What is in this article?:
- Restaurants count on customers for ad content
- From customers to marketers
- Costs to consider
Marketing experts have mixed opinions on restaurant chains airing user-generated television ads.
From customers to marketers
Pizza Hut, Dunkin’ Donuts and Wingstop all sought to involve fans in recent video contests.
For its Super Bowl contest, Dallas-based Pizza Hut is calling on fans to upload videos of themselves doing their best impressions of a quarterback shouting a pre-snap “Hut. Hut. Hut!” to its Facebook page. Participants will vie for the chance to be edited into the brand’s commercial before the Feb. 3 broadcast of Super Bowl XLVII. In addition to a cameo in a Super Bowl commercial, Pizza Hut also is offering participating fans the chance to win $15,000 in total prizes.
Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ Donuts also called for submissions on its Facebook page for the “Top of the WorlDD” promotion in December, which allowed contestants to submit photos or videos wishing their loved ones a happy new year. One winning photo and video were displayed on the brand’s giant digital billboard in New York City’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve and into New Year’s Day, while two grand prize winners received a pair of free tickets for a JetBlue flight. Other submissions were shared throughout the contest period on Dunkin’ Donuts’ Facebook page.
Richardson, Texas-based Wingstop received nearly 100 submissions for its first user-generated video contest, in which it asked fans to produce a 30-second commercial about why they love the chain’s boneless chicken wings. The winning amateur director, Jeremy Lough of Modesto, Calif., not only won the prize money but also had his video shown on ESPN2 as part of Wingstop’s national TV campaign.
“This contest was a fun way for us to interact with our customers and let them tell us why they love Wingstop,” vice president of technology Jason McEachern said in a statement. “We have loyal, dedicated wing fans, and we love to hear from our guests. This was a way to turn over control to our customers and see what they come up with.
