When consumers aren’t asleep or deciding where to eat, the odds are they’re watching TV, using the Internet, listening to traditional or satellite radio, reading a magazine, or checking their e-mail, because media use is “the biggest single activity” of any given day.
In addition to that finding by the Center for Media Design at Ball State University, consumers are known to stay involved often with two media at the same time, which the center calls “concurrent media exposure” and defines as “exposure to content from multiple media simultaneously available through shared or shifting attention.”
These days, the key for restaurants is to get their marketing messages to those attention-shifting consumers through the media they use most often. However, there’s no simple, surefire way to do that. It’s no secret that consumers are choosing more digital-media sources, but they still watch network television and read newspapers and magazines.
Never before have foodservice marketers had so many media choices when it comes to getting their messages before the public. That, however, is not necessarily good news.
Marketing experts concede that the media world has become so fragmented—and people so omnivorous in their media appetites—that ad messages may not reach the same number of consumers as could be reached only a few years ago.
Meanwhile, newspaper circulation has continued to fall. Daily circulation decreased 2.1 percent and Sunday circulation fell 3.1 percent, according to the spring 2007 report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Although such magazines as Teen People and the U.S. edition of so-called “lad mag” FHM ceased publication during the past year, younger adults read more magazines than older readers do, according to a beta test of
Adults in the 19-24 age group said they had read 18.3 magazines during the previous six months, and respondents in the 25-34 group had read 18.9. Readers in the 45-54 group read 16.7 magazines, and those in the 55-64 group read 17.
Younger adults tend to read different titles than do those in older age groups, leading to a “misperception that magazine readers are getting older,” said company president Rebecca McPheters.
Meanwhile, radio still reaches a vast number of listeners, but the audience doesn’t appear to be growing, according to preliminary figures from Arbitron’s RADAR 93 June 2007 Radio Listening Estimates. Radio reaches 232 million listeners during the week, the same as a year ago.
But recent findings indicate the “drive-time” radio aimed at commuters remains popular with marketers and that conventional radio continues to be the medium of choice for 75 percent of all drivers. Of course, that would indicate that personal digital players, like iPods, and subscription satellite radio services now command one-fourth of drivers’ auditory attention.
TV is the highest-exposure medium every hour of the day, according to “The Middletown Media Studies: The Media Day,” a study of consumer media habits by Ball State’s Center for Media Design. At no time were less than 30 percent of the study’s participants being exposed to TV programming during the day, and at times as many as 70 percent were viewing TV.
Computer use came in second. The study found that the biggest computer users are 25 to 64 years old, especially among those in the 25-44 subgroup. Women spend the most time visiting websites and checking e-mail.
But consumers younger than 35 spend more time on the Internet than they do watching TV, according to a study by New York-based Jupiter Research. The study also found that consumers watch TV and use the Internet more than 10 times as often as they read newspapers and magazines.
Visiting the Internet through mobile devices also is growing. Nielsen Co. recently announced the formation of a new service called Nielsen Wireless to measure how many people use mobile Internet and mobile video. It estimated that more than 33 million people 12 and older used mobile Web during the first quarter of this year, and that 8 million people 12 and older viewed some Internet video on their mobile phones, according to a report in
At least 7 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds viewed mobile video programs in the first quarter, the report said, and at least 25 percent used mobile phones to connect to the Internet. The heavy use of mobile phones has prompted leading restaurant chains to include them in their marketing arsenals. McDonald’s, Starbucks Coffee and Krystal have offered deals through text messages. Earlier this year, Hardee’s made exclusive coupon offers available to cell phone users, and the 310-unit Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern recently concluded an opt-in mobile-marketing campaign in the Dallas-Forth Worth area that offered consumers a text-message coupon. It was the second time that Bennigan’s had launched such a campaign, and the decision to do so was based on the number of people who send text messages every day, said Clay Dover, executive vice president and chief concept officer for Metromedia Restaurant Group, the Plano, Texas-based parent of Bennigan’s.
“Eighty-five percent of consumers 18 to 30 text on a daily basis,” he said. “We’re looking for a way to reach them at the most optimum time and most convenient way for us and the consumers.”
Bennigan’s advertises on radio and through targeted cable TV buys to generate mass brand awareness, but Dover said such alternatives as text messaging and the
Dover said the airwaves are “bombarded” with too many commercials, and media costs are “highly expensive,” making it more difficult to reach consumers effectively at a reasonable cost.
Add the rising use of digital video recorders and their commercial-skipping ability to the equation, and it becomes even harder to get people to watch commercials.
Nielsen Media Research estimated that 17.2 percent of U.S. TV households have a DVR. Media agency Magna Global USA predicted that 35 percent of TV households would have a DVR in four years.
Still, TV remains the best way to get a brand message out quickly, Dover said.
Brands also can make an impact on consumers who access content through TV networks’ websites, according to a report by Knowledge Networks, based in Menlo Park, Calif.
Nearly 50 percent of TV network website viewers said they would increase their consideration of brands that sponsor streaming or downloaded videos of TV shows, the report said. Thirty-three percent of consumers who use streaming or downloaded network videos are more likely to buy from companies that advertise on their favorite programs.
That tendency has not been lost on Atlanta-based Arby’s Restaurant Group, which recently signed with NBC Universal to make the 3,600-unit chain the sole sponsor of
Arby’s, whose target with the website is office workers, cited a survey it commissioned from Kenyon Research indicating that nearly 60 percent of workers take lunch breaks at their desks. Arby’s
Daily use of online video by 12- to 64-year-olds increased 56 percent over the previous year, according to an online survey conducted by Los Angeles-based Frank N. Magid Associates. Consumers are watching a wide variety of content, including news, weather reports, movie previews, content classified as “jokes/bloopers” and consumer-generated content—or CGC—on such sites as
Because CGC is so popular, more restaurant chains have decided to incorporate it into their marketing programs. Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr., Moe’s Southwest Grill and Burger King are a few of the chains that have used CGC in some form. In January, McDonald’s launched a talent search on YouTube for video directors.
Friendly Ice Cream Corp., based in Wilbraham, Mass., is in the midst of the first video promotion for its 510-unit Friendly’s family-restaurant brand. Called “iScream Friendly’s,” the effort targets 15- to 25-year-olds, and to get them to participate Friendly’s encourages them to send in videos that represent their passion for Friendly’s by using a special website or their mobile phones.
“They don’t use traditional media,” said marketing manager Hope McManus. “They use cell phones better than any adult.”
It was important to use those media to reach that age group because “this is a new demographic for us,” she said. “This is the beginning to get their interest and interact with us.”
Friendly’s had received 2,200 videos and photos as of late June.
The chain’s core customers are 25 to 54 years old, but the executives of Friendly’s learned through research and media reports that to reach the younger crowd it had to use alternative media, marketing official McManus explained.
“You can’t reach them through television commercials,” she said.
Marketers across the board seem to feel the same way. They now allocate 15 percent of their media budgets for nontraditional media, according to a survey by the American Advertising Federation, and 73 percent of the survey respondents said they set aside up to 20 percent of their budgets for emerging or innovative media.
Church’s Chicken, however, is a firm believer in traditional media. It has a $16 million TV budget and “I never cut that,” says chief marketing officer Farnaz Wallace.
“It’s really the main [sales] driver,” Wallace says. “Given the fact that our customers are lower income, they watch the most amount of TV.”
Church’s Chicken has 1,200 U.S. branches. The average annual per-restaurant sales volume in electronic-media markets is 15 percent to 20 percent higher than in nonmedia markets, where print ads are the primary marketing vehicle, Wallace said.
“Our major objective is to bring as many markets that are not on TV into TV advertising,” she said.
Church’s recently broke a new TV campaign, called “I Know What Good Is,” based on the thoughts and feelings of real customers. The chain conducted 87 interviews with consumers in four markets to learn the motives, needs and obstacles in choosing a quick-service restaurant.
The campaign consists of 14 TV spots focusing on Church’s core customer base of African-Americans, acculturated Latinos, Latinos who speak primarily Spanish and blue-collar white consumers.
Church’s decisions on picking media outlets—whether billboards, radio, print or TV—are based mostly on cost, Wallace said. Simply, if there’s no assurance of a strong return on investment from any given medium, Church’s will not buy it, Wallace said.
The chain does not have a budget for nontraditional media, she said, but “I find money for it. I usually allocate discretionary funds.”
Picking media is a combination of “art and science,” Wallace said. The scientific part is calculating the return on investment in the form of higher sales generated by media ads, she said, and “it’s completely unscientific as it relates to alternative [media] and long-term positioning.”
Church’s website, which will be revamped in the fourth quarter, is not a major consumer marketing tool, Wallace said, but it is a strong asset for signing up new franchisees.
Of course, other chains rely heavily on their websites or microsites to target consumers, and microsites become viral-marketing tools when viewers forward them to others.
The launch of Burger King’s
Since then, Burger King also created a site for the mythical rock group Coq Roq to promote chicken fries, McDonald’s launched
Microsites and viral marketing are so common now they’re almost mainstream, but they’re not in the marketing mix of the 450-unit Big Boy Restaurants International. “We haven’t dabbled a lot on the Internet,” chief executive Tony Michaels said.
The reason for that is limited capital, and when it comes to reaching the Big Boy chain’s core audience of 55 percent female and 45 percent male customers, “electronic media is first,” Michaels said. “Beyond that, of course, we will go to print media.”
Sixty percent of Big Boy’s marketing budget is broadcast, 15 percent is print, and the other 25 percent is local sponsorships.
Because Big Boy relies on TV spots to reach consumers, Michaels said he is somewhat concerned about consumer use of DVRs, even though he questions whether the number of people who skip through ads is accurate.
More than half of DVR users do that, according to an Associated Press analysis of Nielsen Media Research’s first commercial-ratings data, which came out in May.
“It’s something we have to monitor with our [ad] agency and continue monitoring,” Michaels said.
Big Boy also will give another look at using the Internet more.
“We have to make a decision,” he said. “We will look at it soon.”
