Leveraging a New Product Launch to Drive Results

Challenge

To reverse the trend of slumping sales, Bob Evans made the strategic decision to invest $1MM of product innovation known as Broasted^® Chicken. The challenge was to prove it was worthy of a larger real estate footprint in core stores.

Insights

Through our consumer research, we identified the unique selling proposition “crispy outside, juicy inside” and “fresh, never frozen.” We needed to target families ranging from ages 24 to 45 with an average household income of $65,000, loving this new way of enjoying chicken.

Strategy

Brunner focused on optimizing the launch of Broasted^® Chicken to 227 restaurants within 13 core designated market areas that make up a whopping 46% of overall sales. We devised spots that took Bob Evans’ head chef into a store kitchen to show how the magic is created. High-impact digital takeovers on foodnetwork.com built credibility with the upper age range of our target audience. At the same time, compelling digital videos on sites such as YouTube and Hulu told the story in a way that created greater engagement with our younger target audience.

Results

Our media buying gave Bob Evans No. 1 share of voice in launch markets despite the competition having much larger budgets.

• 4% uplift in overall sales with Broasted® Chicken making up 12% of overall sales and becoming the highest-selling menu item
• 2.95% coupon redemption rate, approximately double that of a typical distribution and yielded an ROI of 1,474%
• Based on the success of the campaign, 347 restaurants within 24 DMAs now carry Broasted® Chicken