Groupon: Re-launching an experiences brand during Covid-19
Background: I joined Groupon in Feb 2020 and was recruited to re-launch the brand with an emphasis on local merchant experiences. The company wanted to pivot out of the goods business and into an experiences brand. Come March 2020, Covid-19 had changed our lives forever, and our local merchants were struggling to survive. 40% our workforce had been cut along with all brand media, and I was handling global Brand, Social and Integrated Marketing efforts including partnering heavily with creative, merchandising, product, UX, lifecycle and paid media teams.
Key Insight & Strategy: Our business was down 45% MoM due to Covid-19 and local business closures, and our merchants needed help. The reality is, the entire world had changed and how we experienced had changed forever. There was a new experience marketplace and our merchants were pivoting everyday. They needed our help and we also needed to shift our business to to stay afloat, which meant at the same time, shifting back to physical goods to deliver occasion-based “At Home Experiences” based on consumer data, Google Trends and supply.
Results
#HelpSaveLocal
We launched our #HelpSaveLocal campaign to support our global merchants who were adapting and open for business during Covid, as well as a merchant resource portal in partnership with American Express to support those that were struggling.
A New Experiences Marketplace
At the same time, we used data to quickly pivot our merchandising strategy to “at-home” experiences using our remaining physical goods supply to sustain the business against Covid-19. This included working creatively to develop occasions like camping nights, virtual concerts, boozy cupcake and wine deliveries and a slew of other Covid-safe occasions for our millions of customers. As a result of these efforts, we were able to deliver 50% QoQ growth to recapture some of the losses sustained during Covid.
Finally, I developed a brand strategy called The New Experiences Marketplace which showed Groupon how they could pivot into a modern experiences marketplace with an evolved product assortment and UX, as well as an agency RFP and international media brief to prep a campaign for launch coming out of Covid-19.
Created #HelpSaveLocal Social Playbook for global Groupon markets
#HelpSaveLocal ad-libs stories campaign in partnership with Meta
The New Experience Marketplace
This strategic work led to the experiences-focused advertising from FCB & The Groupon team below in 2021.
