Author Archives: dshoffner

You know you’re doing something right when people are willing to pay 10 times the menu price to eat your food after it’s been frozen and shipped across the country.

That’s exactly the extravagance In-n-Out Burger fans can now indulge in thanks to MidtownRow.com, which has offered to overnight deliver two of the West Coast fast food chain’s signature “Double-Double” burgers (double meat, double cheese, double awesome) anywhere in the U.S. for the low price of $56. (A Midtown Row membership is required to access the link for the aforementioned burger deal.)

For the price of a dinner for two at a decent restaurant, out-of-town In-N-Out junkies get two frozen In-N-Out Double-Double burgers, either regular or “animal-style” (a mustard-cooked patty, pickles, extra sauce and grilled onions), but Midtown Row does not guarantee freshness.

“We will ship with proper refrigeration via overnight mail,” the website warns, “but reheat and consume at your own risk.”

No word yet on how many frozen Double-Doubles have been sold, but the site is currently sold out, which isn’t entirely surprising considering that In-N-Out Burger has one of the most fanatical followings of any food and beverage brand in human history. How they got that following is a subject for another blog entry – and a success story every other burger joint has been trying to duplicate ever since, with mixed results.  Read more...

Today’s Stat of the Day is actually two stats. (Or just one stat that was proven wrong by a recent study and replaced with a more accurate stat.)

In an effort to determine how often consumers really check the nutritional information on products when making purchasing decisions, researchers at the University of Minnesota conducted a study using some fancy, high-tech eye-tracking software.

Before the study, 33 percent of the study’s subjects claimed they “almost always” looked up a product’s calorie content on the Nutrition Facts label. Researchers then showed participants more than 60 grocery items on a computer screen. The screen displayed an image of the food along with a list of ingredients, the food’s price and description, and the Nutrition Facts label.

The aforementioned high-tech eye-tracking software revealed that only nine percent of the subjects looked at the calorie count on almost all items, a big drop from the 33 percent who had claimed to do so. Prior to the study, 31 percent had also claimed to “almost always” check for fat content, a number which dropped to only one percent after the eye-tracking test.  Read more...

Today marks the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty’s dedication, and we’re proud to say that we’ve played at least a tiny role in all of the hoopla leading up to this big day. One of our tastiest clients, Turkey Hill Dairy, released a limited edition ice cream flavor – Lady Liberty Mint – in the spring and asked us to surround it with all sorts of public relations, social media, contests and other promotions throughout the year.

Among the efforts we helped with was a national PR push to promote the flavor and the Lady Liberty Essay Contest, which awarded $5,000 in scholarship money to a middle school and high school student with the best 500-word answer to the harder-than-you-think-to-answer question “What does liberty mean to you?”

The Turkey Hill team is on Liberty Island today, giving away samples of the namesake frosty treat to visitors participating in the day’s festivities, which include a naturalization ceremony for 125 new Americans and the unveiling of a new “torch webcam” which joined many other webcams offering views of New York Harbor and the statue.  Read more...

Earlier this week, we introduced you to the 21^st-century version of the barcode on tech steroids known as the QR code. It’s a relatively new and powerful technology, but “new and powerful” doesn’t always translate into “smart and useful” executions by food and beverage marketers. The  cases outlined below, however, demonstrate QR code marketing at its best.

QR CODE PURPOSE #1: EDUCATE

The primary purpose of many QR codes (and most marketing efforts) is to educate consumers about the product and its uses. But instead of merely launching a product’s website and expecting the consumer to locate online information for themselves, the more effective QR codes out there dig a little deeper.

That’s exactly what Whole Foods has done with theirs. The Austin, Texas-based grocer has placed the codes on many shelves and products (see image above), a scan of which offers shoppers a list of product ingredients, recipe ideas and background information on the product manufacturer. Whole Foods also scores QR bonus points by using the codes on signage for donate-a-dollar causes, thereby taking a little pressure off cashiers and shoppers at the register.  Read more...

Our goal with this two-part entry is to shed some light on one of the trendiest digital marketing tools around – that little box of black and white pixels known as the QR code. Today’s entry will serve as an “Intro to QR Codes” lesson, with plenty of background info about the tech tool. Then, on Friday, we’ll take a closer look at some of the best and worst uses of the new technology in the world of food and beverage marketing.

WHAT IS A QR CODE?

A QR code is a 2D barcode that can be scanned by a smartphone’s camera. Based on the type of code, it might then automatically open a website, make a phone call, launch a video (like the one in the image above) or deliver a vCard.

WHAT’S THE BENEFIT OF A QR CODE?

The QR code instantly bridges the gap between the real world and the digital world and connects consumers with brands in ways never before possible. Through the magic of the QR code, anything can be turned into an interactive communication tool. QR codes are also easily customizable, measurable and trackable, giving marketers almost instant access to statistics showing how many times the code was scanned, who scanned it and what device they used.  Read more...