Social e-commerce giant Groupon is expanding its aggressive marketing campaign to TV for the first time. Groupon tried to buy the Super Bowl, but it was sold out — so it bought a pre-game ad. Ad Age reports it’s part of a larger TV campaign, the company’s first foray into traditional advertising after spending millions online.
For television, it’s mostly good news, at least initially. A startup with lots of cash, spending on TV ads. But local TV stations have to wonder, as Groupon grows with greater exposure, at what point will its competitive impact on local advertising become less of a dent and more of a bite? After all, Groupon has local sales teams in most medium and large markets across the country, unlike Google and Facebook.
One thing’s for sure, Groupon is an expert at marketing itself, and growth is key to its strategy. For a company to turn down a $6 billion offer from Google, you can bet they’re not going to slow down anytime soon.
