Typically, it's wise to avoid products/ideas/music/phenomena with the prefix 'hyper'.  Just ask Zimbabwe about their bout with hyperinflation: a monthly inflation rate of 5,473%? Yes, that equates to 89.7 sextrillion percent annually.  Come again?  Sextrillion?  Yeah, apparently that's a number that is 10 to the 21st power.  There have been reports of wheelbarrows full of cash to purchase a 2 liter Pepsi, prices doubling every 24 hours, and the issuance of 1 billion dollar bills.  Warren Buffet could carry his fortune around in his wallet if we'd adopt 1 billion dollar notes--which leads to an interesting question: what president would adorn our 1 billion dollar bill?  Gerald Ford has my vote.  Anyway, I digress.  "Keep hyper-anything away from me," you're thinking.  Until now.

MediaBuyerPlanner recently reported on an interesting little company called Groupon.  Groupon runs a site that offers coupons on services that appeal to those in a hyper-(there's that word again!)-targeted area.  Users have the ability to filter their coupon results to areas as specific as Mongomery County > Washington D.C., for instance.  As the article indicates, the discounts are usually significant, sometimes totaling $50 or more.  Service providers signed up with Groupon are guaranteed a certain number of new customers.  Additionally, customers are given up to one year to redeem these coupons--coupons that are offered only 24 hours at a time. 

Excellent new local marketing ideas such as this from Groupon continue to change the landscape of local advertising as they successfully compile three simple ideas: the growing use of internet coupons (in lieu of those you might find in your Sunday paper), consumers' desire for discounts, and local marketers' desire to target their immediate markets with advertising. 

I think this is a step in the right direction as local marketing and media continue to move to the forefront of large corporations' marketing strategy.  The article notes that Borrell Associates predicts corporations like ESPN, AOL, and even Microsoft are all expected to "immerse themselves in local ad sales" in the coming years.  Expect ads that are almost scary-targeted from big business in 2010 and beyond.  Are we close to Minority Report-level ad targeting?  Don't be silly.  Worrying about frivolous things like that can lead to hypertension...