Direct > Use of Direct Marketing

THE LOBSTER EVENT

LEO BURNETT TORONTO, Toronto / EARLS KITCHEN + BAR / 2014

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Overview

Credits

OVERVIEW

ClientBriefOrObjective

Earls is a 64-restaurant chain in the upscale-casual dining segment that has established many traditions over the years like their annual fall Lobster Event. Unfortunately the event began to lose its lustre and ability to drive sales. In 2012, Earls asked us to reinvigorate the event with a fresh creative approach and the resulting program was the most successful in over a decade and reversed the trend of previous years. For 2013, expectations were high. Objectives were set to drive even more sales than the previous year but the program had to be achieved based on reducing marketing costs by 50%.

ConfidentialInformation

Despite having to reduce marketing costs by 50%, total lobster sales increased by 15% vs the previous year. Total restaurant same-store sales grew by another 4.43% over the promotional period vs last year; which is over and above the 3.27% same store sales growth from the previous year.

Execution

To reduce costs, we had to be more selective with our marketing efforts. Knowing the largest target segment were Earls’ loyal consumers, we focused our communication in-restaurant to encourage these fans to spread the word among friends and family. We focused on creating an experiential event with a toolkit (cracker, tin, bibs, trayliner, napkins) designed to deal with the carnage of eating Lobster with ease and style. The creative was once again grounded in Earls’ warm brand colours and featured an iconic lobster image with humourous headlines celebrating all the great ways to get hands-on with lobster.

Implementation

Last year’s campaign was about breaking down the intimidation barrier of eating a lobster. Through post-analysis, what we learned about the lobster eating experience is – even if it’s less intimidating – it’s still a lot of work. And let’s face it, people are lazy. Nobody wants to have to twist, pull, pry and suck to get food. People would rather eat easy things like hamburgers and pizza. Once we understood this insight, we understood we had to tell people that once you get the delicious lobster in your mouth, and lick all that buttery goodness off your fingers – it’s well worth the work.

Outcome

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