pairing this behavioral data with attitudinal data to create value propositions and drive incremental profits. Location based marketing mandates that consumers give up a certain level of personal information, including their exact whereabouts, over vulnerable public networks.

The incidents I’ve mentioned provide only a hint of the potential for calamity from a massive data intrusion or theft by cunning hackers and organized criminals. If you think it will never happen, then you probably thought tech stocks would never cool off or a housing bubble was impossible.

The problem is not completely out of our control. Wise brands will ensure that information collected for marketing purposes will be properly encrypted and that usable account numbers will always be masked by ‘reward account numbers”. Loyalty program sponsors will ensure that their providers are PCI compliant and will place equal emphasis on security as with other bells and whistles of the software being sold.

A big wildcard is how consumers will react if a big data theft does occur. Our responsibility is to ensure that we protect the consumer data we collect and that we take extra steps to communicate what we are doing to bring value to customers while mitigating risks.

If you want to build holistic or enterprise loyalty, you’ve got a big job on your hands. Enlisting the cooperation of colleagues from marketing, IT, and data security in your company when planning your next marketing campaign should ensure that the job doesn’t get unnecessarily bigger.

In the past week, business has taken me to Vancouver, BC and San Jose, Costa Rica with a pit stop in South Florida for a day or so at home. None of that was a big deal until my colleague Mike Atkin noted at dinner that we’ve been hitting these spots in conjunction with some pretty big events.

We arrived in Vancouver exactly one week before the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics, landed in South Florida the day before Super Bowl XLIV, and arrived in San Jose on election day as the country was electing the first female President in its history. I’m not sure how I can top that although I have noticed that I arrive back in SoFla just in time to make Valentine’s day special for my wife. Better pull that one off!

I’ve also been using Foursquare for a while and, like a lot of social media waves, I engaged knowing that it would cost me a little time without being sure of a return. I’ve been having some fun with it around my local haunts and have been thinking about how something like Foursquare could intersect with location based offers as part of a loyalty marketing program. My first eye-opener was the blending of Foursquare and Twitter into the Tasti D-Lite rewards program which I talked about in a recent post.

This last jaunt across the continent and back connected a few dots. Checking in to my hotel in Vancouver, I saw a pop-up on my iPhone that said “Special Nearby”. Clicking through, I read “Welcome to the Mill Marine Bistro & Bar. Mayor receives a free beer. Show your server to redeem.”

I wasn’t the Mayor and didn’t get a free beer, but Mike and I did visit the nearby pub to have a quick dinner. The point made was that promotions relevant to someone’s stay could be delivered via this little iPhone application. Better yet, these offers are made to people who have opted-in to receive the offer. in this case, the Mayor might game the offer to get lots of free beer and over time I hope the restaurant will become more creative in the offers made, possibly targeting guests at the hotel next door.

Landing in FLL a day or so later, I switched on the phone and “checked in” to Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport and received a tip from a local attorney, Leland Garvin. On the verge of the Super Bowl weekend in SoFla, what better message could an attorney send than (paraphrased) “Have fun while in town, but if anything happens from arrest to a speeding ticket, call Leland Garvin, attorney at law.” A phone number was included and if I was a “Who Dat” ready to tear it up for the Super weekend, I would have written it down and tucked it somewhere safe.

With lots of minds grinding on how to incorporate mobile marketing, location based promotions, and social media into loyalty program communication streams, these two “pops” from Foursquare got my attention and sparked some good ideas.

Consider the possibilities. What’s it make you think about?

In the past week, business has taken me to Vancouver, BC and San Jose, Costa Rica with a pit stop in South Florida for a day or so at home. None of that was a big deal until my colleague Mike Atkin noted at dinner that we’ve been hitting these spots in conjunction with some pretty big events.

We arrived in Vancouver exactly one week before the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics, landed in South Florida the day before Super Bowl XLIV, and arrived in San Jose on election day as the country was electing the first female President in its history. I’m not sure how I can top that although I have noticed that I arrive back in SoFla just in time to make Valentine’s day special for my wife. Better pull that one off!

I’ve also been using Foursquare for a while and, like a lot of social media waves, I engaged knowing that it would cost me a little time without being sure of a return. I’ve been having some fun with it around my local haunts and have been thinking about how something like Foursquare could intersect with location based offers as part of a loyalty marketing program. My first eye-opener was the blending of Foursquare and Twitter into the Tasti D-Lite rewards program which I talked about in a recent post.

This last jaunt across the continent and back connected a few dots. Checking in to my hotel in Vancouver, I saw a pop-up on my iPhone that said “Special Nearby”. Clicking through, I read “Welcome to the Mill Marine Bistro & Bar. Mayor receives a free beer. Show your server to redeem.”

I wasn’t the Mayor and didn’t get a free beer, but Mike and I did visit the nearby pub to have a quick dinner. The point made was that promotions relevant to someone’s stay could be delivered via this little iPhone application. Better yet, these offers are made to people who have opted-in to receive the offer. in this case, the Mayor might game the offer to get lots of free beer and over time I hope the restaurant will become more creative in the offers made, possibly targeting guests at the hotel next door.

Landing in FLL a day or so later, I switched on the phone and “checked in” to Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport and received a tip from a local attorney, Leland Garvin. On the verge of the Super Bowl weekend in SoFla, what better message could an attorney send than (paraphrased) “Have fun while in town, but if anything happens from arrest to a speeding ticket, call Leland Garvin, attorney at law.” A phone number was included and if I was a “Who Dat” ready to tear it up for the Super weekend, I would have written it down and tucked it somewhere safe.

With lots of minds grinding on how to incorporate mobile marketing, location based promotions, and social media into loyalty program communication streams, these two “pops” from Foursquare got my attention and sparked some good ideas.

Consider the possibilities. What’s it make you think about?