business & professional
More Reader Value
JN acquires Oy What A Deal/Hip City
daily deal websites.
Jackie Headapohl
Managing Editor
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n an effort to provide even more
benefits for its readers and advertis-
ers, the JN has acquired the daily
deal sites Oy What A Deal/Hip City
Deals, where customers can get offers of
50-90 percent off the best things to eat,
see, do and buy in Oakland County.
The sale is effective Dec. 2, exactly
three years to the day from the time Oy
What A Deal was launched by Franklin
native and real estate developer Brian
Giles. Due to the downturn in the real
estate market in 2009, he was looking
for something new to do while waiting
out the recession. He launched the com-
pany from Chicago and operated it with
a local sales staff.
"That was right
around the time that
Groupon was making
news, and I saw the
need for a hyper-local
version of Groupon
targeted toward the
northern suburbs:'
says Giles, 49, who
Brian Giles
attends services at
Temple Beth El when he's in town.
"My secondary niche was targeting the
Jewish consumer, which I knew would
be a good way to separate myself from
the competition:'
Giles' customer list quickly grew from
its initial base of 500, especially after he
acquired Hip City Deals, another hyper-
local daily deal site, in June 2012. Today,
Oy What A Deal and Hip City have a
combined subscriber base of more than
15,000.
"I also changed the business model:'
Giles says. "The old model was a 'pay
$10 for $20' kind of deal, which was
really expensive for advertisers. We
changed our model to offer our sub-
scribers free downloads that they can
print and bring into a business, which
is much more cost-effective for our cli-
ents:'
Rob Weinberger, co-owner of Emery's
Creative Jewelry in Farmington Hills
and longtime client of Oy What A Deal,
uses the service two or three times a
year.
"We use it as a way to show our cus-
tomer appreciation:' he says. "For exam-
ple, the last deal we offered — a free
downloadable coupon to pay $25 for $50
worth of jewelry — was downloaded 600
times. That's great. One new customer is
all I need. It's worked for me:'
A
A
Giles also discovered the model was
a great fit for local shuls that wanted to
broadcast events or membership deals.
Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield is one of those shuls. Tobye
Bello, program manager at CSZ,
recently used the service to promote
its upcoming Young Jewish Artist
Showcase. "We like it because it reaches
so many people we could normally not
get to:' she says, "especially young fami-
lies who may not be affiliated with the
synagogue. Social media is a great way
to reach this audience:'
Giles, who lives in the Chicago area
with his wife, Lauren, and children
Celia and Levi, was ready to focus on
his primary business — urban real
estate development — and was looking
for a buyer. This presented an attractive
opportunity for the Jewish News.
"Brian had done a
nice job of carving out
a niche in the Jewish
community:' says
Kevin Browett, chief
operating officer of
Renaissance Media,
parent company of
Kevin Browett
the Jewish News.
"Acquiring Oy What
A Deal/Hip City provides a new option
for JN advertisers to reach people in the
community — and our readers will ben-
efit from those deals:'
A changing newspaper industry
means that traditional publishers have
to provide more options to stay current
and succeed, Browett adds. "I realized
as a media company that we had to be
proactive and find ways to offer our
readers and advertisers alternatives
and added benefits using social media,"
he says.
Oy What A Deal/Hip City will con-
tinue to operate as normal, and Keith
Farber, JN sales director, is excited
about this new option. "This provides
an opportunity for more targeted daily
deals, such as a trunk show, event or
daily special, which might not be suit-
able for an ad in the weekly newspaper:'
he says.
Call it beshert. "Oy What a Deal and
the Jewish News is the perfect match, in
my opinion:' Giles says. "I know they
have the resources and staff to take it to
the next level:'
❑
To subscribe to Oy What A Deal/Hip City, log
on to oywhatadeal.com. Advertisers who are
interested in promoting a deal can contact
Keith Farber at kfarber@renmedia.us .