FTD Is First National 'Groupon' After Super Bowl Ad Outcry

Perhaps fresh flowers can clear out some of the noisomeness left by Groupon’s Super Bowl spot. FTD.com is running a $40-for-$20 national deal on the group-buying platform for the next three days, targeting Valentine’s Day consumers but also leaving a purchase window open for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day concerns.

Individuals can buy up to two vouchers and use them on the floral website until June 15. Starting the day after, the vouchers can still be utilized, but they will only be worth $20.

To be clear, the ‘Groupons’ cannot be used at FTD’s 14,000 North American affiliate stores. So in addition to the online retail business, FTD.com should see a short-lived windfall of new e-mail subscribers.

Generally, e-commerce-based voucher redeemers have to type in an e-mail address to complete that purchase. Therefore, new customers attained via Groupon can be re-approached by FTD.com with other e-mailed offers, effectively eliminating the “one-purchase-and-gone” scenario that keeps some Groupon marketers sleepless at night. Future e-mail offers can also be targeted by the purchase data attached to the captured addresses.

As of 4 p.m. EST, between 1,300 and 1,700 FTD.com vouchers had been sold in Minneapolis, New York, San Antonio, and Boston, respectively. Some 11,200 had sold in Chicago, where Groupon is based.

While Barnes & Noble ran a national Groupon deal from Feb. 4 through Feb. 7, the FTD voucher is the first nationwide offer to emerge since the group-buying platform received heaps of criticism for its Super Bowl spots. Groupon plans to change its controversial ads to include a call-to-action for donations to The Tibet Fund, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, and buildOn. The commercials conclude with these words on screen: “Support the cause at savethemoney.org.”