Just like old times: coupon web site Heybutler.com refreshes northeast Ohio with some dot-com...

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In 2000, Jonathan Schaefer and Darren Rose launched a brick-and-mortar mortgage business in Independence at the crest of the dot-corn boom. Eight years later, with the housing industry tumbling, the duo has moved on to launch a Web site.

HeyButler.com,

which generates coupons and promotions for shoppers to redeem at neighborhood merchants, restaurants and other businesses, has all the trimmings of a turn-of-the-century dot-com: off-beat name, cartoon logo, a Super Bowl TV ad and even an irritatingly haunting slogan: "Heeeeeeeey Butler!" But the site also has a business plan, unlike so many Web sites that flopped back in the day.

HeyButler.com earns most of its revenue from the more than 900 vendors that have signed up to reach the more than 25,000 site members and half million page views it attracts each month. The average site visit, the duo says, is more than six minutes.

"It's a fun Web site to be on," says Rose, 33, company president.

"We want to be synonymous with fun and savings," interjects Schaefer, 35, the CEO. Name recognition, however, didn't balloon until an $18,000, 15-second Super Bowl ad, which reached 1.5 million potential Northeast Ohio viewers. In one day, memberships exploded by 500 percent, Rose says.

"[The Super Bowl ad] started off as a gimmicky idea," he says. "But the reaction was bigger than anything we could have hoped for. 'No's turned into 'Yes'es overnight."

The duo is planning more marketing promotions with the Cleveland Indians this season, and its purple-and-gold-decorated bus is not only a rolling advertisement, but also part of a contest where people can be videotaped shouting the HeyButler.com slogan, which is then posted to the site and voted on for a $500 prize.

"That draws all their friends and family to the site," Rose says. "We're using a grass-roots, viral marketing approach so all our eggs aren't just in traditional media."

Besides creating buzz, HeyButler.com plans to launch a unique coupon promotion this summer called "Butler Bucks," where shoppers can prepurchase discounts at area merchants. For example, spending $5 on the site would give the user 10 Butler Bucks, which can be spent at one of HeyButler.com's dry cleaners, restaurants or other businesses. Site members can also accrue points for using the site, which can then be exchanged for gas cards.

"The gas points have been huge with every focus group we've ever done," Rose says. "People have told us they would be willing to spend more to earn gas discounts."

The Solon residents expect to feature vendors from throughout Ohio by the end of the year and hope to expand the concept to other national markets, beginning in the Midwest. The dot-com has 35 employees in Northeast Ohio and Columbus and expects to grow to more than 100 staffers by next spring.

"Every other [business] we've had before hasn't been scalable," says Schaefer, who has launched other real estate businesses with Rose besides the mortgage company. "This is something that's scalable, that ultimately will be national."