Ten months ago, GrabOne New Zealand hosted an online party complete with imaginary party poppers and one of those massive nets packed with balloons that splits at the perfect moment and spills its guts all over the heaving crowd below. (Disclaimer: the author may or may not have written this blog entry after watching the latest episode of Glee..)
In just 48 hours we sold 12,903 movie tickets, and since then we’ve saved you a whopping 39 million dollars, sold almost 1.2 million coupons, and now represent New Zealand businesses in 13 regions nationwide. Even Gore. Sometimes.
But we decided that limiting the GrabOne lovin’ to flightless birds and little furry fruit was a little selfish. Sure, we’re a Kiwi business dedicated to providing Kiwis with the best deals imaginable, but Kiwis are also a giving kinda bunch, so we thought we’d extend the hand of daily deals to *gasp* the Aussies.
At the end of October 2010 we launched in Australia and now we’re in eight regions – and counting – across the ditch. Yes, we hate it that sometimes (only sometimes, mind you) they beat us at sport, and yes, we’re still holding a bit of a grudge against them for stealing our beloved pavlova, buzzy bee and Split Enz (they can have Russell Crowe), but deep deep down, when you stumble across a posse of them in a far off land, they really are your best friends.
Then we got thinking. Who are our next favourite people? Who do we laugh at the most, but always in a laughing-with-you kinda way? Who do we credit the most for giving us the nectar of the gods and some of the most entertaining pubs imaginable? There’s no question about it. They’re the Irish, they’re hilarious, and they’re now part of the GrabOne whanau. Welcome aboard, GrabOne.ie.
I’ve had the privilege of working in Dublin for the last two weeks, teaching the leprechauns the secrets behind the success of the New Zealand team. Working closely with The Irish Independent, AKA the NZ Herald of Ireland, GrabOne.ie has already got the good guys behind them.
Here’s the team (clockwise from back left):
- Ruairi: boss, all-round good guy, love-child of Bono;
- Barry: marketing extraordinaire, loves trim soy chai lattes (cinnamon, not chocolate), dreams of making recording his own voice and turning it into an iPhone app;
- Sinead, enthusiasm personified, called me a slut on my first day then bought me a drink that night;
- Alistair, Scottish wizard of words, possibly the most hilarious person invented, prides himself on repeating things I say back at me in a Keewee accent that sounds remarkably like a South African’s;
- Aidan, Irish by name but Kiwi by nature, moved back home to help set the team up, claims he’s the inventor of Guinness;
- And me, the Irish team’s Kiwi mascot, resigned to being bullied by Alistair for my accent, constantly amazed at how terrible Irish pedestrians are – those are BUSES people, you will get RUN OVER!
With some seriously exciting launch deals for all your favourite leprechauns, GrabOne.ie has hit the ground sprinting. After selling more than 2500 hot drinks in 24 hours at Butlers Chocolate Cafe, one of the capital’s most popular chain of coffee shops, GrabOne is set to grab Dublin’s daily deal market by the horns, turn it upside down, and shake all the competitors out of its pockets into the gutter below. Intense? Maybe. Serious? Absolutely.
Got any family in the Emerald Isle? Spread the word that GrabOne is taking over the world. Watch this space. Who will be next? Got any ideas? Outer Mongolia for example? Let us know in the comments below.
If you have any friends, relatives or distant cousin’s stepbrothers over there, you might want to get them to check out the new site – GrabOne Ireland. Slàinte!