Peer Review: Entrée Nous

Differentiation is the task of every brand, but it's a major challenge in the world of casual dining, where overhead is enormous, margins razor-thin and competition ubiquitous. With all the mid-priced dinnerhouse chains out on the interstate, it gets pretty hard to tell one brand's garlic mashed potatoes from another's Mexican potato skins. Now, in theory, a TV commercial should help to solve that problem. But in the case of the latest series of ads from Carrabba's Italian Grill, our guest reviewer was left scratching his head. Frank Compton, creative chief at Pittsburgh agency Bruner, points out that if every casual-dining chain in America is filling expensive airtime with mouthwatering food shots, why would a chain with money to spend (Carrabba's is owned by Outback Steakhouse) pay for still more mouthwatering food shots? His review follows.Before I say anything else, Mr. Food Stylist, your work is beautiful. In fact, when it comes to the new series of ads from MMB for casual-dining chain Carrabba's Italian Grill, everything is beautiful.And when you're talking about 15-second spots where there's only room for a clever pitch line and a close-up of a lobster ravioli swimming in cream sauce, that might be all that needs saying. Still, five new spots from Carrabba's warrant a closer look, in part because they're sort of like that game they used to play on Sesame Street -- remember the one about "one of these things is not like the other"? While all of these commercials are nicely produced and nicely directed, four of them give us microscope-quality zoom-ins of sinful new entrées like Chicken Sorrentino and Sicilian Braised Pork, while the fifth takes a completely different approach. This last spot is the only one that actually has an idea.It opens with a scene in which a happy couple, menus in hand, is greeted tableside by an outgoing guy dressed in a white shirt, tie and black pants. The man proceeds to ramble, exuberantly, through descriptions of the house's best dishes. We, like the couple seated at the table, presume that he's the server who'll soon take their order. At least, we do until the real server (wearing an apron) shows up, which causes the poseur pitchman to slink back to his nearby booth (where, by the way, he raises a glass in toast to the couple about to enjoy their first ever taste of that beautifully styled Carrabba's food.) It's fun stuff. Plus, it allows a quick cameo of one of the four aforementioned entrées to pop up, just for good measure. (Related: Carrabba's "Fake Waiter" was recently an Adweek Ad of the Day.)Pity there's only one of these episodes. Of course, it's anyone's guess why the company made four quarter-minute spots solely to make your mouth water, then directed a 30-second mistaken-identity drama to round it all off. But the food spots are, as I said above, beautiful. Sure, there are some clever lines in here: "Makes great leftovers -- if there ever was any leftover." And: "It may forever end that quaint custom known as sharing." But food is the star. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'll have to defer to custom, here. Luscious, steaming, succulent food shots obviously sell, or else everyone else in the category wouldn't be doing it.Then again, maybe that's the problem, too. Here's a little something for the Carrabba's folks to think about. With so many casual-dining chains opting to make commercials starring mouthwatering food shots close enough to steam up the camera lens, where's the differentiation? And, if you're all going to essentially make the same commercial, why don't all the brands simply swap campaigns with one another every other year or so? You take mine; I'll take yours. We'll just change the logos and tag lines. No portly people out there in the world of casual dining will ever notice the difference!Just think of the upside of sharing like this. No know-it-all agency people trying to get you to do something different. You can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in production costs. And you keep the managers, servers and customers happy with beautiful food styling which, by the way, you also won't have to pay for every year as well.Anyway, it's just an idea. A new campaign to roll out every year at the annual meeting without the costs. (By the way, the consultants who are paid a helluva lot more than we agencies would describe this as a "robust win/win proposition executed in a dynamic way that breaks all paradigms.")Anyway, I really am serious when I say that the food's just beautiful. Looks tasty, too. I mean, it's so good that customers even leave their tables to sell it to other customers. But before we part company, could someone just remind me one more time: Which restaurant chain is this campaign for, again?

Brand Marketing

Peer Review: Entrée Nous

Frank Compton

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Frank Compton