Business & Professional

ENTREPRENEUR

Oy, What A Daily Deal!

New Internet site boosts local businesses.

Photos by K iya G ibbons

usually for up to a year. Starting Jan. 3,
three deals a day will be offered.
"Unlike Groupon, for example, there's
no tipping point of about 50 subscrib-
ers needed to form a 'group' and buy a
product to take advantage of the savings:'
Giles said.
The Oywhatadeal.com website also is
being linked with the Detroit Jewish News
and Chaldean News websites for promo-
tional purposes.
Oywhatadeal's salesmen in the area are
aspiring entrepreneurs Jacob Zuppke, 22,
of Beverly Hills and David Wechsler, 24,
of West Bloomfield.
"They are my 'guys on the ground,
contacting retailers, and making
Oywhatadeal.com work: Giles said.
Both Zuppke and Wechsler have equity
positions in the company and already have
lined up such customers as Powerhouse
Gym and the Real Ryder fitness estab-
lishment in West Bloomfield, Dick
O'Dow's Pub in Birmingham, Masserman
Photography & Video Services Inc., in
Keego Harbor, Franklin Day Spa and the
Yoga Shelter chain in the area.
"But I'll be closely involved in every
facet of the business: said Giles.

Co-founder of Campus

Life Marketing Brian Giles

is flanked by partners

Jacob Zuppke and David

Wechsler at Market

Square in West Bloomfield.

Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News

E

xclamations of "Oy, what a deal!"
should be emanating soon from
the Jewish sections of Detroit's
northern suburbs as a new "daily deal"
website takes hold on the Internet.
Oywhatadeal.com is the latest ven-
ture for former Detroiter Brian Giles, 45,
now a business entrepreneur based in
Northbrook, Ill. He launched this latest of
many ventures on Dec. 1, "just perfect for
erev Chanukah, which began last night:
said Giles. "We know the new website will
achieve great savings for customers and

increased sales for retailers!'
"Daily deal" websites have sprung
up rapidly over the Internet in recent
months, including Groupon, Living Social
and many other copycat companies. "We
felt there was a great opportunity in this
business, but we needed a niche Giles
explained. "So we came up with a 'hyper-
local' model that focuses the deals in a
specific geographic area within a large
metropolitan region!'
With his Detroit-area roots, the selec-
tion of the northern suburbs in Oakland
County was obvious. Oywhatadeal.com
also is being launched in the North Shore
of Milwaukee, the hometown of his part-

ner David Bookstaff.
The majority of the "daily deals" on
the new website will feature businesses
located in West Bloomfield, Farmington
Hills, Birmingham, Southfield and other
area cities. Most of the subscribers are
expected to reside in these cities, "hope-
fully thousands of them: Giles said.

Three Deals A Day
Subscribers simply click free on
Oywhatadeal.com, register, then check
for a deal every day to get savings of 50
to 70 percent at local stores, restaurants,
special events, etc. They print the vouch-
er sent to them by e-mail and can use it

Deals Aid Federation
Oywhatadeal.com also will "give back" to
the community because a portion of the
proceeds will be donated to the fundrais-
ing campaign of the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit. That charitable
spirit is a natural for Giles because his
Bloomfield Hills-based parents — Dr.
Conrad Giles, a pediatric ophthalmologist
and a past Federation president, and Dr.
Lynda Giles, long active in Jewish educa-
tion — are active in many charitable and
civic causes in the Jewish community.
"Now more than ever, every charitable
donation is critical: said Zuppke, who is
a University of Michigan-Dearborn stu-
dent. "The more deals we sell will result
in more money for those in need."
Giles, married with two children,
was born in Detroit, raised in Franklin
and attended Birmingham Groves High
School and the University of Michigan,
earning a degree in communications. He
moved to Illinois 15 years ago to become
a real estate developer, but has developed
a series of entrepreneurial ventures like
Oywhatadeal.com instead.

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December 2 2010

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