From MediaPost:

 One of my pet peeves with Foursquare has been that the special offers nearby tend to have very little creativity and are only available to mayors. For example, a typical offer will be that mayors of a restaurant may get a free drink when they buy a meal (unfortunately, Gemma does not have such an offer). While it is a good deal for mayors, it is inconsequential for most visitors to these establishments, since so few of them have a meaningful chance to win the mayorship. Most good mayorships require almost daily visitation to the business.

I’ve wondered why we don’t see more businesses offer value for just checking in. That, as I discovered at Whole Foods, is exactly what it is now doing with Foursquare.

Currently, the store gives a free bottle of water on a first check-in — a very welcome freebie during this heat wave. Last week, the offer was a free product on a 10^th check-in. This is really taking advantage of the Foursquare platform — a great way to use a location-based service to drive a lot of repeat store visitation with minimal investment. I can’t wait to see where Foursquare takes this a year from now as its user base grows, as the marketing elements of the platform become more robust, and as marketers and agencies get more familiar and creative with its capabilities.