A growing number of people are using  location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla, or their French counterpart Dismoioù to tell the world where they’re visiting, and offering ‘tips’ about these places. Despite only being live in the UK for 5 months, PR & Marketing Pros have already started clamouring feverishly over this technology and it’s very much a question of who will be the first UK brand to come up with something cool, other than just rewards.

1) Pepsi – brand exposure… for a good cause

Pepsi were the first brand to jump on the Foursquare bandwagon last year by sponsoring the NYC Leaderboard and donating $0.04 for Camp Interactive for every point added to the leaderboard.

2) Starbucks Barista Badge – rewarding customers

Check-in to any Starbucks location on Foursquare and you will be one checkin closer to unlocking your very own official Starbucks Barista badge. Right now that badge might not amount to anything more than bragging rights, but that should change in the coming months. Starbucks exploring ways to reward regulars for their continued check-ins with special prizes, as well as better understand customer behaviour.

What else could they do: Add tips for each coffee shop, a Foursquare/Google maps store locator could also be pretty cool.

3) Marc Jacobs Fashion Victim Badge – Free tickets for the Marc Jacobs show in NYC

Marc Jacobs and Foursquare created the ‘Fashion Victim’ badge, which allowed Fashion Week attendees (and others) to “check-in” at any Marc by Marc Jacobs stores in New York and around the country to unlock the badge. Four people who unlocked the badge in New York were randomly chosen to receive tickets to the Marc Jacobs show.

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3) Harvard – getting closer to your community

Harvard also recently launched their branded Foursquare page, offering the opportunity to explore this historical campus through Foursquare. A really nice effort.

4) Lucky Magazine – adding value to your customers

Lucky Magazine’s Foursquare page is a digital means to promote tips from their editor-curated list of more than 600 stores nationwide.

Lucky Mag spent considerable time and money employing editors around the nation to hunt down the best local deals and designers in order to establish this curated directory.

Foursquare is fast becoming the new platform of choice in the social media mix whilst ensuring a nice revenue stream from a number of brands.

Have you spotted any other brands using Foursquare in a quirky way? Let me know in the comments!