Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Sonic Drive-In Advertising in Los Angeles and Ventura County – Why?

I have seen many television advertisements for Sonic Drive-In over the last couple years and I have never seen any of these restaurants. After a quick look on Sonic’s website, I see a grand total of 8 Sonic Drive-In’s from Bakersfield to San Diego. None of the 8 Sonic Drive-In’s are located in Los Angeles or Ventura County. Why is Sonic Corporation spending big money for television advertising in a market that has zero stores for potential customers to visit?

The most logical explanation I can provide is this television advertising campaign is part of Sonic Corporation’s market penetration strategy, attempting to generate demand and possibly attract some franchisees. Sonic Corporation does have more than 3500 Drive-In’s in 37 of 50 States. A search on whitepages.com for California locations, revealed 52. It does appear that at least 1 Sonic Drive-In will eventually show up in Los Angeles and Ventura County. Assuming my theory is correct, seems like a very expensive market penetration strategy.

How many Sonic Drive-In locations would be needed in Los Angeles and Ventura County to make their advertising campaign more effective is these areas?

Technically I am not qualified to answer the question, but I can provide a logical number.
Take a look at the number of California stores for some of the most common fast food restaurants that advertise on television in Los Angeles and Ventura County.

Jack In The Box = 949
Carl’s Jr. = 929
Taco Bell = 881
McDonald’s = 757
Burger King = 751
Del Taco = 722
Kentucky Fried Chicken = 652
Domino’s Pizza = 581
Pizza Hut = 537
El Pollo Loco = 349
Wienerschnitzel = 256
Papa Johns Pizza = 221
In-N-Out Burger = 167
Popeye’s Chicken = 162
Arby’s = 148
Sonic Drive-In = 52

Determine how many stores for the bottom 5 are located in Los Angeles and Ventura County

Wienerschnitzel = 50
Papa Johns Pizza = 86
In-N-Out Burger = 55
Popeye’s Chicken = 59
Arby’s = 41
Sonic Drive-In = 0

If Sonic had another 50 stores in Southern California and 20-30 of those in Los Angeles and Ventura County, I could see their current advertising campaign in these areas as being more effective.

I highly doubt Sonic Corporations television advertising campaign is national since they are only located in 37 of 50 states. Therefore, Sonic Corporation should be able to save some valuable marketing dollars by concentrating their television advertising into specific areas where their stores are actually located. I think Sonic franchisees who pay advertising fees would also agree.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Texas Best BBQ Sauce, Re-building the Brand

I am sure just about every person who likes to cook has a secret recipe or two and they have dreamed about marketing the recipe and making millions. I personally like to cook and I fall into this category.

I came across an article in CNN Money Small Business that was written November 17, 2008. This is a great article about the marketing mix and insights into what is required to properly plan and launch a product. CNN Money - Texas Best BBQ

Texas Best BBQ Sauce has a past that began in 1975 and through a few sales has recently ended up in the original owner’s hands, a full 360. The brand had a following through the years, but was eventually removed from national supermarket shelves in 2006 by the previous owners.

The new owners (actually the original owners) have a marketing plan to relaunch the brand. The initial “place” plan was to launch Texas Best nationally in supermarkets and specialty stores. The owners were planning on spending several hundred thousand dollars on the relaunch campaign.

The article does not mention how Fortune Small Business became involved, but they recruited three experts to help the owners of Texas Best BBQ Sauce with their relaunch campaign. In my opinion, getting experts involved in your marketing plan is a must for a new business. I am sure the consulting fees will be well worth it in the long run.

One consultant urges the owners to ditch their national launch plans. Instead, recommends focusing on reintroducing the sauce to regional supermarket chains and specialty stores in former stronghold markets such as the South and Northeast. This consultant also offers many other suggestions to help with the “place” and “promotion” of their marketing plan.

The second consultant is assigned to help the owners with their website, maximizing the impact and “promotion” of their product. Again, this consultant points out many mistakes with the website that cost $5,000 to create, then proceeds to offer many improvement suggestions to help with the “promotion”. Other suggestions to help create a buzz would be using Facebook, YouTube, and Blogs.

The third consultant is the bean counter and offers up an assessment of “price” and how little profit will be made in the end. This consultant also brings up the need for realistic business plans and goals which could help to land possible future expansion investors.

The owners of Texas Best BBQ have already revised their marketing and business plans to coincide with many of the consultant recommendations. CNN Money Small Business plans on visiting Texas Best BBQ again in the near future to see how they are doing, could be an interesting follow up story.