Companies target influential bloggers to promote product rollouts

Forget reviewers, food writers or even talk-show hosts. The buzz-makers increasingly targeted by restaurant publicists these days are the citizen-journalists who specialize in word of mouth.


Once dismissed as whiny geeks pecking away in their underwear, bloggers are emerging as an important means for chains, in particular, to foster talk about new menu items. Most recently, bloggers were a primary focus in the rollout promotions of McDonald’s McRib, Wendy’s Pick 2 and Cinn