This morning I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch of a new partnership between Foursquare and History Channel – the first of its kind in the UK.
How does it work?
The premise is simple, when foursquare fans check-in to one of over 600 sites they will now find quirky and interesting historical tips about their location. Badge collectors will be pleased to know that checking-in four times to any of the 600 sites will unlock a limited edition badge.
The campaign currently involves 20 partner sites including The Tower of London, HMS Belfast, Shakespeare’s Globe and The Clink museum. These partner attractions will reward users for checking-in through a number of exclusive special offers that are only available through foursquare.
The team at History Channel explained the focus of the campaign is to help Londoners to uncover more and more of their city. For example, when I checked in at the event this morning at Tower of London, I received the tip ‘From 1235 until 1835, the monarch’s personal zoo was kept at the Tower and it included many exotic animals given as presents by other monarchs, including polar bears, leopards and elephants.’ Interesting stuff!
This certainly marks the beginning of new partnership opportunities with Foursquare – it will be interesting to see which brands follow suit.
A handy video
Not sure how Foursquare works? Here’s a handy video they showed at the event this morning:
Some examples
Some more fun tips you might now find on Foursquare:
• Savoy Street – This is the only street in the UK where you drive on the right. The rule dates back to the days of hansom cabs, dropping off their privileged guests at the Savoy Hotel.
• The London Stone – this simple rock on 111 Cannon Street, now lying in the wall of a Chinese bank, was once the most famous landmark in the city. Its origins are lost in legend and myth, but it was considered the city’s symbolic heart.
• The Dove – Situated at 19 Upper Mall in Hammersmith, this cosy riverside pub dates back to the 16th century, and boasts the smallest bar in England – 4 foot 2 inches by 7 foot 10 inches.
• The Thames Whale – In 2006, Britain was captivated by the fate of a 19 foot bottlenose whale that swam up the Thames and became stranded here. Sadly, the whale died and its skeleton is now in the Natural History Museum.
The future?
What’s the future for Foursquare? Will this be a turning point that sets Foursquare apart from Facebook Places? Share your view in the comments box below.
As a personal Foursquare fan, I instantly bought in to the potential for location based marketing. Unless you’re daft it makes sense. In the vast and all powerful social space, the one challenge we have yet to overcome is how to provide quality information on a local basis.
Hyperlocal news sites are stepping in to fill the void but are not fullfilling practical needs.
Hello Foursqure. OK so, it’s not really ‘there’ in the UK yet but chat to your American friends and you’ll start to recognise the power of local.
The ability to talk to the companies, venues, reastaurants and… WORLD that’s around you is huge. From a personal perspective, Google becomes defunked. Let your friends tell you where to drink, eat and make the most of your surroundings. From a business perspective, interact with your customers while they’re near you, with you and engaged.
Wouldn’t you just love it if you could apply the power that foursquare has driven to life? Wait, you can! Roll out GetGlue.
GetGlue is a social network for entertainment and everything in life you want to share. GetGlue users rate and check-in to things they like to get recommendations and earn rewards.
The GetGlue mobile app enables users to check-in to tv shows, movies, music and books, plus see what their friends are consuming in real-time. On GetGlue.com users can quickly build up their taste profile, get fresh suggestions every week, browse top lists and find taste neighbors.
The potential is endless. Although you can’t just set up a profile with ease, like Foursquare users have come acustom, it’s a minor set back. What you can do is share everything that’s relevant to you in a clean simple and user friendly way. Get stuck in and have a good play and you’ll become quickly addicted. The recommendations are genuinely useful and the competitive streak running through you will explode when you realise the stickers you’re earning will actually be sent to you in real life by the GetGlue team.
Those thinking about the impact for clients should get excited. We’ve always wanted to know exactly when how and why consumers are interacting with our brands. If GetGue becomes mainstream then we could. I can see your creative juices flowing.
Time to head over and check it out.
I became quite consumed with getting the stickers I wanted. To kick start your sticker portfolio, here are the secrets to getting your first 20 (in order of convienience):
20 Quick win GetGlue stickers
1. iPhoner: A tough one… use the iPhone app and you’ll get this.
2. Bootcamp: Some recognition for your first day on duty at GetGlue.
3. Addon Adhesive: Install the Crome browser add on and you’ll recive a googlisious treat.
4. Movie Hopper: Check in at three movies in a row and let the popcorn flow.
5. Cabin Fever: Geek out with 10 check ins for a mildly embarrasing sticker.
6. Check in pro: No shame? Go for 25 and you’ll get another treat.
7. Curious George: Let your curiosity go wild and scope out 10 other profiles. It will be worth it.
8. Fist Bump: While you’re over on your friend’s profiles, like 10 of their posts to share a fist bump.
9. Listmaniac: Work your way through the lists. It’s a great way to get started and once you’ve worked through around 20, your sticker count will increase.
10. Book Worm: Like 50 books for literary recognition.
11. Couch Potato: Like 50 TV shows for yet more attention.
12. Radiohead: You don’t have to be a fan of the band. Like 100 albums or artists and you will become a Radiohead.
13. Movie-buff: Spend some quality time in the movie lists section. Once you’ve been through a good 250 you’ll be acknowledged.
14. Clash of the Titans: Find the movie and check in and you’ll get yourself a hot little sticker.
15. Hands All Over: Check in to Maroon 5 with the phrase ‘hands all over’ to bond with this award.
16. Newman: Check in at Weeds. End of.
17. Road Trip: Check in at Weeds with this phrase and get an exclusive sticker – ‘The Newmans take a purple coupe 32 on a road trip this season’.
18. Freeloader: Head to Entourage, enjoy it, check in, reap the rewards.
19. True Blood Newbee: Same diff. Watch it, check in, get a prize for your efforts.
20. Don Draper: If you’ve watched Mad Med, you’ll probably want Don Draper. Just share that (‘I want Dan Draper’) with your friends while checking in and he’ll join your bounty.
By Beth Carroll
