The word coupon has long been
associated with old women who hold up the line in the supermarket as they dig through a purse full of dirty Kleenex to find that one magical clipping that will save them 25 cents on their cans of Meow
Mix. 8coupons.com is trying to change that. Banish if you can the thought of curlers and obituaries; picture instead a bar full of young urbanites flipping out their phones and showing the bartender
text messages that read "8 cent bud light." The downtown Manhattan bar, Wicked Willy's was participating on an "Ocho Loco" deal, one of the services that 8 Coupons offers for its advertisers. The
company, which is now a year old, is trying to, "make it easy for you to get the best local deals by empowering local businesses." $8.88 per day allows advertisers to post unlimited coupons, which are
delivered to consumers (at no charge to them) via e-mail, text message, RSS feeds or desktop widget. To really go crazy, however, is going to cost businesses. Ocho Loco campaigns start at $2,800
dollars and include PR and guerrilla marketing. Does it work, you ask? Apparently, Wicked Willy's campaign brought more than khaki-clad penny-pinching beer drinkers to the neighborhood: According to
a spokesperson, sales are up 20 percent since the night of eight cent madness in August. With 280 advertisers and 35,000 consumer subscribers, 8 Coupons plans to expand to seven major U.S. cities in
2009.
