2nd July 2010
Posted in What We Are Talking About
Tagged in: Daily Deals, Groupon, McClatchy

Somehow I missed the announcement yesterday about the inking of a partnership between Groupon and McClatchy. I believe this is a brilliant partnership for both parties — McClatchy stands out above the crowd by not trying to be the next clone, which was pretty easy to do since there seems to be a wealth of copycats and Groupon gets to add a second daily deal into the McClatchy markets without manipulating the simple formula that has made them the fastest growing internet company in recent history.

With a little cross promotion McClatchy will launch with a large audience which will include their loyal readers and the loyal Groupon followers. The cross promotion can be as simple as this link on both sites– This deal doesn’t do it for you.. check out these other local deals.

I’m sure we will see other publishers announced in the near future since they have an initiative to support local publishers and these local publishers are looking for the next online revenue stream.

In Editor and Publisher today, Sean Smyth, Groupon Vice President of Business Development stated-

For Groupon the agreement is part of a larger initiative to offer a new, incremental revenue stream to major publishers. Groupon enables publishers to seize consumer interest and generate local buzz by presenting readers with high-value, unique local market experiences, according to Groupon Business Development Vice President Sean Smyth.

“Groupon has pioneered and perfected the daily deal structure in markets of all sizes across the globe,” Smyth said in a statement, calling the agreement with McClatchy “an ideal partnership” that blends the parties’ strengths.

I need to get more detail on that sales process but I can see value in both options — Groupon has perfected the pitch and most likely has a long waiting list of customers and McClatchy has strong yet untapped business relationships in each of their markets.