Another week, another major business development win for Foursquare.  According to the New York Times, Foursquare has signed a joint distribution deal with restaurant guide Zagat, not unlike the Bravo deal they closed last week.

Specifically, this deal entails custom Zagat badges for Foursquare users checking in at Zagat-rated restaurants, and Zagat recommendations included in the “tips” section on the Foursquare service:

In addition to offering a special badge for Foursquare users, Zagat will begin piping tips and recommendations into the Foursquare system, which already doubles as a user-generated city guide. Foursquare users can submit their own suggestions for activities and dishes to order at a particular restaurant, which will pop up when their friends “check in” on Foursquare from that venue.

On the distribution side for Foursquare, Foursquare mayors of Zagat-rated restaurants will be interviewed on the Zagat website, presumably helping Foursquare acquire new users.

So Foursquare gets help in two areas where they need it: they get more content to drop into its venue pages (a clear need in the face of competition from content rich Yelp), and they get distribution from a high traffic brand.

Business Development is a discipline that has taken more than a little heat during the Web 2.0 era.  In social media utopia, web services don’t need Business Development – they just expose an API and big distribution partners happily line up to build on top of the service.

Foursquare is taking a markedly less passive approach.  With a tiny team, they are signing up partner after partner: Bravo, Harvard, BART, Zagat, Metro News, etc.  They seem to be effectively cashing in their media buzz for cold, hard distribution.

BizDev isn’t easy, as it’s tough to get big companies to get even the simplest things done.

Foursquare’s apparent focus and expertise in Business Development is a surprising development.

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• Foursquare patches its content gap with Zagat, HBO partnerships (digital.venturebeat.com)
• Zagat Books A Table With Foursquare; Restaurant Maven Reaches For Mobile App’s Cool Factor (paidcontent.org)
• Foursquare Signs a Deal With Zagat (bits.blogs.nytimes.com)

The New York Times is reporting that Foursquare and Bravo will announce a distribution deal tomorrow in which more than 500 locations, restaurants, and venues with associations with Bravo TV shows will carry their own custom Bravo badges within the Foursquare experience.  Additionally, Bravo television personalities have added “tips” for a number of Bravo locations.

Bravo’s Foursquare integration will be advertised on Bravo TV, apparently giving Foursquare TV coverage and promotion:

“We really want to tap into the power of Foursquare by engaging their audiences and bringing our Bravo viewers these unique experiences on a national level,” said Ellen Stone, Bravo’s senior vice president of marketing. Mrs. Stone said Bravo will start creating on-air TV promotions telling viewers how to play the Bravo-enhanced features of Foursquare.

So Foursquare gets mainstream TV distribution, editorial “tip content” for some of high profile restaurants, and a flagship, big name media partner which should help them close similar distribution deals.

Bravo gets a hook into a fashionable company, the ability to associate its brand with fashionable, real world locations, and presumably, a chance to stay top of mind with its viewers even when their TVs are off.  It should also be noted that Bravo has its own local guide app.

This is a nice jump towards the mainstream for Foursquare, and adding some custom, branded badges to its service seems a small price to play for some TV advertising.