Ad Campaign: Savings Plan

Huddle House aims to bring in more business by helping its customers economize.

By Margaret Littman, Contributing Editor -- Chain Leader, 12/1/2007

The rising gas prices over the past several years are certainly not the kind of warm-and-fuzzy trend with which most marketers would want to be associated. But at Huddle House, the bad news became a way for the Atlanta-based chain of 24-hour diners to connect with its largely blue-collar, male audience.

Huddle House is a 43-year-old chain that started as a place for high school football fans to "huddle up" after Friday night games. A competitor to chains such as Waffle House, Huddle House has been a mainstay in the South for the last four decades. While it has success and notoriety in its local markets, the 417-unit chain plans to expand outside the Southeast, mostly by franchising, increasing its number of units by 10 percent annually.

To prepare for that, over the past several years Huddle House has been undergoing a metamorphosis of sorts, says Chief Marketing Officer Robyn Bailey. The company was restructured, rebranded and re-imaged, including overhauling the menu and updating the decor of the restaurants. Two years ago Bailey came on board from Arby’s Franchise Association to "elevate the story packaging that had already been done," she says.

Photo Finish

One of Bailey’s first steps was to hire Duluth, Ga.-based Ignite Communications to help overhaul the food photography used in Huddle House marketing, changing light ing and employing food stylists. The chain had used the same photographer for the past decade, and the previous photography didn’t communicate that Huddle House offered meals that were a step up from typical quick-service restaurants.

"The photography did not communicate quality before," agrees Ted Asbury, vice president and group director for Ignite Communications, who worked with Bailey at Arby’s. "We wanted to revamp the entire look and feel of the menus."

"We wanted higher craveability for the food that was shot," Bailey says.

The new menu was "about giving consumers what they were looking for while still being profitable," Bailey adds. After testing in three cities, she says the new menu resulted in $18,000 to $22,000 incremental profit.

Watching the Bottom Line

While the new menu, the new photos and the push for new ads—paid for by franchisees’ contribution of 1 percent of sales to an ad fund—show off the new aspects of Huddle House, the core value proposition is still at the forefront of the marketing message. Many other chains are going to great lengths to avoid competing on value or price, due to competition from large QSRs. But earlier this year Huddle House created two 15-second television commercials and a sweepstakes contest to show its core customer that it feels his belt-tightening pain.

Tied in with the new ads are promotions for $5.99 meals, including two double cheeseburgers and two biscuit breakfasts. "Our value is relative to what you get at a QSR, but it is sit down, cooked to order," Bailey adds.

While Huddle House serves 24 hours a day and has lunch and dinner items on the menu, approximately 60 percent of the chain’s $225 million in systemwide sales are generated from breakfast foods, says Asbury. By including a cross-section of menu items, the commercials both build on that breakfast success and introduce more non-morning meal options.

With a tagline at the end of the spots that reads, "The smart bucks stop here," the message is clear that diners get a lot for their money at Huddle House.

Value Driven

The company aired the ads on both network and cable TV in morning and prime-time slots for three weeks in July and again for three weeks in September. They skew male, but not at the expense of women, Bailey says. The spots earlier in the summer emphasized the sweepstakes, which included prizes such as $100,000 or a NASCAR-themed trip to Daytona Beach, Fla.

The chain plans to run two additional television flights next year. As same-store sales increase, as well as the number of units, the amount available in the ad fund will increase as well, enabling new creative.

"Huddle House had been so used to doing things a certain way we had to build it up from the beginning," adds Asbury. "But people are getting used to the change."

“Silver Dollar” Length: 15 seconds
1. [Car noise]	2. Voice-over: For a limited time at Huddle House,
3. See double every time you roll in.	4. Because two, juicy double cheeseburger plates cost just $5.99.
5. That’s right. Just $5.99.	6. So your hard-earned money goes farther than ever.