Many of us would agree that of all the holidays, Thanksgiving is the least commercial, making it one of the most palatable annual occasions. I’m impressed with some of the unique Thanksgiving promotions several restaurant chains have come up with this year—pretty creative shticks for sure.
For Taco Bell, it’s not about the food. For what do Thanksgiving and tacos have in common? No, it’s about what to wear on Thanksgiving. They partnered with apparel company Tipsy Elves—the famous ugly sweater company launched via “Shark Tank”—to develop two Taco Bell/Thanksgiving-themed sweaters and leggings. So, if folks aren’t likely to eat tacos on Thanksgiving, they can at least wear a Taco Bell billboard. That, my friends, is thinking!
The next brainy promo belongs to White Castle. The chain unabashedly suggests tearing, chopping and folding a wad of White Castle sliders into the turkey stuffing. Back in 1991, an employee developed such a recipe, and it took off. Now White Castle freely promotes that turkey dressing recipe in hopes that people will flock to the restaurant (or the freezer case of the store where they can buy White Castle sliders) and stock up for that iconic holiday dish. Brilliant!
Just Salad came up with something ponderous. For November, they developed a Healthy Harvest Salad that they dub as “a nutritious take on Thanksgiving dinner” featuring a bowl of romaine and kale topped with roasted turkey, dried cranberries, quinoa, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted pumpkin seeds and goat cheese with balsamic vinaigrette. The ponderous part is that they’ve given this a cause-marketing spin. They looked at the calendar for November causes and went with Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. Thus, the chain is donating 10 percent of all proceeds from the sale of the Healthy Harvest Salad to Pancreatic Cancer Action Network “so you can eat well + do good all in one bite.” This, of course, will appeal to Millennials who like their dining dollars to do double duty.
Bob Evans geared up for Thanksgiving by conducting a consumer survey to put statistics to how much time, money and effort goes into Thanksgiving meal preparation. This has allowed them to present themselves as the cheaper/easier alternative. Their survey results indicate Americans spend on average $20-$30 per person. Ah, but customers can buy all the dishes from Bob Evans and take it home “starting at less than $10 per person.” Not only that, but the chain’s survey asked consumers to say how much they hate cleaning up (65% say it's their least favorite part about hosting Thanksgiving), to which Bob Evans says, “come eat here, and you don’t have to clean up at all!” I think the cleverness of all this was conducting research. It makes for a fact-based vs. hype-based press release, which is more likely to be picked up by publications.
Those are the creative Thanksgiving promotions I saw. Tell me what you saw.
Jody
