Foursquare, the Fox Theatre, & some History

Over the weekend, I was dragged … err I mean, I visited The Fabulous Fox Theatre with my wife to see The Phantom of the Opera (it was a great show by the way). Prior to the start of the show, I went through my ritual of checking-in via Foursquare and Gowalla (I’m down to only checking-in on 2 apps now, sorry to Whrrl, MyTown, & Brightkite). When I checked-in to The Fabulous Fox Theatre on Foursquare I received a notification from the History Channel with an interesting fact about the theatre (see below).

I had heard about a special campaign that the History Channel was running on Foursquare a few months ago, and I forgot that I had started to follow the History Channel on Foursquare until I received the above notification. The campaign on Foursquare was designed to promote a television event on the History Channel. When users check-in around different cities in the US, they can find historical facts about their location and unlock the limited edition History Channel badge.

For someone that enjoys learning new things, I thought this was a creative way for the History Channel to integrate into a mobile check-in app like Foursquare. It’s cool to see brands thinking outside of the box when it comes to social. The History Channel could’ve easily dismissed Foursquare as not a good fit, but found an interesting way to make it work.

Have you followed any brands on check-in apps like Foursquare and Gowalla?