In three years, Super Coups has gone from being 30 days away from declaring bankruptcy to being 30 days away from signing its second international deal.
The Avon, MA-based coupon mailer is also increasing its presence on direct response television and testing business-to-business mailings to get consumers to use its clients’ coupons, according to Super Coups president and chief operating officer Don McKenzie.
Coupons Down Under
If all goes well, Super Coups will have a franchise system operating in Australia next month. The first international program Super Coups set up was in Alberta, Canada.
Super Coups runs its Canadian franchise the same way as a U.S. unit. The rep sells the marketing service to a small or midsized local business and all production is handled by Super Coups. In Australia, the name is licensed and production would be somewhere down under.
For almost a year, Super Coups has been running DRTV spots in 35 states. Each 30 second spot gives five merchants five seconds each, with the remaining time reserved for Super Coups. The ads aim to get viewers to look for specific inserts in Super Coups packages, if not go directly to the retailer.
Currently a couple of franchises are or will be testing business-to-business packages, mailing to people at their business address. The test in Boston is described as “doing well.” A second trial in Miami was scheduled for launch in the middle of March.
“People need services where they work as well as where they live,” McKenzie says. “And a business is not likely to object to an employee downloading a discount coupon for lunch.”
Of course, Super Coups would not be trying out new programs if its basic ones weren’t sound. The company drops 75 million envelopes across seven mailings a year to 12 million unduplicated households. Claiming over 35% growth, McKenzie says he’d like to see the number of annual geographic and demographic mailings rise to 10.
Nor has McKenzie ignored the Internet: Super Coups has a partnership with CoolSavings.com. He believes the Web is best for national customer bases, but that a different type of program is needed to drive consumers to neighborhood businesses.
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