Abstract: An advertiser “buys” a venue by controlling something in the environment of a venue, e.g., playing music in a bar, changing the channel of a TV, changing drink specials, changing coupons in a store, or subsidizing transport to the venue (e.g., cab fare). The advertiser then advertises to people in the venue, where the ad is based on the thing that was controlled (e.g., an ad for the album for the song that was played in the bar). The ad may be served to users of a social networking system currently located at the venue through a user interface on the social networking system, a display screen at the venue, a mobile ad network, or another ad distribution mechanism.