LEBANON TENN. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is airing TV spots for the first time in nine years, a sign of these times in which such rivals as Denny’s, Bob Evans, Huddle House and even Chipotle Mexican Grill have also adjusted their marketing tactics to boost sales. —
The 565-unit family-dining chain is testing its first TV campaign since 1998 to increase traffic and sales from local residents and supplement the sales from travelers, who learn about the largely roadside-based Cracker Barrels through their nearly 1,500 highway billboards. —
Same-store restaurant sales for the fiscal year ended Aug. 3 increased 0.7 percent, while customer traffic declined by the same amount. The Cracker Barrel eateries’ adjacent gift shops posted a 3.2-percent rise in same-store sales for the year. —
Marketing costs were 2 percent of the chain’s overall $2.35 billion in sales for fiscal 2007. Spending remains at that level for fiscal 2008. —
The new TV spots are part of a campaign titled “The Front Porch” and are airing in six markets: Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C.; Lexington, Ky.; Louisville, Ky.; Jacksonville/Brunswick, Fla.; Nashville, Tenn., and Indianapolis. —
The spots, created by the agency Fry Hammond Barr of Orlando, Fla., focus on multigenerational families enjoying themselves at Cracker Barrel and seek to position the chain as a place where diners can reconnect with neighbors and families. —
A remake of “If the World Had a Front Porch,” a hit for country singer Tracy Lawrence in 1995, is heard in each spot. —
Billboards remain Cracker Barrel’s primary marketing medium to generate sales and brand awareness among travelers, but “billboards won’t do the trick” to bring local residents into the restaurants, said chief marketing officer Simon Turner. —
They make purchase decisions at home or work, not while traveling on an interstate highway, and TV spots are more effective at influencing how they pick a restaurant, he said. —
It’s not that local residents are unaware of Cracker Barrel, Turner said. Their brand awareness is high when they’re taking their own road trips, but when they’re at home they don’t consider eating at the restaurant even if “they might just be living two or three miles from a Cracker Barrel,” he said. The spots are designed to raise top-of-mind awareness of Cracker Barrel for everyday dining, Turner said. He declined to release specific sales goals for the campaign. —
Other chains in the family-dining segment have retooled their marketing during the past year to increase traffic and sales. —
The 580-unit Bob Evans chain has infused its marketing with more quality messages and even held an eBay charity auction to promote new Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes. —
Denny’s, with 1,539 units, targeted college students in the spring with a multimedia test promotion to increase late-night business. —
The 430-unit Huddle House recently redesigned its menu and store interiors and held one of its largest promotions in years to lure diners away from quick-service restaurants. —
And it’s not unusual for a chain that’s shunned TV spots in favor of other media to try a TV campaign, as Chipotle Mexican Grill did in 2005, when it first aired three spots on the Public Broadcasting Service. —
Cracker Barrel’s decision to target non-travelers can be viewed as “either a logical move or a desperate move,” said Len Kornblau, a New Jersey-based marketing consultant and educator. —
People aren’t traveling as much as they did when gas was cheaper, he said, which reduces Cracker Barrel’s core customer base. In addition, there’s “a tremendous amount of competition” among all types of restaurants along interstate highways. —
Using TV ads to boost sales among non-travelers can be a desperate move for a chain that has always relied on billboards to market itself, Kornblau said. —
But there’s also a logical side to using TV spots, considering the local consumer base that Cracker Barrel hasn’t tapped into effectively, he said. —
“Usually at these exits off highways there’s a population not too far away that they’ve been ignoring,” Kornblau said. “Now [they] just have to bring them in.” —
The TV spots and radio ads airing in four markets carry the tag, “It’s not home, but it’s close.” The tag has a double message about Cracker Barrel, Turner said. —
“It’s close to home in terms of home cooking and feeling, but it’s also geographically close to home as well,” he said. —
The radio ads use the soundtrack from the TV spots and incorporate specific product messages to increase their impact, Turner said. The TV spots focus on a variety of menu items at the restaurant and on the retail gift shop adjuncts. —
The TV markets were chosen because the chain has sufficient store penetration in them for efficient media buys, Turner said, and they are representative of the entire Cracker Barrel system. The test campaign is set to run through next July. —