Early Insights Lead to a New Way to Measure ROI

Challenge

Having developed a brand positioning based on how customers talk about Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Darden’s newest restaurant, we needed to establish with the wider organization the effectiveness of our brand and product campaigns. However, our goal was in-restaurant visits and no brand had measured this in real-time. 

Insights

Working with the finance team, Brunner identifies a test and control methodology that will allow marketing dollars to support much of the estate, in a way that ensure results are an accurate representation of success once an effective marketing approach is identified. 

Strategy

Brunner executes a series of campaigns, each with an identified learning plan to establish the effectiveness of video, Facebook, display, and search. Our analytics team uses real-time sales data and 6-way analysis to identify the true ‘incremental’ guest visits based on marketing spend, messaging, and audience targeting. 

Results

• We identify an inverse correlation between ‘incremental sales’ and lower marketing channel ‘cost-pers’ 
• Link a positive marketing ROI to instore sales 
• Spend levels are established to optimize traffic per restaurant location 
• Video is recognized as more effective in Facebook than streaming video services