Okay, we heard you.
We know now that you really liked our ranking of restaurant operators by their social media activity. But several of you had a problem with one aspect of our methodology for the report, which appeared in print and in an expanded version online.
As you’ve pointed out, sometimes forcefully, how can a six- (or 600-) unit chain compete with the likes of Starbucks or McDonald’s? So is it fair to rate them with the same criteria?
Why not adjust the scores so size is negated—maybe basing the ratings on some sort of per-unit scale instead of by brand name?
What was suggested, in essence, was the equivalent of ranking chains’ marketing budgets by the percentage of their sales, not their absolute dollars.
I promise you that we’ll try to find a way to do that next time. But in the meantime, here’s some solace.
We heard from about 25 operators who used our social media index calculator to see where they’d be on our charts. We added 18, with two yet to be posted. The others were either outside our geographic area—i.e., operating entirely within another country—or not using our criteria to compute their score.
A few social media consultants, apparently upset that neither they nor their clients figured into our report, lectured us about how the research should’ve been done.
The additions are starred on our updated ranking of operators, which now number close to 140. If you take a look at those addenda, you’ll undoubtedly see some unfamiliar names.
Who would’ve thought that Gringo’s, a regional Mexican chain, would finish ahead of brands like Church’s or Tony Roma’s?
It’s a few positions ahead of Iguana, another regional Tex-Mex specialist.
Along with the strong finishes of competitors like Chipotle (#14) , Moe’s (#53) and Qdoba (#58), they prove that New Mex chains are second only to the frozen-yogurt sector in their avid use of social media as a way of connecting with customers. Both those segments are young, growing, and still relatively small, countering the impression that giant brands are the mega-forces in that new realm.
We’ll continue to tweak and evolve our ratings to make our gauges as meaningful as possible.
You may also find yourself being solicited for media-related stories you’d like to see on our website, MonkeyDish.com.
But in the meantime, I encourage you to look beyond the rankings at some of the intelligence that’s embodied in the chart. Recently, for instance, we were part of a Twitter discussion that grew out of the live coverage of the Restaurant Leadership Conference, our top-to-top meeting for chain executives.
One of the speakers suggested that only two social-media postings per month are needed to maintain a conversation with Twitter followers or Facebook fans. It was such a shockingly low number that he was questioned about it during the presentation. Yep, he said. Make one posting a strategic statement, an indication of the brand’s character, and use the other for tactical purposes.
I still disagree with him. But look at the column in our chart that recorded the number of tweets a brand had posted in a 24-hour stretch. You’ll be surprised not only by the low numbers for some big players, but also how much of a disconnection there was with the operator’s overall social media score.
Finally, one correction of sorts: I was informed by a reader that Rick Bayless, one of the industry’s more avid users of Twitter, does have a public Facebook page. We noted that his main Facebook presence, listed under the name Rick Bayless, was open only to friends. A page listed under Chef Rick Bayless had some 16,000 fans.
We think Bayless is making a mistake with that approach. With each of the operators we ranked, I went to considerable lengths to ensure we were scoring the rate-ee’s official page. If that public Bayless page didn’t come up during my hunt, and I was putting in more effort than a casual Facebook user, isn’t he losing an opportunity to connect?
And of course he wasn’t alone in making a Facebook page or Twitter ID difficult to find. If your IDs aren’t prominently featured on your homepage, with links, you’re missing an opportunity.
If you have any other thoughts on our social media report, please drop me a line at promeo@cspnet.com. And if you haven’t yet tried our calculator for gauging your social media index, please do so and let us know the results.
Showing posts with label social media marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media marketing. Show all posts
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Social studies, c. April
If you’re one of the holdouts who suspects there’s more hype than substance to social media, consider a story behind the story of the Social Media 50, our ranking of the restaurant industry’s most avid and successful users.
I collected the data with a few days of help from an intern beginning in mid-January. As we tabulated the Twitter and Facebook posts of some 120 operators—chains, independents and celebrity chefs—we noted the aberrations, thinking they’d make a good sidebar.
There were plenty of them, including a number of big brands that have yet to embrace one or both of the two major social media channels.
Similarly, there was a rough correlation between an operation’s size and the amount of buzz it generated online, but not a perfect one. Who’d have thought Buffalo Wild Wings would promote more keypad activity than some of the fast-food giants?
But perhaps the biggest surprises were the numbers for In-N-Out, the burger chain whose die-hard fans define a restaurant cult, replete with its own secret ordering language. It seemed cut out for social media, yet its voice wasn’t nearly as loud as even a casual observer might’ve expected. Twenty-thousand Facebook fans? Pffft. We even called attention to the situation in our roundup of curious findings, or what we termed Jaw Droppers.
Fast forward to a few days before the release of the report via our April issue and exclusive content on MonkeyDish.com. One of my colleagues sent me an e-mail with the subject line, “Rut-roh.”
She explained that some work on another project took her to In-N-Out’s Facebook page, which indicated the regional chain had more than 1 million fans. Clearly we’d made a mistake.
Still, I was puzzled. We’d checked the numbers several times. Was it possibly a mistake? Had we visited one of the unofficial pages that fans set up for a brand they adore or abhor (OliveGardenHate had more than 300 fans)? Was it just a typo, a number misread off a list and mis-entered there?
It might indeed have been a mistake of one sort or another. But in researching mini-profiles of the social media strategies wielded by the Top 50 finishers, I started noticing other discrepancies.
Numbers had soared in the few weeks since we conducted our first canvass of Twitter and Facebook. Jumps of 2,000 Twitter followers weren’t unusual. Neither were leaps of 10,000 or more “likes” on Facebook pages.
In the case of Buffalo Wild Wings, the increase was in the 600,000-fan range.
Might In-N-Out have really seen its numbers jump by nearly 2 million in a month? Consider that Charlie Sheen collected 2 million Twitter followers in a night.
I’ve yet to get a clarification one way or another from In-N-Out, a chain notoriously uncommunicative with the press.
But I’m thinking that we just saw a market rectification of sorts. The power of social media is gravitating to the more powerful of brands in some sort of online natural evolution.
Skeptics will have to change their argument. The preferred form of social media might change. But the phenomenon is growing, not waning.
I collected the data with a few days of help from an intern beginning in mid-January. As we tabulated the Twitter and Facebook posts of some 120 operators—chains, independents and celebrity chefs—we noted the aberrations, thinking they’d make a good sidebar.
There were plenty of them, including a number of big brands that have yet to embrace one or both of the two major social media channels.
Similarly, there was a rough correlation between an operation’s size and the amount of buzz it generated online, but not a perfect one. Who’d have thought Buffalo Wild Wings would promote more keypad activity than some of the fast-food giants?
But perhaps the biggest surprises were the numbers for In-N-Out, the burger chain whose die-hard fans define a restaurant cult, replete with its own secret ordering language. It seemed cut out for social media, yet its voice wasn’t nearly as loud as even a casual observer might’ve expected. Twenty-thousand Facebook fans? Pffft. We even called attention to the situation in our roundup of curious findings, or what we termed Jaw Droppers.
Fast forward to a few days before the release of the report via our April issue and exclusive content on MonkeyDish.com. One of my colleagues sent me an e-mail with the subject line, “Rut-roh.”
She explained that some work on another project took her to In-N-Out’s Facebook page, which indicated the regional chain had more than 1 million fans. Clearly we’d made a mistake.
Still, I was puzzled. We’d checked the numbers several times. Was it possibly a mistake? Had we visited one of the unofficial pages that fans set up for a brand they adore or abhor (OliveGardenHate had more than 300 fans)? Was it just a typo, a number misread off a list and mis-entered there?
It might indeed have been a mistake of one sort or another. But in researching mini-profiles of the social media strategies wielded by the Top 50 finishers, I started noticing other discrepancies.
Numbers had soared in the few weeks since we conducted our first canvass of Twitter and Facebook. Jumps of 2,000 Twitter followers weren’t unusual. Neither were leaps of 10,000 or more “likes” on Facebook pages.
In the case of Buffalo Wild Wings, the increase was in the 600,000-fan range.
Might In-N-Out have really seen its numbers jump by nearly 2 million in a month? Consider that Charlie Sheen collected 2 million Twitter followers in a night.
I’ve yet to get a clarification one way or another from In-N-Out, a chain notoriously uncommunicative with the press.
But I’m thinking that we just saw a market rectification of sorts. The power of social media is gravitating to the more powerful of brands in some sort of online natural evolution.
Skeptics will have to change their argument. The preferred form of social media might change. But the phenomenon is growing, not waning.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A grab-bag of concepts from the RLC
After roughly 48 hours at the restaurant industry’s Restaurant Leadership Conference brain summit, a few unexpected trends are clearly emerging:
--We’re heading back into a deal-o-rama environment. Much of my networking time has been spent fielding questions from would-be buyers of restaurant chains. The criteria for acquisitions vary widely, but there are some similarities: A solid concept with an entrepreneur at the helm who needs the foundation to blast out new stores. Curiously, part of the new pitch from buyers is their ability to provide operational expertise as well as money and infrastructure.
--The restaurant-trucks phenomenon is still on the upswing. Sally Smith, chairman of the National Restaurant Association, called it the trend of 2011. That observation is echoed by the constant mention of trucks in sessions dealing with far-afield topics.
--Similarly, mentions of social media crept into discussions of all sorts of issues, including the political scene. Rick Berman, the Doberman of restaurant lobbying, noted how Facebook has become a battleground for advocacy issues affecting the industry. He noted that The Left seems to have the edge over The Right in wielding the internet as an opinion shaper.
--Restaurateurs have a great sense of humor. My favorite comment so far, offered at the end of a sessions on mobile marketing: “We’ve come a long way since the Sullivan nod was the cutting edge of marketing.
--We’re heading back into a deal-o-rama environment. Much of my networking time has been spent fielding questions from would-be buyers of restaurant chains. The criteria for acquisitions vary widely, but there are some similarities: A solid concept with an entrepreneur at the helm who needs the foundation to blast out new stores. Curiously, part of the new pitch from buyers is their ability to provide operational expertise as well as money and infrastructure.
--The restaurant-trucks phenomenon is still on the upswing. Sally Smith, chairman of the National Restaurant Association, called it the trend of 2011. That observation is echoed by the constant mention of trucks in sessions dealing with far-afield topics.
--Similarly, mentions of social media crept into discussions of all sorts of issues, including the political scene. Rick Berman, the Doberman of restaurant lobbying, noted how Facebook has become a battleground for advocacy issues affecting the industry. He noted that The Left seems to have the edge over The Right in wielding the internet as an opinion shaper.
--Restaurateurs have a great sense of humor. My favorite comment so far, offered at the end of a sessions on mobile marketing: “We’ve come a long way since the Sullivan nod was the cutting edge of marketing.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Do's and don't's of mobile marketing
Highlights from this morning’s Restaurant Leadership Conference session on mobile marketing:
Tim McCallum, a Vapiano operator who also runs an online marketing consultancy, warned a packed room to avoid some common pratfalls with social media. Specifially…
*Don’t send out too many messages via Twitter, Facebook or texting. He finds that 1.5 to 1.7 messages per month—typically one brand-building type communication, the other more tactical—is just fine.
*Don’t equate texting with young users. Fifteen percent of the “elderlies” who have cell phones are using them to text, and that’s a huge number, McCallum said.
*Learn about QR codes, the two-dimensional bar codes rapidly coming into play as marketing tools. “I believe it’s going to be the next big thing,” said McCallum. Six percent of consumers say a code has led to their purchase of a good or service, and the approach makes tremendous sense for restaurants, he added.
*He expressed more than a little skepticism about restaurant-specific apps. Texting can do the same thing at a fraction of the cost, he asserted.
Tim McCallum, a Vapiano operator who also runs an online marketing consultancy, warned a packed room to avoid some common pratfalls with social media. Specifially…
*Don’t send out too many messages via Twitter, Facebook or texting. He finds that 1.5 to 1.7 messages per month—typically one brand-building type communication, the other more tactical—is just fine.
*Don’t equate texting with young users. Fifteen percent of the “elderlies” who have cell phones are using them to text, and that’s a huge number, McCallum said.
*Learn about QR codes, the two-dimensional bar codes rapidly coming into play as marketing tools. “I believe it’s going to be the next big thing,” said McCallum. Six percent of consumers say a code has led to their purchase of a good or service, and the approach makes tremendous sense for restaurants, he added.
*He expressed more than a little skepticism about restaurant-specific apps. Texting can do the same thing at a fraction of the cost, he asserted.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Restaurants' use of social media by the #'s
How much is social media worth to restaurant chains? A new study has pegged the values for the nation’s largest fast-food brands, proving in the process that Twitter and Facebook can be great levelers.
Jamba Juice, for instance, wracked up the equivalent of $2.1 million in marketing exposure through social media mentions—its own, plus consumers’—during September, October and November. That provided more online exposure than what bigger players like Dairy Queen fostered, and roughly as much attention as Subway snagged, according to the study, which was prepared by a company called General Sentiment. You can see the study here.
The report is part of a recent wave of statistics on restaurants’ use of social media. A San Francisco-based company called Freshendo, for instance, recently benchmarked Twitter use by the local restaurant community. Only 10% of local places use the micro-blogging service, the upstart found. Yet some of the users generate as much as 20% of their business through that medium, with the number of followers averaging 900.
The concern intends to help more restaurants hit and exceed that number by using Twitter as a real-time promotional tool.
The unexploited potential of social media is also underscored by the survey that was recently conducted by MustHaveMenus.com and covered by Technorati. The research revealed that only 42% of restaurant operators and managers use social media to promote their establishments, and 23% see no value in starting.
The figures taken together suggest that the opportunities afforded by social media are still largely neglected because restaurateurs lack the time to tweet, post or blog themselves, and are short on the funds to hire a keyboard jockey.
Yet the ones that have embraced the new media are clearly reaping dividends. The supply of social-media-susceptible consumers is clearly outstripping demand, at least at the present.
Jamba Juice, for instance, wracked up the equivalent of $2.1 million in marketing exposure through social media mentions—its own, plus consumers’—during September, October and November. That provided more online exposure than what bigger players like Dairy Queen fostered, and roughly as much attention as Subway snagged, according to the study, which was prepared by a company called General Sentiment. You can see the study here.
The report is part of a recent wave of statistics on restaurants’ use of social media. A San Francisco-based company called Freshendo, for instance, recently benchmarked Twitter use by the local restaurant community. Only 10% of local places use the micro-blogging service, the upstart found. Yet some of the users generate as much as 20% of their business through that medium, with the number of followers averaging 900.
The concern intends to help more restaurants hit and exceed that number by using Twitter as a real-time promotional tool.
The unexploited potential of social media is also underscored by the survey that was recently conducted by MustHaveMenus.com and covered by Technorati. The research revealed that only 42% of restaurant operators and managers use social media to promote their establishments, and 23% see no value in starting.
The figures taken together suggest that the opportunities afforded by social media are still largely neglected because restaurateurs lack the time to tweet, post or blog themselves, and are short on the funds to hire a keyboard jockey.
Yet the ones that have embraced the new media are clearly reaping dividends. The supply of social-media-susceptible consumers is clearly outstripping demand, at least at the present.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
A chef decides it's better to be all a-Twitter
Many of my colleagues in the general media have been ga-ga over 4Food, the quickservice upstart that says it’ll reward customers who create a new menu item. Patrons can create their own burger order, give it a name, and promote it via social media. The more times it’s ordered, the more rewards they’ll garner from the place.
That’s an interesting application of Twitter and its ilk. But more impressive is the virtually overlooked new venture of Brett McGee, the Charleston, S.C. chef who recently packed in a conventional culinary career to bet on something social-media based. Indeed, it may be the more reliant on viral communication networks than any foodservice venture we’ve seen to date, including Roy Choi’s Kogi BBQ truck.
McKee recently turned in is toque at the Charleston institutions where he mans the kitchens, the acclaimed Oak Steakhouse and O-Ku. He says he’d rather devote his energies to building a fleet of mobile restaurants bearing the brandname Roadside Kitchens. Like many truck ventures, the first two Kitchens rely heavily on social media. That’s how they tell customers where to buy the concept’s comfort foods.
But in a marked twist, Roadside Kitchens will use social media to determine what items to put on the menu. As it moves into new areas, McKee has indicated to local media, Kitchens will ask consumers to post what items they’d like to find on the menu. Roadside Kitchens plans to put those requests on the menu, McKee indicated.
We’re just starting to see the power of social media. But in quick order, we’ve seen how it’s likely to remake menus in the near-term.
That’s an interesting application of Twitter and its ilk. But more impressive is the virtually overlooked new venture of Brett McGee, the Charleston, S.C. chef who recently packed in a conventional culinary career to bet on something social-media based. Indeed, it may be the more reliant on viral communication networks than any foodservice venture we’ve seen to date, including Roy Choi’s Kogi BBQ truck.
McKee recently turned in is toque at the Charleston institutions where he mans the kitchens, the acclaimed Oak Steakhouse and O-Ku. He says he’d rather devote his energies to building a fleet of mobile restaurants bearing the brandname Roadside Kitchens. Like many truck ventures, the first two Kitchens rely heavily on social media. That’s how they tell customers where to buy the concept’s comfort foods.
But in a marked twist, Roadside Kitchens will use social media to determine what items to put on the menu. As it moves into new areas, McKee has indicated to local media, Kitchens will ask consumers to post what items they’d like to find on the menu. Roadside Kitchens plans to put those requests on the menu, McKee indicated.
We’re just starting to see the power of social media. But in quick order, we’ve seen how it’s likely to remake menus in the near-term.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
May the Noid befoul them
The disguise shouldn’t affect my typing, though the fur is starting to itch. I had to go incognito the instant I heard about the Domino’s video, and a Chewbacca get-up from the Halloween of ’84 was the only dodge I could find. It was no picnic, people. Twenty-five years will definitely shrink a hair-covered jumpsuit.
But losing circulation is preferable to hearing my knuckleheaded friends spout urban myths about the restaurant business, as they’re prone to do after an industry gross-out like the YouTube posting. Who knows how far they’ll stretch after an ewww of that dimension? In case you missed it, a thirtysomething making sandwiches in a North Carolina unit shoves cheese up his nose and waves the cold cuts under his butt for what I’ll politely call a crop-dusting. Then the ingredients go back on sandwiches.
The escapade was caught for posterity by a uniformed co-worker of equal vintage, who regards the prank as the biggest knee-slapper since Jerry Lewis was in his prime. With presumed pride, the clip was posted on YouTube, where the wedgie-loving crowd can detect such things the way a starved spaniel can sniff out a chewy.
And who said our younger generations have lost their way?
But back to my friends, who tend to view such outrageous transgressions as validation of their worst restaurant fears. They haven’t had fodder quite this rich since rats were spotted in a halftime dance routine inside a New York Taco Bell two years ago. Now they’ll be absolutely certain that servers would as soon spit on the food as swallow, that restaurant ice harbors more bacteria than a germ-weapons research center, that listed calorie counts are about a tenth of the actual content, and that valet attendants have a non-stop demolition derby underway a few blocks over.
Never mind that the Domino’s vid stars were instantly fired, criminal complaints were later filed, and the pair ultimately gave themselves up to authorities, who charged them with food-tampering. Here's what Domino's had to say about the situation in its follow-up YouTube post:
Yet people are going to look at the shenanigans of two lowlifes employed by a chain in one North Carolina restaurant as symptomatic behavior, not an aberration. And they’re going to tell me all about it as they tsk-tsk my naivete about what happens on the other side of kitchen doors.
So I’d just as soon hide in my modified ape suit and marvel at how much damage two wing nuts can do to the industry’s reputation with so many enablers waiting on the sidelines.
But losing circulation is preferable to hearing my knuckleheaded friends spout urban myths about the restaurant business, as they’re prone to do after an industry gross-out like the YouTube posting. Who knows how far they’ll stretch after an ewww of that dimension? In case you missed it, a thirtysomething making sandwiches in a North Carolina unit shoves cheese up his nose and waves the cold cuts under his butt for what I’ll politely call a crop-dusting. Then the ingredients go back on sandwiches.
The escapade was caught for posterity by a uniformed co-worker of equal vintage, who regards the prank as the biggest knee-slapper since Jerry Lewis was in his prime. With presumed pride, the clip was posted on YouTube, where the wedgie-loving crowd can detect such things the way a starved spaniel can sniff out a chewy.
And who said our younger generations have lost their way?
But back to my friends, who tend to view such outrageous transgressions as validation of their worst restaurant fears. They haven’t had fodder quite this rich since rats were spotted in a halftime dance routine inside a New York Taco Bell two years ago. Now they’ll be absolutely certain that servers would as soon spit on the food as swallow, that restaurant ice harbors more bacteria than a germ-weapons research center, that listed calorie counts are about a tenth of the actual content, and that valet attendants have a non-stop demolition derby underway a few blocks over.
Never mind that the Domino’s vid stars were instantly fired, criminal complaints were later filed, and the pair ultimately gave themselves up to authorities, who charged them with food-tampering. Here's what Domino's had to say about the situation in its follow-up YouTube post:
Yet people are going to look at the shenanigans of two lowlifes employed by a chain in one North Carolina restaurant as symptomatic behavior, not an aberration. And they’re going to tell me all about it as they tsk-tsk my naivete about what happens on the other side of kitchen doors.
So I’d just as soon hide in my modified ape suit and marvel at how much damage two wing nuts can do to the industry’s reputation with so many enablers waiting on the sidelines.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Retailers have Xmas, restaurants have the NCAA
With the match-ups set, teams from coast to coast are braced for the tip-off that officially starts March Madness. Some even play basketball.
Far, far more are restaurant staffs braced for what was once merely the NCAA playoffs, the rapid-fire series of elimination games that determines the nation’s best college basketball team. Today, the multi-week stretch clearly reigns along with Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and New Year’s Eve as one of the restaurant industry’s biggest promotional opportunities.
The big chains try to squeeze traffic out of the contest through tie-ins that extend far beyond traditional advertising. Papa John’s, for instance, is the official sponsor of the official March Madness bracket, the schematic that traces who wins or loses at each level of elimination, on Facebook. Arby’s announced a sandwich giveaway that kicks in only if one of the lesser-ranked NCAA contestants should beat a top seed in the first round of games.
Taco Bell has one of the stronger connections. The Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho, is hosting the first series of games.
Raising Cane’s, the chicken-finger specialist, is using the NCAA Tournament as a touchstone for its first-ever targeted marketing campaign. The effort plays off dunking—in its case, the type that involves sauce and chicken-finger-dipping. Fans who want a quick party meal are encouraged to take home one of the 80-unit chain’s Tailgate ready-to-serve platters.
The chains try to connect their brand name to the high-profile tourney. But countless independents and small multi-units use the event as a direct source of business, encouraging fans to watch the games in their booths and bar stools. The Berghoff, a landmark restaurant in Chicago, will be offering $3 “Bar Bites,” free raffle tickets, and beer and bourbon tastings between 2 and 7 p.m. everyday for the next 16 days.
Restaurants in Annapolis, Md., are joining forces in a March Madness-meets-Restaurant-Week sort of promotion, which in turn is tied into a larger sales push by the Annapolis Business Association. For a three-day stretch starting March 27, local merchants will conduct a sidewalk clearance sale, while their foodservice colleagues offer food and drink specials. The intent is to pull residents downtown, where one spouse can shop while the other warms a bar stool, yells at the TV screen, and has a beer.
With the increased reliance on March Madness as a key promotional opportunity has come stepped-up risk as well. Buffalo Wild Wings has warned investors when Ohio State was eliminated early from the tournament. The chain’s units in Ohio are popular places to watch the Buckeyes, and if they’re out of it, who cares how Michigan State might be doing? The fans stay home. (OSU is ranked third in its division this year.)
The rules of promotion are also being formalized. Establishments in Kansas City are reportedly being warned of a crackdown by NCAA enforcers on the unlicensed use of the athletic association’s patented trademarks, including March Madness, the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.
It's not exactly a key concern for my alma mater, New York University. Once again our team, the fierce-sounding Violets, have yet to be invited to the dance.
The tournament begins Thursday.
Far, far more are restaurant staffs braced for what was once merely the NCAA playoffs, the rapid-fire series of elimination games that determines the nation’s best college basketball team. Today, the multi-week stretch clearly reigns along with Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and New Year’s Eve as one of the restaurant industry’s biggest promotional opportunities.
The big chains try to squeeze traffic out of the contest through tie-ins that extend far beyond traditional advertising. Papa John’s, for instance, is the official sponsor of the official March Madness bracket, the schematic that traces who wins or loses at each level of elimination, on Facebook. Arby’s announced a sandwich giveaway that kicks in only if one of the lesser-ranked NCAA contestants should beat a top seed in the first round of games.
Taco Bell has one of the stronger connections. The Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho, is hosting the first series of games.
Raising Cane’s, the chicken-finger specialist, is using the NCAA Tournament as a touchstone for its first-ever targeted marketing campaign. The effort plays off dunking—in its case, the type that involves sauce and chicken-finger-dipping. Fans who want a quick party meal are encouraged to take home one of the 80-unit chain’s Tailgate ready-to-serve platters.
The chains try to connect their brand name to the high-profile tourney. But countless independents and small multi-units use the event as a direct source of business, encouraging fans to watch the games in their booths and bar stools. The Berghoff, a landmark restaurant in Chicago, will be offering $3 “Bar Bites,” free raffle tickets, and beer and bourbon tastings between 2 and 7 p.m. everyday for the next 16 days.
Restaurants in Annapolis, Md., are joining forces in a March Madness-meets-Restaurant-Week sort of promotion, which in turn is tied into a larger sales push by the Annapolis Business Association. For a three-day stretch starting March 27, local merchants will conduct a sidewalk clearance sale, while their foodservice colleagues offer food and drink specials. The intent is to pull residents downtown, where one spouse can shop while the other warms a bar stool, yells at the TV screen, and has a beer.
With the increased reliance on March Madness as a key promotional opportunity has come stepped-up risk as well. Buffalo Wild Wings has warned investors when Ohio State was eliminated early from the tournament. The chain’s units in Ohio are popular places to watch the Buckeyes, and if they’re out of it, who cares how Michigan State might be doing? The fans stay home. (OSU is ranked third in its division this year.)
The rules of promotion are also being formalized. Establishments in Kansas City are reportedly being warned of a crackdown by NCAA enforcers on the unlicensed use of the athletic association’s patented trademarks, including March Madness, the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.
It's not exactly a key concern for my alma mater, New York University. Once again our team, the fierce-sounding Violets, have yet to be invited to the dance.
The tournament begins Thursday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
