Tiffany Haddish is, hands down, a national treasure. Not only is she downright hilarious, but as she herself pointed out at the New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner earlier this month, she’s also very important for her industry. Last summer she single-handedly revived everyone’s faith in those overly staged, too-short late night talk show interviews with an appearance on Kimmel, telling a wild story about going on a swamp tour in Louisiana with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, all paid for with a Groupon deal. It was enough to earn her a sponsored Groupon gig that will include an appearance in the company’s Super Bowl ad this year.
Jon Wild, Groupon’s head of marketing for North America, told People that Haddish’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s show was the spark that sent them going after the comedian. The link of her swamp story “went through the entire company very quickly.” As it should, being hilarious beyond belief.
"We talked about involving her in our business more and as we got to know her, her purchases and the type of customer she is, we wanted to find her the stage that is appropriate and here we are talking about her in the context of the Super Bowl," Wild said.
The ad was shot back in December, and Wild says the majority of the ad actually ended up consisting of Haddish improvising and making use of her “very specific interest” in Groupon’s services. And you guys thought Justin Timberlake performing at the halftime show was going to be a hit?
"She knows our product better than a lot of Groupon employees, it was incredible," Wild said. "She could name what she'd done, the experience she had and how much she'd saved."
"She's taken a very specific interest in selecting goods and services to go in her collection," Wild said. "She knows our product, back to front. We see this as a partnership beyond the Super Bowl. My expectation is that we want to continue to have a long relationship with Tiffany." (Get that money, girl.)
If you can’t wait for the Super Bowl, you can peruse some of Haddish’s favorite Groupon deals on her curated Groupon page in the meantime. It also includes prime Haddish content in the form of videos where she dishes up vast knowledge on things like looking cheap, her favorite Groupon memory, and what her perfect Groupon date would look like.
