Schlotzsky’s is throwing out the first pitch for its initial major QSR deal this week with a spring baseball-themed program that supports the casual chain’s launch of three Big League Clubz sandwiches.
The creative challenge was to spread the word about the new Beef ‘n Bacon Club, Chick ‘n Turkey Club and Ham ‘n Turkey Club sandwiches among dads and their ball-playing kids by the bonding the sport brings—from Little League to the big leagues. (The promo has no affiliations with Major League Baseball or any other organization, however.) Austin, Texas-based Schlotzsky’s is owned by Focus brands (Carvel, Cinnabon, Moe’s Southwest Grill) and has about 350 restaurants in 35 states.
This is the largest promotion Schlotzsky’s has ever done, and the first time the chain has gone beyond the traditional TV, radio, FSI, POP route to communicate.
“We brought in all these [components] to help [Schlotzsky’s] understand the power of social media to drive sales and to show them how measurable it is,” said Van Vandegrift, executive producer at branded entertainment company Matrixx Pictures in Santa Monica, Calif., the agency that devised the promotion. “In Web 1.0, we used to care about the time visitors spent on the site and where they went; now, the sentiment is about the brand, how many times it’s mentioned in blogs and in what context, photos posted to Twitter, drive-by buzz. This is great because this is a brand new sandwich--there’s no buzz yet.”
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