CONSUMER MARKETING
BY EDDY GOLDBERG
WHATEVER WORKS BRING ’ EM IN , KEEP ’ EM IN , REWARD THEM !
Attracting customers in 2016 takes many forms — and platforms — sometimes all at the same time . Here are a few tactics franchise brands are using to drive customers into their stores , keep them there , and reward them .
• Drive them in . Earlier this year , to generate buzz about a new menu item , a Jack in the Box campaign combined several channels and media . The brand ’ s integrated campaign , announced in a Super Bowl ad (“ Crossing the Delaware ”), played up its offer of 1 million free burgers . To cash in on the giveaway , consumers had to visit the company ’ s website , sign up for a mobile coupon , and , of course , visit a restaurant to redeem the coupon ( printed or on their mobile device )— and , hopefully , buy something else while inside . The coupon was good for one Double Jack ( the new menu item ) or a Jumbo Jack Burger . On January 28 , a lead-in to the Super Bowl ad featured a group of Instagrammers snapping photos of the new burger at a Foodbeast event (# DeclarationOfDelicious ). The brand also used the million-burger giveaway to promote upgrades to 29 menu items . The promotion was set to last a week or until 1 million burgers were given away .
• Fly them in . Bob Minkert , a 16-year franchise veteran who operates Mr . Rooter Plumbing and Mr . Electric franchises in the Atlanta area , should win some kind of award as a local marketing innovator for an idea he came up with to attract attention to his businesses : an airship . ( Unlike a blimp , which uses helium to stay aloft , an airship uses hot air . His has a gondola for a pilot and 3 passengers .) According to Airship over Atlanta , it all began 8 years ago in Atlanta when Minkert was stuck in traffic because drivers slowed down to look up at a hot air balloon floating above
the highway . After a couple of years of researching local possibilities , he flew to Germany to learn more about airships , including how to bring one to the U . S . and train pilots to fly it . Today he ’ s working with area organizations to maximize local use of the airship — nearly 150 feet long and 41 feet wide , and emblazoned on one side with the bright yellow colors and logo of Mr . Electric , and on the other with the bright red colors and logo of Mr .
Rooter — along with phone numbers and pricing information . Floating since 2013 .
• Keep them in . Restaurants have tried everything to draw customers into their stores … or have they ? While some food and beverage establishments have struggled with Wifi-ers who buy a small coffee and camp out at prime tables during peak times , Schlotzsky ’ s is taking a different approach . At its new location in Jacksonville , Texas , which opened in January , the brand is providing wireless charging stations for its guests to keep their mobile devices up and running . Jacksonville is one of the brand ’ s first units to offer wireless charging stations , a service Schlotzsky ’ s plans to roll out in all of its new and remodeled restaurants . The company claims it ’ s the first fast casual restaurant chain to introduce wireless charging stations at the national , system-wide level .
• Reward them . Rewards and loyalty programs have really taken off recently , with technology playing a transformative role in helping brands move from punch cards to mobile phones and everything in between . And increased competition from the growing number of vendors in this field is spurring continual innovation . Short version : loyalty and rewards programs are easier to use and better than ever for both customers and franchise brands . And as brands compete to grab mind and market share from one another , rewards programs also have triggered a new level of competition among food and beverage brands themselves . In April , for example , when Starbucks revamped its rewards program and ran into a wall of negative reaction from its customer base , Dunkin ’ Donuts quickly jumped into the fray , touting the benefits of its own rewards program , DD Perks , along with a new mobile phone app and incentives to use the DD card in April and May .
Then there are gift cards , which make an ideal gift not only for customers , but also for retailers : they not only introduce new customers to a brand , they also bring the regulars back more often in the hope they ’ ll spend more than what ’ s loaded on the card . In January , working with rewards program vendor Paytronix , Zaxby ’ s upgraded its gift card program to make it both simpler to use and simpler to manage . “ The upgraded gift card offering reduces the time teams spend reconciling and accounting for gift card sales and redemptions while providing merchants with further opportunities for generating gift card sales — through virtual gift cards , third-party retail sales , and promotional ingenuity ,” said Kristen House , gift product manager at Paytronix . Then there are all the unused gift cards , but that ’ s another story . n
28 Franchiseupdate ISSUE II , 2016