The Big Fat Marketing Blog

Here’s the story on Reader’s Digest. The once mighty RDA has taken on too much debt and is having a hard time in this tough economy. Let’s hope for the best.

Here’s the story on Reader’s Digest. The once mighty RDA has taken on too much debt and is having a hard time in this tough economy. Let’s hope for the best.

In this economy, you can’t go wrong giving away free food. The Denny’s restaurant chain hit an apparent home run with its Super Bowl ad touting a free Grand Slam breakfast on the Tuesday after the big game. Two million customers showed up on Feb. 3 for a meal on the house–which CEO Nelson Marchioli characterized to analysts the next day as “a very encouraging lift in guest traffic,” hopefully including many of the “light and lapsed” customers Denny’s was targeting.

But you don’t need to spend the estimated $5 million Denny’s dropped on creative and media buys during the Super Bowl to run a successful giveaway. Sandwich chain Quiznos achieved almost the same strong results with an online promotion offering a downloadable coupon for a free sub. more

In this economy, you can’t go wrong giving away free food. The Denny’s restaurant chain hit an apparent home run with its Super Bowl ad touting a free Grand Slam breakfast on the Tuesday after the big game. Two million customers showed up on Feb. 3 for a meal on the house–which CEO Nelson Marchioli characterized to analysts the next day as “a very encouraging lift in guest traffic,” hopefully including many of the “light and lapsed” customers Denny’s was targeting.

But you don’t need to spend the estimated $5 million Denny’s dropped on creative and media buys during the Super Bowl to run a successful giveaway. Sandwich chain Quiznos achieved almost the same strong results with an online promotion offering a downloadable coupon for a free sub. more

Jory Des Jardins knows a thing or two about social media. In 2005 she co-founded the BlogHer conference with two partners, Elisa Camahort and Lisa Stone, to build a community among women bloggers. In 2006, the trio added a BlogHer ad network that hooks brands up as advertisers and sponsors to more than 2,500 targeted, qualified blogs, chosen from among the more than 18,000 blogs in the total BlogHer network and reaching 14 million unique visitors a month.

So we thought it would be well worth talking with Des Jardins about the interest brand marketers have been showing in using social media to reach customers in new ways. What campaigns and channels does she think offer the chance of building strong new relationship with consumers, and which fall into the category of brand marketers chasing the latest Shiny New Thing? more

Jory Des Jardins knows a thing or two about social media. In 2005 she co-founded the BlogHer conference with two partners, Elisa Camahort and Lisa Stone, to build a community among women bloggers. In 2006, the trio added a BlogHer ad network that hooks brands up as advertisers and sponsors to more than 2,500 targeted, qualified blogs, chosen from among the more than 18,000 blogs in the total BlogHer network and reaching 14 million unique visitors a month.

So we thought it would be well worth talking with Des Jardins about the interest brand marketers have been showing in using social media to reach customers in new ways. What campaigns and channels does she think offer the chance of building strong new relationship with consumers, and which fall into the category of brand marketers chasing the latest Shiny New Thing? more