[experiential/buzz marketing]
As memories of a fantastic Superbowl begin to fade, my mind was quickly distracted today by the grand stunt by Denny’s Restaurants. In case you have been under a rock, today Denny’s offered a free Grand slam breakfast at all locations from 6 am to 2 pm. Denny’s has been around since 1953 and originally founded as a donut shop. Sure that yellow sign pops up on many a road trip, but when was the last time you actually ate there? For me it was in Orlando, near International drive years ago. When I want breakfast, it never seems to be during breakfast hours and living in Washington, I tend to find myself in a local diner to satisfy the pancake craving.
Now Denny’s spent a lot of money to announce this experiential campaign, what with a Superbowl ad mocking the childlike fare offered by competitor IHOP, and the full page ad in USA Today. Then there was the issue of their website crashing many times today as consumers tried to locate a restaurant. I even heard reports of some locations running out of eggs and being forced to close the doors while sending staff to buy some more. According to a published interview with the CEO, they expected to serve two million Grand slam breakfasts today alone. I have to believe when the final numbers are in they will have exceeded that number.
This program had many inherent risks; would the staff embrace it and be true advocates of the brand? Would the number of consumers simply overwhelm the physical capacity of the restaurants? Would consumers leave with a negative perception since this was anything but a typical breakfast service? No doubt about it, this company put it all on the line today, both in money and spirit. I think they hit a home run!
Everyone was talking about this story today. I was even interviewed by a reporter from the Charlotte Observer about my take on the campaign.
“The company can also measure effectiveness by tracking how often the campaign was mentioned online and in the media,” said Scott Thurston, president of Street Sampling, a Washington, D.C.-based marketing firm that focuses on product giveaways. “Word-of-mouth buzz is especially valuable,” he said, “because it’s so trusted.”
“It’s the power of something free,” he said. “It transcends all socioeconomic, racial and (gender) bounds. It completely removes any need to make a decision.”
From national news, local news, print and on-line this story was everywhere. The free publicity this story generated for Denny’s has to number in the billions. They could not have paid for this press coverage, and that will work for those of us (me included) who did not venture anywhere near a Denny’s today. For those that did brave a wait for breakfast, it will come down to experience. If they had a positive experience with the brand today, Denny’s won. If they became frustrated, gave up because of the long wait, encountered surly staff or simply did not enjoy the experience Denny’s will have lost. I just hope those folks are not influencers, because word of mouth is more powerful then advertising and they will spread that message quickly to their sphere of influence.
Way to go Denny’s! I think you hit a grand slam today.
February 4th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I don’t think there was ANY doubt that this promotion would be a HUGE success – I think the only “risk” involved was that the blogosphere wouldn’t pick this up and run with it – which they did.
Denny’s didn’t “formally” advertise this – instead they “PR’d” this message and look at the the free press they got.
Bravo to Denny’s and never underestimate the power of Free!!!
February 4th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Kathy-
Thanks for your note, they certainly did advertise this program both with a Super Bowl spot and a full page ad in Monday’s USA Today, in addition to the PR.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
This looks like a very bold marketing move to me and shocking enough to spread like a wild-fire. I bet we are about to see more companies offer something similar in the near future, which is great for consumers…
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February 9th, 2009 at 6:26 am
I always wonder with free promotions whether there will be any residual benefit from it. How many of those peoplw came because it was free and will never come again?
a stationary store I used to work at sold books for 1cent prior to school starting. Most customers bought some, but if they didn’t buy something else too then the store made a loss.
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February 9th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Whenever you say free, people line up. That being said, I’ve never eaten at Denny’s, and don’t plan to.
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February 9th, 2009 at 11:08 am
This campaign was a huge success and pulled in the consumers. I wonder what their next move would be.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:44 am
i think that kind of promotion is an awesome idea. ihop is doing the same kind of thing with it’s free pancake day, and we definitely plan on going for that.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Let’s hope the campaign was backed up with a positive experience. If people visit and are disappointed, something like this could cause more harm than good.
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February 9th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
They were very smart to run this type of advertising. I wonder what people thought when they had to wait forever to get a table. Free is good!
February 9th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I think the true test of weather the promotion was a success is to measure their sales in the next weeks. I heard they did this promotion because sales were slow and people were not eating out as much. There were stories of people getting up at 5am to get free food. I certainly hope they get something for it— and I hope people at least left a tip with their free meals for the family. Free is always good for the consumer but free rarely is good for the company….unless there is a back end offer. I don’t know what Dennys back end offer would be?
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February 9th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Oh wow! Thats amazing that they did that. Not many people pass up the chance for something free! Not something I woudl do though. Although it is true people love free stuff, people dont like to wait! Im sure there was a lot of impatient people waiting in those lines and alot of angry customers!!
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February 9th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
I too have to wonder how many people just take the freebie and never come back. Having our own business, my husband and I offer one free liner to new customers, hoping that they will return and buy more. Now, sometimes this works great, but sometimes, people take the one free and we never hear from them again. It’s frustrating. But, Denny’s is also a huge company and can probably afford it. So, I’m sure it helped them because more people realized how ‘good’ their food is. I wouldn’t know – I’ve never been there.
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February 9th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
So very true..when free is involved it takes away any need for decision making. Denny’s saw a need and filled it. Congratulations to them on this huge success.
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February 10th, 2009 at 3:12 am
You know I don’t think I’ve eaten at Denny’s for 20 plus years, but I remember the last time because my it was my son’s birthday and he got his meal free!
FREE is good and you never forget.
I think this promo will be talked about for years
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February 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
I guess you do what ever you need to drum up the business….
February 10th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I worried about the servers getting tipped. I’d be P.O.’d if I worked that day and didn’t make any money!
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February 11th, 2009 at 1:49 am
I wonder about the poor servers. That is did people even tip them and if so did they do it based on what the meal would have cost? I doubt it.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
It was a pretty cool idea!! But it would have been a crazy place to visit on that day!! Wonder how it all turned out!
Your FL furiends,
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February 11th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
This was an amazing feat to pull off, the only thing I regret was it wasn’t until I read your post that I remembered what day it was… and by then it was too late
February 11th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Good promotion!
Consumers really are up to “free” stuffs..
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February 12th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
This just goes to show how quickly word of mouth advertising can go.
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May 4th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
hm.. funny