Chains shift ad dollars toward national marketingChains shift ad dollars toward national marketing

Conventional wisdom holds that trying to be everything to everybody is a losing proposition for foodservice brands. But in restaurant marketing these days, an increasing number of chains are finding value in being everywhere.

Over the past several years a number of chains have shifted their marketing policies away from the dividing of funds between nationwide and local-store advertising to focusing on an all-national program.

This strategy often has been tied to a menu introduction a chain believes to be a breakthrough product. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino’s Pizza implemented it with its reformulated core pizza 3 1/2 years ago and more recently with its Handmade Pan Pizza.

KFC and Taco Bell also made similar moves within the past few years...