Poncho, the text- and email-based weather service, is taking its first steps toward monetization by offering coupons.
The coupons, from New York-based drug chain Duane Reade (a unit of Walgreens) will be sent out on days with high allergy indexes, and can be redeemed for over-the-counter remedies. Negotiated by OMD Ignition Factory, the promotion will run from now until June 7. It is only available in New York City, which is also the only area that Poncho serves.
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Launched last year out of Betaworks, Poncho sends users daily weather updates based on their preferences (i.e. the time you get up, when you leave work, etc.) Huang Kuan, the resident hacker at Betaworks, developed Poncho by pooling data from the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Weather Underground, the New York City Department of Transportation and Forecast.io.
For Walgreens, the deal is a logical follow-up to its January deal with TaskRabbit, which allowed delivery of over-the-counter cold medicine to people too sick (or unwilling) to travel to one of its stores.