Realizing that he could be missing out on a boatload of easy cash, Glenn Beck has jumped on the bandwagon and launched his own social coupon site, which will compete with Groupon, Living Social, Google Offers, and the many other deal sites that seem to be manifesting out of thin air. Owned by Beck’s Mercury Digital Labs, Markdown.com will allow Beck to “save our country” by getting his fans to buy chocolates.
Here’s how it works: Glenn Beck picks a product and puts it up on the site. The first product is a $20 box of chocolates for $10. However, if you recruit 10 friends to join Markdown.com through the site’s ‘social referral’ program, then you can get the chocolates (or whatever the deal is, presumably) for free. Then, if each of your friends each recruits 10 friends, they can get the chocolates for free too, according to the vague language on the site, which is limited mostly to the graphic seen above.
The bet is that most customers will fail to find enough friends to get their item for free. Living Social also gives you your deal for free if you can get only three friends to purchase a deal, but is more transparent with its deals, showing how many customers have purchased a deal.
Beck describes this deals site in the holiest of ways: “Markdown is a way for people to connect with companies and products that respect their values, and respect their hard-earned dollars,” said Beck (via PC Mag). ”If we want to save our country, we have to save ourselves, which means we have to align ourselves with things that are true, and I think we have an opportunity to save people money and unite with each other and create something new, with real value, to help. If I can create something of worth, and be able to with that, help others, to enrich or enhance their lives, I think we’ve done a good thing.”
The site’s About page further paints the coupon site as more of a duty to the people than a money making business. “Markdown.com is a different kind of e-commerce site. Sure, we care about revenue and profit, but we care about honesty and integrity just as much. We believe in value, but we also believe in values—the idea that we should be guided by a set of principles that transcends money.”
Before you get the wrong idea though and think Markdown really transcends money, please remember that according to the site’s FAQ “all sales are final.”
Update 5/29: Several paragraphs have been edited for clarity. The headline has been softened. A reader also pointed out that Living Social has a similar social referral program; the article has been edited to reflect this information.
Great Article Jeff. I believe it is well research and you present the facts as is. Keep up the good work.
Congrats to Ian and team for the fantastic publicity that you are now receiving. I look forward to seeing it reflect in your Alexa ratings and I hope it leads to even more banner sales.
Glenn Beck is a tool, and this is coming from a Libertarian.
IF you want to make MILLIONS and you only have like $ 8 bucks left to your name, bet that last $ 8 bucks on this site being a COMPLETE SCAM and RIGHT-WING LIE MACHINE…
He's not trying to do anything for you… he's trying to take your money. Make him vanish just like Cluster-Fox media is making him vanish because even they believe he's a lunatic…. Maybe, if we're lucky, he'll get grabbed when he's in the middle-east this summer trying to take some MORE of your money… that would be hilarious…. bye..bye…beeeck…
Jeez you guys, it's just a customer acquisition model. I'm no Glen Beck fan, but if the guy want to try to jump on the bandwagon, it's a free country. What'll happen is this: each friend that generates "free chocolate" for the original customer, will now keep buying deals and will refer the deals to their friends. YES, it will cost the company something up front to get the new customers but when they continue to buy deals, they'll more than pay for themselves. It's that or go the Groupon route and buy your customers' names from Google or give a $20 credit to anyone who refers someone who buys a deal on the site. Someone ostensibly did the math at Markdown and this is a cheaper way to get new customers – nothing so nefarious as communism. Some people are SO uptight. Anyway, if you want to see a cool deals model go to http://www.dealsthatmatter.com and see how a for-profit company is making money on the daily deals craze and creating very nice donations for causes at the same time. THAT's newsworthy.
Sigh… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_innovation
Anyone that doesn't realize that image is just one level is a Marxist (fun to throw out nonsense labels that don't apply). I can barely read and I know the idea is that you profit (think how companies earn profits…cutting costs is 1 way) by getting others to buy. They then have to get others to buy if they want to profit or discount. Creating some sort of triangular or multi-level shape oddly similar to a pyramid.
The image isn't a pyramid. It has one top, ten at the second level, and no additional levels. There are no downlines. There is no "buy in"– its just a way to lower your cost of the product in 10% increments. This doesn't even approach a pyramid scheme. There are no commission checks. There isn't any way for a user to make a single dime from this program. Research "pyramid scheme" before you claim something is one.
what a boat load of pure crap!
Clearly, Jeffrey Van Camp (the author of this decidedly partisan hackjob towards radio and television sensation Glenn Beck) has absolutely no business credibility whatsoever. Glenn Beck's latest business undertaking is not only perfectly legal, but quite commonplace and popular. Van Camp also has no idea how a pyramid scheme operates, based on his utterly jejune and misinformed rant with no basis in fact.
This is precisely why drive-by, bitter Marxists like Van Camp NEVER attract an audience, primarily due to the fact that anyone armed with a minimal education can see through the baldfaced mendacity. Communists are this transparent.
At any rate, Glenn Beck's business model for Markdown.com merely offers discounts through a host of consumer offerings (not unlike Groupon.com), but with more direct perks in an effort to draw more clients with economical deals through the standard referral process. Those of us who actually work in the business private sector know this. Alas, leftist spin propagandists and capitalist greenhorns like Jeffrey Van Camp didn't get the memo…totally clueless.
And you just lost all credibility with your outrageous attitude.
So, I assume you're one of those folks who cannot handle the truth. Fair enough. Keep your melon head buried n the sand, while the rest of us actually continue to work for a living.
And you don't even need to read the article to know this is a pyramid scheme. Just look at the picture used. It says enough. Run away from this as fast as you can.
And if I showed you a picture of monkeys flying out of Jeffrey Van Camp's ass, you will believe that too, right? My guess is that you'll pretty much believe anything without obtaining context, frame of reference or the plain truth. Leave your phone number for me…I've got a bridge to sell ya.
I would believe monkeys from his butt over Glenn Beck – no doubt about that! ;)
And that picture they used in the article? It came from Glenn Beck's Marksdown site, it wasn't made up by Jeff Van Camp.
Sorry Sidney….you failed. ;)
Sidney: I openly admitted how I feel about this service and Mr. Beck's language and what it appears like. This is clearly my opinion. However, all facts presented about this service were researched and that image comes directly from Markdown.com. It is not only our job to provide the facts, but we try to present this in the context of our experience and from a consumer's point of view. This, I am sad to say, appears to be a shallow attempt for Glenn Beck to capitalize on the hot coupon site trend and he's done so in a way that feels, to us, a lot like a pyramid scheme. I have nothing against Mr. Beck, but he's kind of a goof and his language used here is somewhat misleading and vague.
Sydney, I am this man's brother.
I want to inform you of a few facts:
This man is smarter than you will ever be. Either you work for Beck somehow or you are just ignorant. Either way, people like you are the reason America is hated around the world… not to mention by many of it's citizens.
This man is not a communist, marxist or even a socialist…. however, I AM. When the socialist revolution comes, your kind will be put against the wall – comrade. If you want to be outraged, be outraged that people like me exist; not a good person like my brother. It makes me laugh that you think you know what a socialist is… because you clearly have no idea. You want to point fingers at a radical? Point them at extremist assholes (like me), not a journalist.
Money grubbing capitalist pigs like yourself and Beck will be done for. The people will become aware and finally say "no" when people like you and beck try to cheat them out of their hard earned money.
To Jeffy 'n' Jonny:
Fortunately, certifiable, dyed-in-the-wool communists like you people are a dying breed. Thank God that Americans are FINALLY starting to wake up to your cheap Saul Alinsky tactics. Your anti-American propaganda bamboozles absolutely nobody with half a brain stem, except for negligible numbers of young, naive and uneducated useful idiots who buy into your Marxist tripe (i.e., the unemployable, angry loners, alcoholics, entitlement parasites, illegal aliens, community organizers, etc.).
Clearly, mommy and her Boyfriend of the Month did a crappy job of raising you despicable pinkos. Instead of espousing the ideals which made Mao Tse-tung a household name in a veritable Third World cesspool like Xiangtan, you could have at least taken your nanowitted writing skills and parlayed them into REAL wampum by writing misogynistic and anti-American lyrics for morally corrupt hip-hop wannabes and also-rans from the ghetto.
It simply burns the collective Marxist psyche that successful American businessmen like Glenn Beck make money…LOTS of money. They have bigger and better moneymaking ideas which causes limp-wristed liberal progressives like you to soil your thongs. It's pure envy, to be sure. I've seen this behavior emanating exclusively from leftist precincts or chimps stooooopid enough to believe that Kenyan-born Muslim Barack Hussein Obama is smarter than a frozen bag of jumbo shrimp.
Do your homework, Juniors. Beck is closely adhering to the letter of the law with his newest business undertaking, despite your shameless demgoguery. He and other conservatives of his ilk are being closely monitored by leftists in power who feel threatened by their success in an effort to destroy them completely. If Beck was breaking the law in any way, shape or form he'd be as dead in the water as Mary Jo Kopechne and YOU KNOW IT.
So, kids, lie away with your feeble attempts to upend American exceptionalism, innovation, private enterprise, capitalism and the entrepreneurial spirit. Your half-assed efforts will be exposed and destroyed sometime within the very near future. And once again, you will be forced to the underground like common Morlocks until the next big push towards the economic slavery of a time-proven failed doctrine such as godless Marxism.
Personally, I think this is your last hurrah. Your movement is as dead as Nietzsche. Good always triumphs over evil and cornfed losers like you will have to work for a living in the private sector where they actually expect results. Either way, I'm sleeping great tonight.
My first response to just about everything you said: LOL
I will give you one thing Sydney, you can certainly articulate your argument very well. However, it does not how corrupt and criminal what people like Beck do. They pray on the ignorance and fear of people, just to make a quick buck…. and all in the name of capitalism, freedom and god almighty himself. Don't wave the flag and expect any educated person to believe a word of it.
Also, if you'll notice: I said my brother is no where near a Marxist. He votes democrat and in my opinion leans left of center in American politics. Just like President Obama…. who is an American born, FYI (you are just a bigot)
The point is, it doesn't matter if what Beck is doing conforms to current law or not. It's still wrong, and will continue to be wrong until the law is changed. The laws guiding economic morality in America were crafted be a handful of conservative capitalists.
The left is not anywhere near dying, and you are very misinformed about who is responsible for economic slavery and neo colonialism in this day and age. You "exceptional" Americans who make piles and piles of money at the expense of others.
While Beck is deciding if he wants to get a second (or third or fourth) car, there are hard working Americans (and people around the world) who can't make bread… people who through no fault of their own have to decide between eating and buying the medicine they need.
Modern capitalism is corrupt, callous and dangerous. Revolution usually starts with the middle class of society. It is the middle class that has been protesting in the mid west, and have begun a road to liberal reform.
I find you to be ignorant, racist and immoral. Sleep while you can, Sydney. Because not long from now you will be on the wrong side of American opinion. We have no problem working for a fair wage, we only have a problem with working harder than any other generation before us and receiving far less for it.