So…it has been a while for posting. Despite being laid off in January with (seemingly) extra time on my hands, I have been extremely busy. That’s no excuse, I know. But my post-hockey season resolution to myself is to get back in the swing of things with some great marketing posts.
I’ll start with an event that happened earlier this week…the Pittsburgh Penguins‘ victory parade after winning the Stanley Cup finals. This win, coupled with the Superbowl four months ago and the G-20 Summit happening later this year, is enough for a series of posts surrounding the exposure and marketing potential the City of Pittsburgh is receiving in themselves. However, the reason for this post isn’t the Penguins win…it’s how city businesses attracted customers during the influx of 300,ooo-plus people within the city limits.
Houlihan’s, a Kansas City-based* food chain that opened stores in Pittsburgh, has a restaurant in Station Square. As a customer of theirs, I succumbed to their POS signage requesting I sign up for their text club (which they creatively call a “Foody Call,” a play on words of “Booty Call“). As a new member of their Foody Call club, I had no expectations to their use of texting as a marketing tool, but as a lover of both food and marketing, I felt inclined to give it a shot.
When the Stanley Cup was paraded through the streets of Pittsburgh, with hundreds of thousands of people descending on the city to relish in it’s glow, I receive a text message, or a Foody Call, which states:
We are the CHAMPIONS! Celebr8 the Pens win at Houlihan’s. Show txt to server for FREE APPETIZER all day. Valid 6/15 only.
Wow. What a great way to drive business…piggy back on other events and activities going on. Because Houlihan’s is a national “chain” I hadn’t expected something like this from them. But…assuming that their Foody Call list in Pittsburgh is a decent size, I can imagine their ROI for this promotion was significant. Who goes into a restaurant an only orders an appetizer?
Lesson learned: Be aware of what’s going on around you and strive to take advantage of other’s efforts…ethically of course.
Well done, Houlihans!
*Yes…I realize the irony of “Kansas City” and “Pittsburgh Penguins” being in the same post brings back painful memories of the Pens’ potential relocation to the midwest. But those days are gone (for at least 30 years).
Filed under: Marketing Tagged: | Foody Call, Houlihan's, Pittsburgh Penguins, Stanley Cup, text, texting
