Storyboard: Denny's Consumer Reports

Denny’s asked its guests what they expect and then used a new ad campaign to show that it already delivers.

By Margaret Littman, Contributing Editor -- Chain Leader, 10/1/2006

It’s been nearly two years since Denny’s introduced a new advertising campaign. The previous one, called “Our Denny’s,” ran successfully between 2004 and 2006 featuring testimonials from actual employees talking about their pride in the chain’s food and service.

Like all ad campaigns, it eventually ran its course. When Denny’s and its ad agency of four years, Publicis Mid America Dallas, decided to update the advertising for the half-century-old chain, it chose to look at the other side of the table.

After six months of focus groups and research, in July the chain unveiled a new campaign, focusing on the customers’ perspective. But the ads have more than just a new point of view. Because Denny’s has a varied audience, the campaign highlights customers’ different viewpoints.

In general, says Margaret L. Jenkins, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Denny’s, the chain’s marketing efforts skew toward adults ages 18 to 49 years old but “heavier to the higher end of that demo,” with an equal mix of men and women.

To reach the chain’s broad demographic, each of the five new TV spots represents how Denny’s meets different customers’ needs. The customers featured range from a mom trying to satisfy the appetites of her teenagers to a man who never wants to pay too much for a meal to the hipsters looking for a meal after a night out on the town.

Out of the Horse’s Mouth

While “Our Denny’s” featured actual employees in the advertisements, using actual customers in the new commercials was deemed too unpredictable, according to Brent Feldman, senior vice president and director of account management at Publicis. “It is just such an unknown what you might get from a real person,” he says.

Although the chain went back to hiring actors—a change that did not substantially affect the budget—Feldman says the ads use “actual verbiage” from customers who participated in the focus groups earlier this year. Publicis believed such wording would resonate with Denny’s target audiences. “There is research from Yankelovich [Partners] and others that shows people are more accepting of messages from people like themselves,” Feldman says.

The resulting campaign, “Denny’s Always Works,” features diners explaining how Denny’s “works for them” in front of a bright yellow backdrop with red art elements, subtly evoking the Denny’s logo. The striking backdrop not only ties in with the chain’s logo but is a dramatic departure from traditional family-dining advertising, which is typically heavy on shots of restaurant interiors.

“Typically, what you see is smiling faces in a restaurant, and it all starts to look the same,” Feldman says. “We had fun with the graphics and the yellow, but there is no disconnect.”

While the initial campaign features five different viewpoints, Feldman says the agency “wants to tell all those stories” compiled from the different focus groups. “We have got a ton of stories to tell depending on what Denny’s wants to focus on,” he says. “I hope this thing goes forward for a while, because we have so many possibilities.”

The first commercials are being aired on cable and network TV, including CNN, TBS and ABC Family. Media buys included “Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” But the campaign also features radio, in-store displays, print and Internet ads to reach Denny’s wide audience.

According to New York-based TNS Media Intelligence, Denny’s spent approximately $66.7 million on television, print, Internet and other media ad placements in 2005, an increase of 6.5 percent over the previous year.

More Than the Meal

The campaign’s new perspective doesn’t stop with its visual impact and customer-directed messages. Each ad has an add-on for a current menu item. For example, this summer touted the Grand Slam Breakfast.

But Feldman says the campaign’s emphasis is still on all the ways in which Denny’s “works” as part of a customer’s life, by being affordable or by being open late, rather than by focusing on specific menu items. It identifies the need Denny’s fills that is most relevant to customers at their particular stage of life: “When you are talking about a 50-year-old brand, that is even more important,” he says.

Jenkins says Denny’s encountered few surprises when interviewing customers to learn how they thought Denny’s worked for them. “It was just a matter of zeroing in on the most relevant needs of these guests,” she says.

“Ted/Breakfast” Length: 30 seconds
1.	2. Ted: Denny’s works for me because they don’t make me choose between bacon or sausage.
3. See, unlike my wife, Denny’s believes I deserve bacon and sausage.	4. Ooh, and then all these wonderful people, they come by and they refill my coffee. I may never go home.
5. Voice-over: When you have Denny’s new Extreme Grand Slam Breakfast, you’ll want to stay awhile.	6. More bacon, more sausage, two eggs, a stack of pancakes.
7. One of three new Super Slams for an easy $5.99.	8. Denny’s. Ted: Works for me.