NEW YORK: Foursquare hired Kaplow PR as its AOR for messaging, media relations, and an education campaign on its location-based app.
Foursquare PR Manager Erin Gleason said up to seven tech-focused and consumer agencies were considered for the work over the past few months. The company didn't issue a formal RFP, and instead met with agencies that were recommended through professional referrals and personal recommendations, she said.
Gleason declined to identify the agencies that pitched for the account. Kaplow is the company's first PR agency. “Until now it's just been me,” she said.
Kaplow SVP Nissa Anklesaria will work on the account out of the agency's San Francisco office. Anklesaria confirmed the annual account is at least six figures.
Gleason said Kaplow was chosen partly because of its experience in both tech and consumer PR, and also because of its East Coast and West Coast presence. Kaplow also works with the web-based video and phone call service Skype.
Part of the PR campaign work likely to begin next year will focus on educating consumers and businesses about geolocation services. Education messaging will also tackle personal privacy, an inherent issue that lingers with these services.
“We felt that because we were so short staffed, we weren't able to tell the story we want to,” said Gleason.
Foursquare is among the fastest growing of these apps. Founded in 2009, it just recently tallied four million registered users. It has also raised more than $20 million in funding, much of which came from the VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. “We felt like they [Kaplow] really got the brand,” Gleason said.
A team of four will work the account, Anklesaria, and Chaim Haas, SVP of technology, emerging media and digital strategy in the New York office. Both report to Gleason.
“We wanted to start small,” Gleason said of the account.
