October 1, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

Starting tomorrow and through this weekend, Starbucks is offering a taste test of their instant Via product against a regular coffee. 

The commercial is funny, and choosing Nancy Giles, who you might know from CBS News Sunday Morning, was a brilliant choice for a smart but slightly sarcastic narrator. 

But I find it interesting that the brand, which was built on coffee-as-experience, would choose to promote that you don't need the experience after all. What do you think? Comment in the box below.

By the way, while looking for this commercial, I found tha...Read More

Industries: Marketing, Menu Development

September 18, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Have you been following T.G.I. Friday's Woody campaign? The story goes that Friday's fan Woody challenges the restaurant chain: If he can get half a million Facebook fans, Friday's has to give all his fans a free Jack Daniel's burger or chicken sandwich. Woody reached that goal earlier this week and upped the ante, and is now trying to recruit a million fans.

Maybe you've seen the commercials, which seem to be running on all the network and basic cable channels in prime time. It's kind of a clever way to get Facebook fans, who Friday's can then entice with other offers, knowing they already have an affinity for the chain--or at least for free stuff. 

But the campaign and the commercials felt a little contrived to me. (No offense to anyone with that nam...Read More
Industries: Marketing

September 10, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Outback Steakhouse International exec Steve Nilsen sent us this gem of a commercial. (Thanks, Steve!) 

It's part of a series the restaurant chain has been running in Korea since 2008, and Nilsen says comps rise as much as 25 percent when they're on air.

In this a-dor-a-ble commercial, a boy and girl are set up on a blind date. Nilsen writes: "This is very common in Korea and includes specific 'tells' so the arranger of the date can sit at a different table and watch how the date progresses.  In this case the ‘tell’ is that the boy will order steak if he likes the girl, and bread if he does not."

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Industries: Marketing

August 28, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

I had the mixed-blessing of stumbling upon this commercial for Kelsey's Restaurants, a Canadian chain of 120-some casual-dining eateries. Think T.G.I. Friday's or Applebee's with a "Cheers" theme.

On the negative side is the earworm that is the "Cheers" theme song. It might take all weekend to get that dang tune out of my head. Not only is it in the spot, it plays on Kelsey's Web site, too. Over and over and over. (An aside: All Web sites should set their sound default to off.)

On the positive side, and speaking of the Web, while researching the concept, I find there is a myth that Kelsey's is named after "Cheers" star Kelsey Grammer, and that he is somehow involved in the concept. It is not and he is not. The brand predates the TV show, and Kelsey's is reportedly named for some roadhouse the founders used to frequent. Bu...Read More
Industries: Marketing

August 14, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Our core audience is made up of restaurant-chain executives, so when I saw this commercial for Domino's Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes, I knew I had to share.

It pits the research and development department against the accounting department, each team taking credit for the Lava promotion that offers the dessert for free.

Holly Ryan in Domino's communications department tells me that "most of the people in the commercial are employees at our headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich. They did a great job."

I agree. Especially the accountant who says, "Stick that in your oven."

What do you think? Reply in the comment box below.

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Industries: Marketing, Menu Development