Groublogpon – The Serious Blog of Groupon

At Groupon, we pride ourselves on giving our customers the inside scoop on the best local restaurants, unique adventures, and newest trends. We know a good thing when we see it–that’s why we’re extra excited to see former featured Groupon merchant and creator of “I Want To Draw a Cat For You“, Steve Gadlin, on ABC’s Shark Tank. Not only did he appear on the program, but he walked away with Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, as a business partner by the end of it!

When Steve first contacted us we fell in love with his unique idea, dance moves, and knew our customers would equally enjoy his creative approach to these personalized gifts. Says Steve:

Using Groupon was amazing for my company – it brought me invaluable exposure, and opened me up to a whole new audience. Some of my best returning customers were introduced to my stick figure cats through Groupon – I’ll definitely try to partner with them on future products and promotions!

After a successful run with Groupon, Steve set out to conquer even bigger audiences. Now Chicago’s favorite cat drawing guy has made it into America’s hearts and living rooms by appearing on ABC’s Shark Tank. After pitching his business idea to a panel of celebrity investors he won them over with I Want To Draw a Cat For You.

Being on Shark Tank was such an incredible experience. I assumed I was there for comic relief, but was delighted to walk out with a deal. I hardly have enough time to process – I’ve got a whole mess of stick-figure cats to draw!

If you’d like a personalized drawing, click here to order a cat drawing of your very own. Good luck, Steve! We’re glad we jumped on the catwagon when we did and wish you continued success!

Daniel, the Groupon employee participating in the “Walk of Shameless” challenge for charity, walked with Team Carl for five days. You rallied, you tweeted, you tuned in to your televisions. Thanks to everyone’s efforts, Team Carl won the competition! They will split the grand prize of $50,000 and earned $13,600 for their charity, The ALS Development Institute. We asked Daniel about his time on the treadmill:

Tell us about your experience!

The experience itself was almost surreal. I never thought in a million years we would get picked to compete, much less win it. We put everything we had into this competition for five days straight and raised an unprecedented amount of buzz and support for ALS. It is quite amazing to see the effect you have when you really reach out to people and humbling to see how many were willing to show their support and spread the word.

What was the toughest part?

The hardest part was keeping all our followers/supporters engaged and voting throughout the entire competition. It was easy to spark interest the first few days through social media, but you can only send out so many emails and so many tweets about the same thing before people start to disconnect. We were constantly trying to come up with creative ways to get our message out and engage supporters. (Also, walking while simultaneously typing on an iPad and talking on the phone is quite a challenge!)

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Tomorrow is Winter Bike to Work Day in Chicago. Our city’s weather has been relatively kind to us this year, postponing the inevitable snow dump until…Well, we don’t want to jinx it and get too cocky. Last year’s blizzard kept us shoveling for months.

From the Active Transportation Alliance website:

Winter Bike to Work Day takes place on Jan. 20, the 27th anniversary of Chicago’s coldest day, when the official temperature at O’Hare International Airport was 27 degrees below zero.

There are several brave souls at Groupon who continue to commute regardless of the elements. They don their helmets, gloves, second pair of gloves, tights, other tights, booties, balaclavas, two sets of socks, layered shirts, and waterproof windbreakers to head out on the open roads throughout the winter months.

To make this post personal for a moment, I looked like this the other week and thawed at my desk after the windchill clocked in at 6 degrees. Yes, my toes were cold. Yes, I looked like a spelunking enthusiast. But it’s a faster commute, exercise, and until the snow remembers it’s supposed to make a heavy appearance, I’ll be cycling. Some will even be cycling through that snow, but they have super powers and can shoot lasers out of their eyes.

Other bike commuters in the office offered these winter-cycling tips:

Patty: If you don’t have booties, or even if you do, plastic bags over your socks is a good way to keep your feet dry.

Marne: Just a warning–With the plows pulling stuff from the depths of the gutter into the bike lanes, flats might be more likely.

Kelsey: Lights and reflective gear. It gets dark earlier and cars are not as used to watching for cyclists in the winter.

Are you planning on riding through the winter? What’s your winter routine?

Groupon Announces New Promotional Marketing Instrument – Clicky, The Clickable Value-Wheel

We’re excited to be a part of the launch of Clicky, the Clickable Value-Wheel which gives users the opportunity to potentially score a discount on select Groupons by the simple act of spinning a wheel! Clicky was designed to provide momentary distraction and meet the minimum threshold of amusement necessary for users to share Clicky, the Clickable Value-Wheel through social media channels, thereby virally spreading Groupon and increasing its number of active customers.

Before I go further, check out this behind-the-scenes video about Clicky’s origin:

We want to let users know that the chances of winning are slim, but not impossible. As with many online computer games, the win ratio was determined to ensure that the lifetime value of the new customers attracted to Groupon by Clicky, the Clickable Value-Wheel will be greater than the total cost of the program, thus making the program a practical and sustainable investment for Groupon. And since spinning is moderately enjoyable, every user of Clicky, the Clickable Value-Wheel is a winner – metaphorically. Literally, most people will not win anything.

Clicky, the Clickable Value-Wheel, is one of several potential marketing instruments Groupon has and will continue to test over time, some of which will be successful while others will not.  Continuously experimenting with new marketing mechanisms is an important part of the growth of any company.

For full terms of the game, visit http://www.groupon.com/pages/clicky-terms.

Let us know what you think!

Naveen Koorakula and Sakina Arsiwala

Directors, Groupon Social