Groupon Meets and Greets via Sponsorships

Groupon, the social coupon guru offering daily deals, is flexing its muscles through a number of sponsorships, including its recent appearance at the James Beard Foundation Awards, considered the Oscars of the food world. Like a fine port sipped with a nibble of blue cheese, the deal made a nice pairing for Groupon and many of its 70 million members across the globe who frequently take advantage of the deeply discounted offers at local restaurants.

The black-tie affair was not about building members, but more about being seen and heard. Groupon presented the “Best Chef” award, manned a booth out on the portico and spread around branding materials.

“We weren’t there to sell, just to show our appreciation for the chefs and the foundation,” Darren Schwartz, the senior vice president of sales at Groupon, said.

Another, much larger deal, now in the planning stages, is Groupon’s title sponsorship of the Taste of DC, a major event featuring local restaurants that shuts down a section of Pennsylvania Avenue between 12th street and 3rd street from Oct. 8 to Oct. 10. The three-day Columbus weekend event is returning after having been on hiatus since 2003 when the “DC sniper” was randomly shooting and killing people in the area and people were terrified to be out in public.

“A big part of this is to continue our outreach to the restaurant industry and to keep introducing ourselves to those folks so they can experience what Groupon is all about,” Schwartz said. “We are going to know who’s there and exactly what our strategy will be with those merchants.”

Groupon is organizing a major presence that will show off its personality. There will be different touch points throughout the footprint, including booths, other consumer engagement points and a stage presence.

Of course, the master of deal making will begin offering DC area members in August and September a variety of Groupon deals that will include thousands of tickets around the happenings at Taste of DC—which is free to the public. A sampling of those deals include a deal supporting the dinning pavilion with white-glove fine dining experiences by a celebrity chef, Octoberfest tickets and tickets to the main event and concert Sunday evening.

“Groupon will be the key source for pre-event ticket sales. With the company’s on-line power behind it, organizers expect to surpass the record 450,000 Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC locals and visitors who attended the last Taste of DC event,” Heidi Diamond, partner, Taste of DC, said.

And while deals will be flowing to existing members, recruitment will be underway, with sign-up areas at the booths, along with giveaways and contests. Deals in social coupon offers are usually much larger than any rebate offered in a paper or Web coupon: rarely less than 30% off a list price, and often reduced as much as 50% to 60% to draw attention.

“Our No. 1 primary reason of existence it to help local businesses, to give them exposure and bring people in,” Schwartz said. “But it’s also branding, getting people to sign up and overall branding in the DC area.”

Schwartz said there was a lot of excitement around the return of Taste of DC he credited Steuart Martens, the chief executive officer of the event, with being the type of guy you want to work with.

“Steuart is a fun guy an exciting guy. There are a lot of different festivals in different cities, but at the end of the day I think it does come down to the person running it and I think Steuart is going to put on an amazing, amazing event,” Schwartz said.

Groupon is also introducing a new service, Groupon Now, which allows business owners to be featured on Groupon for a limited time period to target slow times. For example, a restaurant that is slow on Tuesdays from 1 pm to 5 pm could offer a discount if redeemed the same day. Last year, Groupon entered into a partnership with eBay to offer incentives to eBay loyalty members who participate in Groupon deals.

The advantage there is that businesses can control and target when people see the offer and redeem it, he said. “It’s a complement to our standard deal of the day.”

Groupon launched in November 2008 in Chicago. Since then it has reported $1.7 billion in terms of dollars saved for subscribers, and more than 60 million Groupons purchased worldwide.

In addition to Groupon a number of other sponsors have joined. Digital media company Bottlenotes is sponsoring the wine pavilion, which will be titled “Around the World in 80 Sips.” And DC Modern Luxury Magazine will be the official magazine with "showcase" pavilion.