For those of you who regularly follow our blog, or know any of us personally, the fact that we love Foursquare isn’t news. If you’re a client you’ll know how it’s been one of the many platforms and technologies that we’ve tested to breaking point to assess how it might help engage consumers to your brand or product’s benefit. You probably also know we were there in October last year when more than 300 of us got together in a bar in town to check-in concurrently and unlock the first Super swarm badge in the UK. You might even know we joined a small team of industry specialists and enthusiasts in seeking to plan the next big thing with superswarm organiser @cpchannel. Or you may have seen the cross-social promotion we’ve developed for the release of TT3D: Closer To The Edge which includes a Foursquare feature with the movie’s cinema chain partner.

Yes, we do Foursquare. We love it. Yes, we’ve had in-office arguments, and yes I threw my toys out the pram when I was ousted as mayor of our London office whilst on Honeymoon. So what next? Well, following up on an intriguingly mysterious tweet from @ThePaulSutton yesterday I was anxious to find out this very morning at the Tower of London. And so…

History (formerly The History Channel) today launched a unique and exciting new partnership with Foursquare, with the aim of attracting people “who have not traditionally engaged with history”. And how have they done this? By tagging 600 known and undiscovered historical locations around the capital, with users unlocking a new “HISTORY <3 London” badge by checking into four or more tagged locations – each of which has been furnished with fascinating tips and historical insights. But it goes further. Badge owners are automatically entered into a prize draw (so good luck to @rheaj who unlocked the badge during the presentation, much to everyone’s delight and amusement – well, not everyone, actually, where’s my badge?) and there are currently over 20 partner attractions offering exclusive discounts and rewards to participants. It’s on message for the brand, engaging and offers something to the dedicated or accidental participant. What’s not to like and admire?

It’s going to be fascinating to see how this one pans out, but for me it represents a real coming of age of the platform here in the UK, and a hope that this becomes the first of several, but not too many, opportunities to reward consumers with the much coveted badges which have been more-or-less denied us over this side of the pond. Though History did concede having their US operation tie-up a deal with Foursquare previously made this a lot smoother than may have otherwise be the case. Thankfully we have a pretty well connected US office too.

If you want to find out more about location-based marketing or have any questions drop a tweet to John Lyons @johnnieego or the company account @Brandmovers_uk.