A reviewing and recommendation company called Living Social, which makes the popular “Pick Your Five” app for Facebook and other soc nets, has acquired BuyYourFriendADrink.com, according to CNet.
BuyYourFriendADrink.com is a site that lets you reach out to friends, often friends living in other cities, and buy them a drink.
The service offers Pay Pal ordering of gift certificates for drinks in over 275 bars across the US. The certificates can be emailed, mailed or delivered via text. So far, the company has helped serve up over 20,000 drinks.
They’re not operating in Oregon at this time, but I can send a drink to people in Denver, Chicago, Atlanta and elsewhere. And I will!
I see a lot of value in online services like this with compelling offline applications. This particular service could be big. And as someone who’s worked on the Diageo business and the Coors business, I have to say a promotion or sponsorship of some kind is a natural here. Maybe if you send your friend a certain type of drink–a drink made with Gordon’s Gin for instance–the brand could spiff the sender (and the bar) in some way.