Denny's
Pumps Up Social Media Efforts Amid Troubles
by Karlene Lukovitz,
Social media is
likely not the #1 priority these days at Denny's, what with searches for both a
new CEO and a new
(On June 8,
Denny's announced that chairman/CEO, Nelson Marchioli, who had survived an
ouster attempt by an investor group in May, is now being replaced on an interim
basis by board chair Debra Smithart-Oglesby. The chain's former
Still, from a
marketing standpoint, it's interesting to note that the company is pushing
forward with efforts to enhance its social media outreach, even as a new
top-level strategic team tackles the job of reassessing the business's
fundamentals.
In the last six
months, in particular, the chain has been accelerating social media efforts
intended to go beyond pushing out basic promotional/coupon offers -- efforts
more focused on engaging fans and prospects with one another and with the
brand, confirms Alan Miller, co-founder/co-owner of L.A.-based Filter Creative
Group, the agency handling Denny's social media programs.
The latest effort,
launched on June 8 and running through June 27, is a Father's Day "card
maker" application being promoted through the chain's main brand and
"Allnighter" Facebook fan pages and Twitter presences, as well as its
email database.
Users register and
create a card to email or print out for dad, and the card comes with a coupon
for a free ice cream float for dad ... well, free with any purchase from the
chain's new "$2 $4 $6 $8 Value Menu" or an entrée from its general
menu. (The free-with-purchase nature of the offer is perhaps notable, given
that disgruntled investors' criticisms have included charges that outright food
giveaways, such as Denny's annual Free Grand Slam Breakfast day, have not
succeeded in winning new, regular customers.)
As of June 10,
more than 7,000 consumers had already created Father's Day cards, according to
the chain. This follows a similar card-maker effort for Mother's Day, in which
more than 13,000 users created cards in less than a week, reports Miller.
Denny's main brand
Facebook page has attracted about 49,000 fans since its launch (along with an
associated Twitter presence) in February 2009. But these general-brand
Facebook/Twitter presences actually emerged from the success of the launch,
nearly a year earlier, of a Facebook page and Twitter account that were created
specifically in support of Denny's "Allnighter" initiative -- its
effort to attract a young crowd with a hipper environment and special menu
featured between
The Allnighter
Facebook page (which now has about 72,000 fans) has offered a variety of engagement
devices, including mobile apps like virtual dancing video games and Webisodes
featuring live-action puppet characters enjoying the Allnighter vibe.
Allnighter fans have also been able to access personalized profile pages
created by the animated characters, appearing on MySpace, as well as Facebook
and Twitter.
Denny's two
Facebook fan pages regularly cross-promote engagement and promotional
opportunities, and Webisodes/videos, along with Denny's TV spots, are readily
available on YouTube.
Earlier this year,
Denny's' main Facebook page hosted eight video episodes featuring its popular
chicken characters -- a follow-up to the chain's three Super Bowl commercials
promoting its Free Grand Slam Breakfast day and Free Grand Slam birthday offer.
One of those Bowl spots ("Chicken Warning") showed its chicken
characters fleeing town as they were warned about the volume of eggs they'd
have to lay to meet the demand for the free breakfast promotion. The video
episodes offered humorous updates on the chickens' plight.
Denny's
subsequently created "The Chicken Show," a series of monthly
Webisodes on a "chickens" tab of the brand's main Facebook site that
feature the chickens and their humorous interactions with a clueless fictional
character, "Brian the Intern." A current episode, for instance, has
the chickens begging for Denny's fans to volunteer as reviewers of the new
Value Menu, because "Brian" has fallen gravely short as a reviewer
(Allnighter Facebook fans are also being urged to become reviewers).
In April, Denny's
also teamed with ESPN on both branded content sponsorship segments within the
network's "Wednesday Night Baseball" programming and a weekly, online
"Denny's Kruk Report," in which ESPN baseball analyst John Kruk blogs
on baseball, food and fans and answers questions submitted by Denny's Facebook
fans. Participation in the Kruk Report is heavily promoted on both Denny's
Allnighter and overall-brand Facebook pages.
What's next?
Miller says a July Fourth social media campaign/ promotion is soon to be
announced.
Denny's sales
declined from $939.4 million in 2007, to $760.5 million in 2008, to $608.1
million in 2009. During fiscal year 2009, its same-store sales decreased 3.7%
in company-owned units and 5.2% in franchised units. However, 2009 fiscal net
income was $41.6 million, up from $12.7 million in fiscal 2008.
In first-quarter
fiscal 2010, net income was $4.6 million, versus $4.3 million in Q1 fiscal 2009.
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