TV Advertising: Mexican Imports

Bajio Mexican Grill's first TV campaign educates customers about its concept and Mexican heritage.

By Margaret Littman, Contributing Editor -- Chain Leader, 2/1/2008

Americans aren't known for having a great grasp on the geography of their own country, much less that of their neighbors to the south. So a restaurant branding campaign developed around a lesser-known region of Mexico may not seem destined for success.

But when American Fork, Utah-based Bajio Mexican Grill launched its first TV advertising last year, it included a little geography in a campaign that resulted in double-digit same-store-sales gains and positioned the concept for aggressive growth.

Founded in late 2002, Bajio Mexican Grill is named after the agriculturally rich Bajio region of central Mexico, known for cooking with a sweeter—rather than spicy—flavor profile. Founders Jason Stowe and Dave Tuomisto traveled to the Bajio region frequently as young adults, staying in a place owned by Tuomisto's parents. They fell in love with the fruit flavors used to marinate meats and in salsas and decided to bring the tastes back home to Utah.

Their plan was successful, except, as they expanded, they found customers didn't know how to pronounce the chain's name or how the menu differed from other fast-casual Mexican concepts like Chipotle Mexican Grill, Moe's Southwest Grill and Qdoba Mexican Grill.

“People had a very hard time saying our name or knowing what we are about. They thought we were a travel agency,” says Stowe, who is now director of franchise development for the chain.

In late 2006 Bajio charged The Summit Group, a Salt Lake City-based ad agency, with creating a branding campaign that would teach consumers how to say the chain's name, explain the concept's connection to the Bajio region, emphasize that food is made from scratch in-house and help communicate the fun atmosphere that the concept believes it offers.

The Summit Group, now Bajio's agency of record, convinced Bajio that a foray into TV was the most efficient way to build this kind of broad awareness. Before 2007 marketing had been focused on local promotions, newpaper inserts, radio and print ads. With 22 stores in the greater Salt Lake City area, the chain had the density to make television expenditure affordable, says Kelly Conroy, the Bajio account manager at Summit.

Summit worked with Bajio to create the Bajio Trio, a mariachi band, to serenade customers in the ads and impart specific information through their lyrics. The trio was chosen because “trio” rhymes with the correct pronunciation of “Bajio” and would be a subtle way to educate diners. The Summit Group wrote the lyrics and gave them to the band, three brothers from Utah, who composed the music, Conroy says.

The six initial TV spots, in both 15- and 30-second lengths, featured the Bajio Trio delivering a variety of fun messages. One emphasizes that servers, called “amigos,” recognize their customers and learn their names. In another the trio sings about wanting a house made from Mexican pizza, one of the chain's signature dishes. In a third the trio sings while a long list of subtitled information about the Bajio region scrolls across the screen too fast to read. (Some real information is also on the company Web site, www.bajiogrill.com, so that those who are curious can learn.)

The spots show off the warm interior of a Bajio restaurant, which is decorated with items imported from the Bajio region to help keep the look authentic.

The ads targeted Bajio's target demographic: the fast-casual diner, between the ages of 20 and 44, with a heavier emphasis on adults under 35 without kids. Most of the chain's core customers eat out three or four times a week, according to company research.

Bajio rotated the ads on and off the airwaves, both cable and broadcast, throughout 2007. The chain saw double-digit same-store-sales increases when the spots aired. Bajio rang up an estimated $30 million in systemwide sales in 2007.

That branding work is the foundation for 37-unit Bajio's future growth. Plans are to double the size of the chain this year, as it has done for the past several years; a year ago, there were just 16 Bajio units. Stowe says the chain could open as many as 50 units in 2008, including new metropolitan markets in Florida and Kentucky. All expansion will come from franchising, focused on endcap locations in high-end strip malls. Stowe owns 11 units, which the company uses for training and other functions usually delegated to a company-owned location.

Growth may also come from adding breakfast to the menu. Currently 60 percent of sales are at lunch, the remainder at dinner, but Bajio plans to test the morning daypart in a Texas unit later this year.

Summit plans to create four new TV ads for 2008. The spots will include the Bajio Trio, who Stowe believes could be to Bajio “what Jared is to Subway.” But the ads will be more focused on specific menu promotions including fajitas and other menu additions, rather than general branding, Stowe says.

Contests such as a “write the next Bajio Trio song” challenge and e-mail and Web promotions are also possibilities for 2008. A local song competition in the Salt Lake City area in 2007 generated significant local news coverage. All of the creative elements will be scalable, so franchisees can use them in local markets for new-store openings as well as for more regional, and eventually even national, advertising efforts.

“Now we can focus a little bit more about why Bajio is different,” Conroy says. “We can have more messages about ingredients, how everything comes with sides of beans and rice.” Of course, he adds, thanks to the Bajio Trio, they'll do it in song.

Watch the commercial