Chick-fil-A next month will begin an e-mail effort to promote a new, limited-edition peach milkshake.
The push, via BrightWave Marketing, is expected to reach the inboxes of 750,000 consumers. The goal is to “move the product out the door,” said Michael McCathren, Chick-fil-A’s senior consultant for advertising, campaigns and interactive digital marketing. “The strategy is to promote the milkshake category." He added that consumer demand for milkshakes is especially strong around holidays and summer time.
The peach milkshake will be offered in two sizes: 14-oz. ($2.49) and 20-oz. ($2.89). It will be available at Chick-fil-A locations nationwide from June through August.
The effort also is part of the chain’s ongoing strategy to better organize and effectively leverage its e-mail database. It follows last holiday season’s peppermint chocolate chip promotion, the first time Chick-fil-A advertised its milkshakes via e-mail. That promo fared very well, said McCathren. “When we launched that e-mail, within three days, site visits to Chick-fil-a.com were up 125 percent,” he said.
With the holiday milkshake, Chick-fil-A exceeded its sales goal by 70 percent. “We learn more every time we [leverage it],” McCathren said of the marketing medium.
Chick-fil-A, with more than 1,400 locations in 37 states and the District of Columbia, spent $27 million on U.S. measured media last year, excluding online, per Nielsen.
