What's interesting about the choice of Turn is that the company is best-known as one of the adtech world's largest "demand-side platforms" (DSPs). A DSP is basically an ad-buying system, in which clients buy inventory in a real-time bidding auction. The inventory is usually triggered by tracking cookies, so buyers can target people by their apparent interests as indicated by their web surfing history.
Turn is a major player inside FBX, Facebook's cookie-driven, RTB ad exchange.
At Foursquare, a users' interest will, obviously, be inferred from their check-in. The innovation here — if the implication in the ad sales pitch deck is correct — is that the ad will be triggered by the check-in as opposed to a cookie. Turn can apply its database of cookies to match that check-in with a relevant audience.
Advertisement
It looks like Foursquare will not be offering individual users as targets, but rather anonymous blocks of users with similar interests, such as "mass market mom," "business traveler," and "luxury affinity."
Advertisement
Welcome to the show! Let's get started ...
This is what ad clients want from Foursquare, but apparently weren't getting until recently. Note the "IAB" reference — that's the ad industry's standards setter, which suggests that Foursquare was looking at a way of using standard web ads on its platform.
Advertisement
Hiding in plain sight: Foursquare was hooking up with a DSP back in April, it turns out.
Foursquare has 30 million users in its audience.
Advertisement
The word "retargeting" was another clue. That word describes what DSPs like Turn do inside ad exchanges like Facebook's FBX.
Yup, it'll be standard ad formats being served — it's a lot easier to trigger those in a cookie-based retargeting exchange than it is to come up with a native format.
Advertisement
Foursquare wants a $50,000 entry fee for new advertisers. Cheap!
Foursquare is offering more than one way to target users. It's not just the actual check-in, but during a post-check-in period, too.
Advertisement
Perhaps Stoli is a Foursquare client. Companies don't usually use each others' brands in pitches without permission.
Note the IAB standard being mentioned again. Foursquare wants a call to action in the campaign so it can see how many users actually responded to the ads, perhaps with a click or a download.