The market size of the global restaurant industry was estimated to be $1.2 trillion in 2020. This figure is expected to hit $1.7 trillion by 2027. Considering how quickly things have started to normalize after the first COVID-19 wave, things have finally started looking up for the restaurant industry too.
After the long lockdown in different parts of the world, people have slowly started dining out. As more and more people start getting vaccinated against COVID-19, restaurants across the world would certainly witness an increased frequency of visitors. However, to benefit from this boom, they need to think out of the box and utilize the potential of marketing channels available to them just like these three restaurants did with their Snapchat campaigns.
1. Hardee’s
Hardee's Restaurants LLC is an American fast-food restaurant chain with locations primarily in the Southern and Midwestern United States.
Their Objective
Hardee’s wanted to modernize its brand image to establish an emotional connection with its consumers while building the equity of its beef and chicken burger ranges.
Approach & Solution
Hardee’s sponsored the release of Godzilla vs King Kong movie to reinforce its brand territory of large, wholesome, tasty, and indulgent burgers. To connect with the younger generation, they teamed up with Snapchat as the platform boasts a high number of millennials and GenZ users.
Along with Snapchat, Hardee’s focused on a campaign with dual formats focusing on a lens that enabled users to choose their Godzilla or King Kong burger. This helped the consumers experience the movie character and also benefitted the restaurant brand by helping them maximize the buzz around the movie.
The Result
The Snapchat campaign was a major success for Hardee’s as the lens delivered over 15 million impressions with an average playtime of 15 seconds. In fact, countries like Qatar and UAE witnessed a high playtime of 35 seconds and 24 seconds, respectively.
On the other hand, commercials generated over 2.9 million impressions at an eCPV of $0.005 and a VTR of 90%. The campaign also led to a lift of over over 6 points in Hardee’s brand awareness, which is twice the usual standard for MENA. Also, there was a lift of over 14 points in the purchase intent within the age group of 18-20.
2. Burger King Kuwait
Burger King Kuwait was to introduce the Chicken Wings on their menu for the first time in Kuwait after the lockdown was lifted in July 2020.
Their Objective
Burger King Kuwait sought to drive mass awareness around its latest launch while also motivating people to order the new menu item.
Approach & Solution
With Snapchat’s assistance, Burger King Kuwait developed a playful AR Face Lens experience that allowed users to collect as many chicken wings in the bucket. The “Go Wings” AR Lens ran as National Takeover and included a CTA button that would draw Snapchatters to the online delivery form on Talabat.
They further complemented the campaign with a Biddable Lens and Snap Ad flight to boost engagement and drive incremental reach.
The Result
Burger King’s Snapchat campaign performed quite well and reached more than 820k unique Snapchatters in Kuwait. The National Lens takeover was a massive success as it received over 1.37M impressions. The “Go Wings” AR Lens drove over 18,000 swipe-ups to Talabat for online ordering. Also, it was shared more than 11k times on Snapchat.
3. Taco Bell
Taco Bell turned to Snapchat to drive its overall brand awareness and measure the impact of its media efforts on in-store traffic.
Their Objective
Taco Bell sought to boost the awareness around its back-to-back Double Layered Tacos and Grande Stacker LTO programs.
Approach & Solution
Taco Bell teamed up with Snapchat to use a combination of Snap Ads and Story Ads per LTO. They used a mix of ad products, which allowed them to reach Snapchat users in different parts of the app, thereby, driving optimal budget distribution, scale, cost-efficiency, and memorability through their prominent in-store offers.
Their Snap Ads and Story Ads also followed various creative best practices, including upfront branding and a diverse combination of creative overall, which included Video, Stills, and Cinemagraphs.
The Result
The Snapchat campaign delivered exceptional results for Taco Bell as their Double Layered Tacos LTO campaign drove a 7-point lift in Ad Awareness. Also, their Grande Stacker LTO campaign generated a 10-point lift in Ad Awareness and a 12-point lift in Purchase Intent amongst the Snapchat users.
Together, the two campaigns drove more than 30 thousand incremental visitors to Taco Bell stores in Canada. Moreover, the campaign resulted in an average CPM of less than $1 and an average Story Open Rate of 2.29%, which was much better than Snapchat’s benchmarks for Q1 2020. The campaign also reached more than 2.6 million Snapchatters.
Wrapping Up
Snapchat has emerged as one of the best marketing platforms for brands that aim to reach out to millennials and GenZ users. Through the various features that Snapchat offers, brands can create customized geographical filters, place video ads in live stories, use longer videos, and direct CTAs to engage their target audience, and much more. However, like every other marketing platform, Snapchat also requires a solid strategy for campaigns to succeed. As long as you have your marketing strategy sorted, results from your Snapchat marketing campaigns would be the last thing you need to worry about.