Qdoba’s BOGO for a Kiss Valentine’s Day Promotion Media & Influencer Campaign

Challenge

Qdoba Mexican Grill launched its first BOGO for a Kiss Valentine’s Day promotion in 2011 with an emphasis on local market media attention. In 2012, Qdoba once again leveraged GFM’s Strategic Communications team to expand the national footprint of the popular BOGO promotion and ensure coverage in both local markets and national outlets to drive in-restaurant sales on February 14. Qdoba was especially pleased to obtain additional franchisee support for the 2012 promotion based on the PR results GFM was able to secure, proving the appeal of BOGO among Qdoba customers, in 2011.

Solution

GFM worked closely with Qdoba’s corporate PR team and regional marketing specialists to develop a proactive campaign strategy that would support the unique business and consumer demands for Qdoba in more than 15 local markets, including Denver metro, Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis and Minneapolis, while advising Qdoba on necessary promotion elements that would ensure national media took note of the 2012 return of BOGO for a Kiss. Because the BOGO promotion was only valid for one day – February 14 – a combination of pre and day-of media and influencer outreach was identified as a critical component for achieving Qdoba’s objective of raising consumer awareness and driving in-store redemption at more than 500 participating stores on Valentine’s Day.

GFM, in tandem with the Qdoba PR team, had only a few weeks to get the word out to media and influencers, so the team recommended a multi-pronged, proactive media outreach strategy to target top editors and producers at national short-lead print, online and broadcast outlets in addition to national online “deal” sites and blogs. GFM also combined this effort with targeted hyper-local outreach to local media outlets, local bloggers, Yelp communities, Examiner.com and Patch.com writers and media food drops.

Result

Through a combination of proactive efforts, Qdoba and GFM successfully secured more than 180 media hits in a variety of national, trade and local media outlets for an estimated ad value of more than $250,000 and a total media impressions value of approximately 181 million readers/viewers. National placements included MSNBC.com/TODAY.com, USA Today, The Food Channel online, GrubStreet.com, and Nation’s Restaurant News. Qdoba’s BOGO for a Kiss promotion received coverage in every corporate market with extensive coverage occurring in Denver, Boston, St. Louis and Philadelphia. Overall, Qdoba received at least one hit in each of approximately 55 markets, including on-air broadcast mentions or full segments on 50 unique stations, based on the fun nature of the promotion, which added a naturally sharable and viral component to the news. Additionally, many of these segments ran multiple times over the course of the promotion or were also featured on the station’s website.

Ultimately, based on the strong positive reaction from national and local media, as well as the guest response, Qdoba Mexican Grill plans to explore making this an annual promotion.