Seeing Interactive (YC W10) Changes Name To OwnLocal, Launches Deals Network

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/18/seeing-interactive-changes-name-to-ownlocal-launches-hyper-local-deals-network/

by answerly • 15 years ago

63 15 15 years ago

Smart move. This is probably the best thing a local paper could do to stay relevant in the broader media scheme right now.

Zephyrus• 15 years ago

Exactly, Newspapers are in a prime position to leverage local confidence in the paper "brand" to reach out to otherwise disaffected local SMB website owners.

aepstein• 15 years ago

Love the new concept. My mom gets frustrated that the Groupon deals aren't truly "local", and that makes her want to unsubscribe. You guys are in a great position to solve this. Congrats Lloyd, Jason & Jeremy.

jeremymims4• 15 years ago

This is certainly among the best things we can do. We view it as a complement to all the other things we're doing to save local journalism.

You can view a deal going on for The Press-Enterprise (one of our top 100 newspaper clients) here: http://www.pedeals.com

retube• 15 years ago

The problem with being hyper-local is that it requires hyper-local sales and marketing. This is extremely time-consuming and expensive with small returns: a hyper-local deals campaign is by definition a small one. Very, very hard to pull off for a small business.

jeremymims4• 15 years ago

We couldn't agree more. That's why we don't go it alone. We work with local publications and organizations to very quickly build a sales funnel out of existing contacts and relationships. This is the way we work for all our products.

snissn• 15 years ago

Good luck getting your site back online!

jeremymims4• 15 years ago

Yeah, we're not too happy with Rackspace right now...

Edit: And we're back.

zach2• 15 years ago

Makes a lot of sense. My friend and I worked on a hyperlocal news concept with some journalists at the LA Daily News in 2008 but just couldn't see a way to make a business model work. We joke now that we should have realized that the only news that readers and advertisers would have been interested in was saving 50% or more on limited-time deals, and it would have been nice to realize that while the paper still had a robust sales staff.

But in all seriousness, it's a perfect fit for local newspapers. Much more efficient than a national company trying to reach into lots of markets itself. Now that this can move beyond newspapers into just about any local outlet, the possibilities for OwnLocal are very intriguing. Great growth potential and an exciting product. This looks like the future of local deals.

By the way, it's a shame newspapers have no money left, or they could retool to do some awesome targeted marketing. If they had the ability to make more customized newspapers for some selected addresses (not just region-by-region), they could unlock a different market for advertisers.

klochner2• 15 years ago

With apologies for cynicism, how long will it be a viable pivot for struggling startups to move into the daily deals space?

I've seen it 5 times now, once at the behest of the VC, and it clearly can get you to revenue, I just don't know if it still leads to profits & scalability.

jeremymims4• 15 years ago

Hi Kevin, this isn't a pivot at all.

It's another product we can sell to our newspaper and local organization partners. We haven't met a newspaper yet that is happy with their daily deal provider. They asked us if we would make a solution and we did.

klochner2• 15 years ago

Cool, the name change made me think you were moving away from the old business model (as did the submission title).

olivercameron• 15 years ago

I'm not sure I understand the differentiator between OwnLocal and Groupon. Could someone explain, maybe with product examples? As far as I can see, they're going "hyper-local", but what's more hyper-local than a restaurant with 50% off a block over from my house? Maybe I missed something. Either way, good luck OwnLocal!

zach2• 15 years ago

As I see it, although it's essentially the same product, it's a significantly different outlet.

The comparison I'd make is between Blockbuster and Redbox.

dko• 15 years ago

Nice move. Groupon may lose it's effectiveness in hyper-local markets after a while. It just becomes too costly for markets of such a size. OwnLocal will provide a much more sustainable option for local businesses, especially at the price points they are charging.

Seeing Interactive (YC W10) Changes Name To OwnLocal, Launches Deals Network

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