The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl. But in a way so did Denny’s.
Never mind Bud, Doritos, Coke or Pepsi the company with the best ad campaign was Denny’s.
If the goal of advertising is to either move product or put fannies in the seats, than the Denny’s campaign did exactly that.
And it was short and simple. Have a free breakfast on us!
Sure Denny’s isn’t a must visit on the breakfast list these days. Still about one million people thought it was a good idea, especially given the current status of the economy.
Some showed-up early and waited an hour or so to get seated. Then they enjoyed their appropriately named “Grand Slam” breakfast.
The company with the best public relations campaign related to the Super Bowl was also Denny’s.
Denny’s garnered millions of dollars in free publicity from the promotion. National and local newspapers wrote about it and many TV stations covered it.
In retrospect, the giveaways probably didn’t cost Denny’s all that much. Drinks, like coffee and sodas, apparently were not included. So customers paid extra for those, a high profit item.
Sure Denny’s had to pay their help. Perhaps they brought in extra people to lend a hand. Still I’m sure most of those folks received tips for their efforts and were happy to have all the seats filled practically all day long. The overall goodwill and resulting P.R. were more than well worth it.
Hopefully Denny’s made enough friends to generate a number of second visits to their restaurants. Even if just 10 to 20 per cent of the patrons come back, that’s a healthy increase for a chain we haven’t heard much about in a long time.
In the P.R./marketing world it goes to show you what one really good idea can do to revitalize or juice-up a brand.
I don’t know how many chips Doritos sold or what the beverage companies garnered from their expensive Super Bowl efforts. And granted those companies are conglomerates a lot larger than Denny’s.
Still, in the true bottom line world of advertising and P.R. the brand that scored the most points was Denny’s. It was more than a touchdown or a home run. It was a Grand Slam.
