Brightkite partners with Starbucks to serve up drinks deals

Foursquare has undoubtedly been leading location-based service (LBS) pack when it comes to hitching up with the big brands.

MTV, Condé Nast and HBO have been just some of the major partners it's tapped up in recent months.

Now rival Brightkite appears to be following its lead by signing a deal with Starbucks.

Indeed, when it comes to corporate partnerships, they don't get much bigger than the American coffee chain. Starbucks has more than 17,000 outlets worldwide, and Brightkite is aiming for its userbase to tap into the vast majority of them.

Taking the bucks

As part of the deal, Brightkite users will not only be awarded with special Starbucks branded badges when they check in at one of the coffee houses, they'll also be able to access unique drink deals.

TechCrunch reports that specifics regarding such offers remain under wraps, though the suggestion is check-ins made at certain times will unlock deals on specific drinks, essentially taking the form of 'happy hour' promotions.

It's not yet been made clear whether the drinks offers are limited to Starbucks check-ins made in the US only though.

Brightkite claims similar deals with other companies are likely to follow.

Following FoursquareThe partnership, which is the first of its kind for Brightkite, is similar to the deal signed between Foursquare and Starbucks back in March.

As part of that particular link-up, regular Starbucks check-ins on Foursquare unlocked barista badges and offered customer rewards - the deal being billed as the coffee chain's first attempt to test out alternative reward strategies.

[source: TechCrunch]