Everyone is cutting back on eating out these days, but Millennials are leading the way in frugality. As of March last year, 18-24 year olds visited fast food restaurants an average of 3.0 times a week, down from 3.7 times in 2007. Even more telling, 18-24’s were the only group to show a decline. We expect that number to drop even farther.
What are QSR marketers — other than high profile Burger King — doing to win back this important segment? A lot it turns out.
1. Pizza Hut: Pizza chains are among the hardest hit by the recession (WSJ, “A Smaller Piece of the Pie“). Pizza Hut is taking direct aim at Millennials with its “Pizza Hut Interface” launched October 2008. The Interface allows Facebook users to order their Pizza Hut favorites without ever leaving Facebook. According to AllFacebook, Pizza Hut is the first national pizza chain to offer this method of ordering. In 2008, Pizza Hut awarded $50 gift cards to Pizza Hut friends on Facebook on a weekly basis. Currently, Pizza Hut is running a “Passport to Italy Sweepstakes” through its Facebook page to celebrate the launch of new Tuscani Lasagna. According to Bob Kraut, VP of Marketing Communications, Pizza Hut is pleased with the results.
In the last month, we’ve gone from 700,000 fans to 750,000 fans, which makes us the largest restaurant fan page on Facebook. We want to strike a fine balance between communicating with our fans and giving them meaningful offers, without overcommunicating to them and becoming a nuisance. We want people to see our Facebook page not as something they become a fan of and then forget about, but a place they come back to on a regular basis for the latest news and deals from Pizza Hut. To have a live measurement of the number of fans we have interacting with our brand and the ability to create an ordering application within the site makes Facebook an extremely effective online channel for us. We’re very pleased with the results we’ve seen so far.
2.Culvers: Culver’s launched its first ever national ad campaign, starting with E!’s pre-Academy show. The premise is that there is an ‘outbreak of niceness’ at Culver’s. While this is not Millennial-specific message, it is definitely Millennial-friendly. (Pepsi, anyone?) The campaign includes social media: a Twitter feed and Facebook page, although only the eClub sign up is on their home page and the effort is not as integrated as the Pizza Hut effort. Company vice president Chris Contino: “We still aren’t sure that it works for quick-service restaurants, because so much of the buying is impulse, but we’re hoping to hit on something that makes sense.”
3. Arby’s: Arby’s is betting on new products, especially an “All-American Roastburger” sandwich positioned against hamburgers. Launched in February, it will sponsor an NCAA tournament bracket on Facebook through CBS SportsLine. Arby’s spokeswoman: “Facebook engages more than 80 million active users, and 1.5 million people signed up for Facebook NCAA tournament brackets in 2008.” Online ads on CBS SportsLine and NCAA.com this month will support the effort, along with March Madness network TV and radio (CBS, Sirius). A PR program for called “Change Your Clock/Change Your Burger” on March 8 will promote a free Roastburger with the purchase of a soft drink. It will be interesting to see how (whether) they leverage the ‘news’ value of daylight savings on Twitter…
4. Taco Bell: Taco Bell is the second favorite fast food restaurant among 18-24 year olds, right behind McDonalds. Millennials love Taco Bell for their ingenuity in mixing the same basic 7 ingredients into a constant stream of ‘new’ products (Crunch Wrap Supreme, Fully Loaded Nachos). This gives them a constant stream of ‘news’, which combined with lots of items for $.79, $.89 and $.99 makes for a experience you can enjoy frequently. Taco Bell has smartly leveraged their late night hours to connect with Millennial bands and their fans with their ‘Fourth Meal’ promotion, “Feed the Beat“.
