I opened the September issue of All You and saw this interesting coupon:
Save $2 off when you buy one 12-ounce 8-pack of Diet Coke or Caffeine Free Diet Coke and one 4-ounce Olay Complete All Day UV Moisturizer or Active Hydrating Beauty Fluid
As both a longtime Olay user and someone who has an strong affinity for Coca-Cola, you’d think this coupon might appeal to me. However, those that really know me know that I just do not do diet, under any circumstances. I can’t stand the taste of artificial sweeteners (plus, I’m extremely loyal to sugar Cokes anyway.) So, while this coupon features two unrelated brands that I like, I would never be able to use it, because there will not be a circumstance in which I’d ever buy these two items together.
When I attended the Association for Coupon Professionals conference earlier this year, a great deal of attention was given to the GS1 DataBar barcode, which is now standard on coupons. One of the features of the GS1 is the ability to tie a barcode to up to three different items from unrelated manufacturers. To use the coupon, all three items must be purchased at the same time.
So, different manufacturers can now cross-promote together on the same coupon. (Note that the coupon above is being reimbursed both by The Coca-Cola Company and Procter & Gamble.) It is now possible to create a coupon for $3 off when you buy Breyer’s Ice Cream, Smucker’s Topping and Joy Ice Cream Cones together. Or a coupon for Tyson Chicken, Kingsford Charcoal, and Bulls-Eye Barbecue Sauce.
But what if I don’t want one of the items?
During the conference I attended a retailers’ panel, where manufacturers’ representatives could speak with heads of major supermarkets in a Q&A format. One retailer urged manufacturers to use this new multiple-manufacturers-on-one-coupon feature with caution, adding that she didn’t want her store to lose a sale in the event that one of the three required items happened to be out of stock. As we all know, a frustrated customer can equal a lost sale.
This coupon made me feel like a frustrated customer too, and the coupon itself never even got near a store.
What do you think of companies utilizing coupons that include unrelated items from different brands?
moredhead says
altho i really need to bath in the olay.lol
i cannot drink anything with aspartame in it i get severe headaches.
soapboxtray says
I thought this was a weird one too. It is not too often that I can find a better deal with a combo coupon like this vs. 2 coupons each for their own item. Like the coke and gums or gosh I just saw another one but can’t for the life of me remember what it was… too late. I think pretzels and something…
I don’t like it :-) even though I love the poison! (yummy diet coke)
christina23 says
I thought this was very odd when I received my magazine as well. While I am on the opposite end of this situation (I drink diet coke but never use Olay since I am a Mary Kay representative), I’m also frustrated because that is a coupon I can never take advantage of. If the manufacturers use this with a little common sense and package complementary items together such as the ice cream, topping, and cones you mentioned then it would be fine in my opinion. This particular coupon is just too far out in left field to me.
savings4me says
I really appreciate your perspective, although personally I prefer the taste of diet coke over regular, but really don’t drink it often. Olay, never used it but am trying to figure out a deal at wags to use my coupons for olay and the current sale. My question is, since it is a manuf coupon, if you happen to have coupons for both olay & coke, can you use this one too? I used the jewel coupon this week for capri sun, nabisco snack packs and chips ahoy. I had other coupons for the nabisco & capri sun, but not the chips ahoy so I didn’t have to worry about it. But, if I had the chips ahoy coupon too, would jewel take all 4 coupons?
eztupp says
if the coupon could save or make me money i would use it. i sometimes buy items with coupons that i wont use. i drink diet coke all the time. i probably wouldnt buy the olay. but if the coupon got me the coke at a great price i would use the coupon. i am going to wags today to get the estroven. i dont need it but since i have a $3 coupon and a $3 gift card they gave me last week when the revlon RR didnt print i will get the estroven for $4 and get a $10 RR. then i will go to jewel and use the $10 on food. if one of my friends has hot flashes i will give her the estroven!
scrimper says
Ignoring your choice of Coke over Pepsi products,
This is such an oddly matched pair of products, I wonder how many takers there would be. Charcoal & beef, soda and chips, cereal and milk — those are all combinations I’m likely to purchase. I think manufacturers will have to be flexible on products — regular or mesquite charcoal, low fat or 2% milk, diet or sugared sodas.
Overpriced product matched to inexpensive product — that’s another pitfall to watch out for. It will be more difficult to compute the net savings.
lilredsaver says
I didn’t realize until just now that I misread this coupon! I thought it said to buy an 8 pack of diet Coke OR an Olay moisturizer! Now, I feel like a cheat because I redeemed it on just the 8 pack of diet Coke last week. I don’t drink diet, either, but my MIL is in a nursing home and diabetic so I buy it for her. Usually the register will beep if the coupon doesn’t match the item bought, so I don’t know how this slipped through. I don’t know how people intentionally defraud the system, because my mistake is making me feel like a heel!! From now on, I’ll pay more attention instead of scanning over the coupon ASSUMING I know what it says!
staceymott says
unless it is a high value coupon we are missing the chance to combine two separate manufacturer coupons that may be a better value.
teeniegeenie says
i would LOVE a Q for diet coke but would NOT want the olay…not worth it for me, thats for sure
addicted says
I probably wouldn’t use that coupon. I do, however, use Olay and like Diet Coke. But I purchase each at different places. Typically buying my soda at Jewel and Olay at Target because that’s where I’ll get the best prices on each item.
linleather says
I saw at Jewel today a coupon (store) for $2 off a watermelon/Michelobe beer combo. I did not grab one!
Gal516 says
I too do NOT drink DIET coke/soda I would probably donate the diet coke to the food pantry and give the Olay to sister/friend if it was a free/$1 deal…otherwise I wouldn’t use this Q, esp since they are fairly unrelated.
DealJunkie says
I would not and do not use the coupons that require two separate purchases. Usually you can get them cheaper with separate coupons than with one. Also I usually don’t like one of the two.
TeeKay1972 says
If CVS or Walgreens had some amazing ECB or RR for both these products at the same time. Or at least a reward for one and great sale on the other, then the coupon may be worth it…….. but other than than that I can’t see how this would be worth it.
I also don’t drink any diet soda- I get migraines from most artifical sweetners.
Several weeks ago at jewel I was buying beer and they had a peelie coupon for $4 off when buying a combination of three products( this was different than the mustard, buns and polish sausage for a penny deal) One of the items was bullseye BBQ sauce or A1 sauce and fresh Meat. So I could see the relation between them. I was already buying the Bulleyse sauce as it was part of a buy 10 deal that week…, needed the beer and it was an okay price. Early in the shopping trip I was debating splurging on on some steaks, but the sale was not that great. ………..but with the $4 coupon I went for it.
Mvnelson says
I would not use this coupon. These annoy me, too much to think about. I like individual coupons better.
ereml27 says
I read my AY mag last night and saw this too, and thought “how odd!”
I don’t drink pop at all – but my husband drinks a lot of diet pop.
I might be interested in trying an Olay product – or perhaps my teen daughter would.
So if some awesome deal cropped up, I would try to find people in the house to use them.
But look: it got all of us talking about Olay and Diet Coke. Perhaps the concept was to put Olay and Diet Coke “on the mind” in our sub-conscience, causing people to want these things……which makes many people (non-couponers) buy them.
ereml27 says
Did you notice AY’s coupon list? It’s listed under Diet Coke but not under Olay. So a lay-couponer would perhaps not notice it. Only the couponers who use a coupon database would be able to find it again.
I thought that was interesting.