It’s been a while since Foursquare had new proprietary event badges. In fact, the last time I remember a special badge was for NY Internet Week.
Foursquare took a break to focus on expanding to tons of global cities to strengthen their worldwide userbase. Now that that’s out of the way they can continue to hone their business model by making brand integration once again essential. This brings back the element of surprise that users love and turns users into fans and fans into evangelists.
Today has also been a marquee day for Foursquare with a return to focus on brands by partnering with Pepsi. For about a week Pepsi will donate $.04 to Camp Interactive for every point scored on the NYC leader board.
With event badges, leaderboard sponsorships and nearby checkin deals in place brands are starting to take their rightful place on Foursquare. While they may be privately funded thus far there is definitely a clear path to profitability by integrating brands in a timely and relevant manner.
