Jane Garrity Carson Grover Kallie Smith Carolina Peralte Tayler

Jane Garrity
Carson Grover
Kallie Smith
Carolina Peralte
Tayler Christensen
Addison Montgomery
Executive Summary
Sonic is a strong company with excellent brand loyalty. Unfortunately, the recent economic recession has hurt
Sonic’s performance. However, with the economy rebounding there is great opportunity for Sonic to expand its presence
in the northern markets. This media campaign is focused on 32 of these key northern cities, in an effort to expand brand
awareness in new markets as well as increase sales and market share. We believe that by focusing our efforts on these newer
and expanding markets for Sonic, we will increase the effectiveness of our advertising dollars, rather than spreading our
entire media budget across a large scale national campaign. Our media objective will be to maintain a reach of greater
than 60 and frequency of 3.1 or higher in all of our spot markets. As part of our strategy, we will increase our reach and
frequency during peak months to optimize advertising effectiveness. Another part of our strategy is to target these markets
using the most effective media possible, based on information we obtain from MRI and other sources. The implementation
of these objectives and strategies will be instrumental in bringing about greater awareness of the Sonic brand in the newer
and expanding markets, which will result in increased sales and market share.
1
Situation Analysis
The History
Sonic Drive In was founded by Troy Smith in 1953 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. When it first started it was called the
“Top Hat Drive-In.” Back then, Sonic revolutionized the ordering process by using curbside speakers that allowed customers
to make food orders without even having to leave their cars. Their slogan at the time was “Service at the Speed of Sound”
which translated to one word: SONIC. The name was changed to Sonic in
1959.
The Market
Sonic is part of the “quick serve” food industry. That specification
includes all restaurants where the customer is not waited upon at a table in a
dining room. Sonic is widely known for their hamburgers and hotdogs and
the roller-skating car hops. Because of its status as quick serve however, Sonic
has many competitors. Quick Serve Restaurants all over the country are competition to Sonic, primarily pizza restaurants.
There are many restaurants that pose a threat to Sonic in its market. The top 16 competitors as far as number of storeseach
restaurant has in the market include: McDonald’s with 14,000 stores, Burger King with 7,750, Wendy’s/Arby’s with 6,576,
Dairy Queen with 5,050, Sonic at 3,572, Jack in the Box with 2,100, Hardees with 1,687, Carl’s Jr. with 1,104, Checkers with
800, Five Guys with 735, Whataburger with 575 and Culver’s with 438.
If these numbers show anything, it shows that Sonic has a lot of catching up to do with fast-food
giants like McDonald’s and Burger King. The market of Quick Service Restaurants is only growing and
Sonic is only number five out of the top sixteen restaurants. This may seem like an OK position, but to
achieve the momentous success that Sonic is aiming toward, the drive-in needs to climb to the top three.
2
Past & Current Advertising
Sonic’s advertising campaigns are designed to differentiate them from other fast-food burger restaurants. Their
marketing emphasizes their unique drive-ins, distinctive menu choices, and personalized service provided by skating
carhops.
On May 1st, 1991, Sonic spent $36 million by introducing its first character, Katie the Carhop, to achieve greater
continuity and sound throughout its commercials. Before the campaign was introduce by the Barkley & Evergreen agency,
Sonic had used famous spokespersons and different carhops to sell their deals. Although a good idea, the company
continued to suffer profit loss.
In 1997, the Barkley agency sought to position Sonic as the fastest food quality and service because competitors were
focusing on price-related advertising. They began the “made-to-order meal in 5 minutes or less” promotion in which the
customer’s meal would be delivered in 5 minutes or they would receive a coupon for a free burger.
Despite Katie the Carhop’s failure, Sonic decided to introduce characters as part of their advertising once more in
2002. The ads featured comedians T.J. Jagodowski and Peter Grosz eating in a car outside a Sonic. The duo would talk about
the latest special the restaurant was offering in what Ad Age called, “a hilarious delivery.”
In 2009, Sonic moved away from the humorous commercials they were known for and launched its “Limeades
for learning” campaign. The company researched which programs were most important to its customers and found that
education was consistently high on the list. Sonic partnered with Donors Choose and awarded $100,000 in grants to teachers
every Friday for five weeks and listed the winners on its website. The advertisements featured students giving thanks to the
public for ordering a menu item and helping them “understand biology, Shakespeare, etc.” Sonic accumulated 3,500 teacher
submissions during the campaign.
A year later, the company completely stopped its commercials with Jagodowski and Grosz. In 2011, Sonic hired
Goodby Silverstein & Partners. The creative agency came up with one of Sonic’s most successful campaigns: a social media
frenzy to rehire T.J Jagodowski and Peter Grosz. The pair were asked to come up with a campaign to “get their jobs back”
after being “fired” as Sonic’s spokespersons.
3
Situation Analysis contd.
They took to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn to promote
themselves with the hashtag #those2guys. The strategy resonated with
Americans as unemployment rates had risen 8%. The 2 guys were
eventually “hired” back and Sonic’s profits rose.
Their slogans have changed from “happy eating,” and “America’s drivein” to “This is how you Sonic,” and its current tag line: “It’s not just good.
It’s Sonic good.”
4
Competition
Sonic has three main competitors: McDonald’s, Whataburger, and Burger King.
SWOT
Strengths:
Customer loyalty is among the strongest in the food industry.
Sonic has a very strong presence in the Southern United States and is
growing and expanding into North Western Territories. Sonic provides
a unique drive-in experience not widely available in the quick serve
food industry. It also provides its customers with more of a relaxed
atmosphere. Customers are not forced to rush when deciding to order
as they do in other fast food drive-thrus because they can simply push
a button when they are ready. This helps to increase customer loyalty.
Sonic offers a variety of drinks and slushies unmatched by most of its
competitors along with free refills. They also have quality made-to-order menu items, something fairly uncommon in the
quick-serve industry.
Weaknesses:
Inclement weather decreases profits during the winter months. Cold weather makes people less likely to sit and eat in
their car. They provide no dine-in options like many of their competitors. Some people may avoid Sonic because they do not
want to eat in their cars.
5
Situation Analysis contd.
Opportunities:
Sonic could work to improve on its existing drive-in experience. They could focus on the convenience of their dining
option. They could increase their customer base by making people more aware of their free refill policy. They could also
capitalize on their unique drink availabilities, which are unmatched by most other competitors.
Threat:
There is an extremely high level of competition in the quick serve food industry. Pizza places offer an alternative
to sonic by providing a quick, convenient food option. Extreme weather is uncontrollable and can have effects on Sonic’s
profits. Sonic was adversely affected in 2008, when the economy took a dive. Another economic downturn could have
similar effects.
6
Marketing Goals
Sonic’s objective is to maintain their position as or to become a leading restaurant operator in all of their markets.
Our objective is to build the Sonic brand and to maintain high levels of of customer satisfaction and repeat business. The key
elements of this strategy are: (1) A unique drive-in concept focusing on a distinctive menu of quality made-to-order food
products including several signature items; (2) A commitment to customer service featuring the quick delivery of food by
carhops; (3) The expansion of Sonic Drive-Ins within the continental United States; (4) A commitment to strong franchisee
relationships
Sonic’s marketing strategy is to differentiate itself from competitors by emphasizing high quality made-to-order
menu items and personalized service featuring skating carhops. The marketing plan includes promotions for use throughout
the Sonic chain.
Sonic will be opening 30 new franchise locations next year. Our objective will be to increase market share through
increased share of voice in each of these markets. To do this we will roll out a spot campaign marketing blitz. Our goal is to
utilize our 28 million dollars to maximize reach and frequency while maintaining high quality ads (i.e. 60 second spots over
30 and color ads over black and white).
7
Target Audience
Our primary target audience are college educated adults between the ages of 18 and 54. They typically work in an
office as a sales person. Their average household income is $60,000-74,999 a year. They live in smaller areas and are engaged
with no children. They haven’t lived where they currently live for very long and their homes are worth between $50,000 and
$99,999. They are typically white. They are pretty moderative prime-time TV viewers, and very heavy magazine readers.
They listen to radio a pretty moderate amount and spend a lot of time on the internet. The type of advertising that has the
biggest impact on them is outdoor advertising.
Total ‘000
Proj ‘000
Pct Across
Pct Down
Index
Women
119851
13433
11.2
54.4
106
Educ:
attended college
44597
5375
12.1
21.8
114
Age 35-44
40059
4963
12.4
20.1
117
Adults 18-34 71612
8487
11.9
34.4
112
Adults 18-49 133798
15887
11.9
64.4
112
Adults 25-54 126083
14936
11.8
60.5
112
Women 25-54 63706
8219
12.9
33.3
121
Occupation:
Sales and Office
32228
4344
13.5
17.6
127
HHI:
$60,000-$74,999
25027
3173
12.7
12.9
119
Census Region: South 86542
15985
18.5
64.8
174
County Size: C 33851
5281
15.6
21.4
147
Marital Status: Engaged 11601
1453
12.5
5.9
118
Child age: <12 months 10288
1375
13.4
5.6
126
Years At Present Address:
<1 year 37572
4614
12.3
18.7
116
Home value:
$50,000-$99,999
21511
3167
14.7
12.8
139
8
(000)Vert%Horz%Index
Totals
27232
100.0
11.9
100
TV (Total) I (Heavy)
II
III
IV
V (Light)
4839
5756
5480
5911
5245
17.8
21.1
20.1
21.7
19.3
10.6
12.6
12.0
13.0
11.5
89
105
101
109
96
TV Prime I (Heavy)
II
III
IV
V (Light)
5361
5379
5837
5488
5167
19.7
19.8
21.4
20.2
19.0
11.7
11.8
12.8
12.1
11.3
98
99
107
101
95
TV Daytime I (Heavy) 2576
II
2654
III (Light)
2632
9.5
9.8
9.7
10.8
11.2
11.1
91
94
93
21.6
21.6
20.7
20.5
15.6
12.9
12.9
12.4
12.2
9.3
108
108
104
102
78
Magazines I (Heavy)
II
III
IV
V (Light)
5884
5876
5640
5585
4247
9
Target Audience contd.
(000)Vert%Horz%Index
10
Newspapers I (Heavy)
II
III
IV
V (Light)
4704
5100
5650
6067
5712
17.3 18.7
20.8
22.3
21.0 10.3
11.2
12.4
13.3
12.5
86
94
104
111
105
Radio I (Heavy)
II
III
IV
V (Light)
5697
5671
6135
5314
4415
20.9
20.8
22.5
19.5
16.2
12.5
12.4
13.5
11.7
9.7
105
104
113
98
81
Internet I (Heavy)
II
III
IV
V (Light)
6062
6630
6250
4631
3658
22.3
24.4
23.0
17.0
13.4
13.3
14.5
13.7
10.1
8.0
111
121
115
85
67
Outdoor I (Heavy)
II
III
IV
V (Light)
6637
6103
5936
4968
3587
24.4
22.4
21.8
18.2
13.2
14.5
13.4
13.0
10.9 7.8
122
112
109
91
66
Media Objectives
Reach
Our objective is to maintain a reach of around 60 or more throughout the duration of the campaign. During our
peak months (June, July, August) we will try to increase our reach to around 90. The reason we want such a high reach
is because the markets that we are advertising in are relatively new to the Sonic brand. Such a high reach will increase
awareness of our unique offerings and differentiate us from of our competitors. For all other months besides our slow season
(December, January, February) our goal will be to maintain a reach of 75 or above.
Frequency
Our objective is to keep frequency at a minimum of 3.1 based on our Ostrow Model (see appendix). Our objective
is to maintain this frequency throughout the duration of the campaign and during our slow months (December, January,
February) We then would like to increase our frequency to about an average of 5 during peak season months (June, July,
August), and maintain a frequency of about 4 for the other six months of the campaign (March, April, May, September,
October, November). The reason we want the increased frequency during the summer months is because that is generally
our best months for sales. It is a great time to promote our happy hour drinks as a refreshing escape from the heat. It is also
the time when more people are traveling for vacation, thus making it the time of increased sales in the quick food industry
as a whole. By increasing our advertising during these months we hope to capitalize on this increased spending by the
American family. Since winter is our slow season, we still want to maintain our minimum frequency of 3.1 or more, but will
concentrate more advertising dollars in the months that will yield the most potential sales.
11
Creative
Positioning Statement
We are positioning Sonic as
a unique, quick serve restaurant. We
offer quality made-to-order food and
personalized customer service.
Tagline
12
Service at Sonic Speed
Media Strategy
We are doing a spot only campaign. Sonic’s Share of voice in spot TV is 12%, which is only less than McDonalds and
Subway. We aren’t doing a national campaign, largely because of money, but also because Sonic already is a leader in spot
advertising, only behind McDonalds and Subway in several mediums. There is room for Sonic to pull ahead of many of it’s
competitors in local spot radio, and do it without spending a lot more money. With outdoor advertising, McDonalds holds
69% share of voice with all others ranging from 0%-8%, and Sonic holds 3%. Sonic could easily move itself up to, or past 9%
and be well ahead of most all of it’s competitors.
13
Media Execution
Magazines are a great medium to reach our audience. 41.4 percent of people who have bought food at Sonic within
the last 6 months are heavy magazine users, or in quintiles one and two. The index numbers for these are 105 and 102
respectively. Although 21.6 percent of the magazine user population is in quintile four, we believe that magazines can still
target our main target audience of women because they are the heaviest readers. We will be using Southern Living, People
Magazine and Better Homes & Gardens. The first two have the highest index numbers of 160 and 255, while the last two
have the highest readership population and index numbers above 100.
People who visit Sonic Drive-ins are not heavy
newspaper readers so we will not be using newspapers
as a media outlet. They are not heavy users of radio but
they are more likely to use it once in a while because the
higher index numbers are clustered in the second and
third quintiles. We will advertise to our target audience
during the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. drive and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
drive. At those times lunchtime is around the corner and
people are looking for a place to grab something quick.
Although the 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. drive has a
higher index number, we feel that the time spot before
it is when listeners will be more likely to act. Our target audience is also a heavy TV and internet user. We will advertise in
TruTV, Lifetime and the DIY Network because they have high population numbers and high index numbers. Most of the
channels with the highest indexes are children’s programming so we do not need to advertise there. We will be advertising in
Nick at Night however because it is geared for the teenage and adult audience.
Internet ads will run on the major email companies like Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo! We will include coupons
and sales promotions on Groupon.com rather than LivingSocial.com because even though the index number is lower for
Groupon, the population is a little bit over twice than the population for LivingSocial. We will also include ads in the major
airplane ticket sites such as Priceline.com.
14
Sonic has a twenty million dollar budget with which a media plan has been devised. The advertisements for this plan
will be flighted, meaning the advertisements will be run at intervals. The advertisements will be run from January to March,
from May to July and then from September to October.
The first set of advertisements is justified because the beginning of the year is cold and dreary, and many people
do not feel like cooking for the whole family or for themselves. From May to July school is getting out and children and
students have more free time. This creates a desire to not cook and to go out and get food. The target audience wants to do
things with the extra sunlight that is available during that time, so fast food will be at the top of their list. In the last segment
of the year school has started again and life has become busier for families and students. No one feels like cooking when
their daily schedule changes to include an extra eight or so hours at school.
The amount of money in each type of advertising is dependent upon the reach that each mode of advertising offers
the target audience. The largest share of the twenty-six million dollars, 40 percent or 10.4 million dollars, goes to outdoor
advertising. The target audience drives to work each day and is exposed to many types of outdoor advertising over and over.
The index number for outdoor advertising is 147 and they are largely in size C counties.
The second largest share of the twenty-six million dollar budget will go to TV advertising. The amount is 9.1 million
dollars, or 35 percent of the budget. Like previously stated, the advertisements will be shown on channels such as TruTV
(132 index), Lifetime (143) and the DIY Network (139). The shows that the advertisements will be shown between will be
shows at night when the audience has come home for the day and is settling down.
Ten percent of the budget, 2.6 million dollars, will go to internet advertising. The advertisements will be put on sites
like iVillage (208 index), Ehow (135), Whitepages (137), Yellowpages (143) and Priceline (144). Those are the sites most
frequented by the target audience.
Another ten percent of the budget will go to magazine advertisements. The advertisements will go in magazines such
as: Southern Living, People Magazine and Better Homes & Gardens. The last five percent will go to radio advertising. The
times at which the advertisements will be played will be at the 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. interval and the 7 p.m. to midnight interval.
15
Media Execution contd.
Target Demo: All Adults ages 18-54
Medium
Jan Feb MarApr MayJun Jul AugSep Oct NovDecTotal Across
Magazines-General Interest 101012121212121212121210GRPS:
138
$(000)
177.6177.6213.1213.1213.1213.1213.1213.1213.1213.1213.1177.6COST:
2450.6
Internet-Trgtd Sites 335555555553GRPS:
54
$(000)
71.0 71.0 118.3118.3118.3118.3118.3118.3118.3118.3118.371.0 COST:
1277.1
Internet-Sponsorship 334444444443GRPS:
45
$(000)
71.071.094.694.694.694.694.694.694.694.694.671.0COST:
1064.3
Spot TV-Prime 170170194194194209209209194194194170GRPS:
2301
$(000)
658.8658.8751.8751.8751.8809.9809.9809.9751.8751.8751.8658.8COST:
8916.4
Spot TV-Late Fringe/News 141420202030303020202014GRPS:
252
$(000)
35.835.851.151.151.176.776.776.751.151.151.135.8COST:
643.9
Spot Cable28
28
28GRPS:
84
$(000)98.0
98.0
98.0COST:
294.1
Spot Radio-Evening Drive 404075757512012012075757540GRPS:
930
$(000)
73.7 73.7 138.2138.2138.2221.0221.0221.0138.2138.2138.273.7 COST:
1713.1
Spot Radio-Nighttime 101025252545454525252510GRPS:
315
$(000)
13.213.233.033.033.059.459.459.433.033.033.013.2COST:
415.8
Outdoor
198719871987198719871987198719871987198719871987GRPS:
23840
National Only Area
GRPS 161621212121212121212116GRPS:
237
$(000)
319.5319.5425.9425.9425.9425.9425.9425.9425.9425.9425.9319.5Cost:4792
Reach
15.215.219.319.319.319.319.319.319.319.319.315.2
Avg. Freq. 1.11.11.11.11.11.11.11.11.11.11.11.1
16
Target Demo: All Adults ages 18-54
Medium
Jan Feb MarApr MayJun Jul AugSep Oct NovDecTotal Across
Spot Only Area
GRPS 233233314314314431431431314314314233GRPS:
3881
$(000)
1552.11552.11744.71744.71744.72035.62035.62035.61744.71744.71744.71552.1Cost: 21231.1
Reach
76.576.581.481.481.486.986.986.981.481.481.476.5
Avg. Freq. 3.13.13.93.93.95.05.05.03.93.93.93.1
Spot + National
GRPS 249249335335335452452452335335335249GRPS:
4118
$(000)
1871.51871.52170.62170.62170.62461.62461.62461.62170.62170.62170.61871.5Cost: 26023
Reach
79.479.484.284.284.288.688.688.684.284.284.279.4
Avg. Freq. 3.13.14.04.04.05.15.15.14.04.04.03.1 17
Promotions & Non-traditional Efforts
We will be setting aside 2 million dollars for promotions and non-traditional efforts for the course of the yearlong
campaign. Our slogan, “service at Sonic speed” is taken from the original 1958 slogan “service at the speed of sound.”
Because our creative is based on a retro-style campaign, we will be using that theme in some of our promotional efforts.
One of these promotions will focus on some of the older menu items that the store had when Sonic originally
opened. Each week we will have “throwback Thursday” to celebrate the good ol’ days. This is when we will feature some of
our former menu items. Customers will be encouraged to Instagram photos of their throwback menu items for a chance to
win a $20 gift card for Sonic with #sonicthrowback. This will encourage people to eat at our restaurants as well as spread
the word about our promotion. Each market will select a contest winner every week during the campaign. Instagram is the
perfect medium for this promotion because it easily connects with Facebook and already has built in editing features to let
our customers create a “retro” feel for their photographs.
We will also use Twitter as a promotional tool. This promotion will focus on the variety of specialty drinks that Sonic
offers. During happy hour all drinks will be half price, but those who Tweet their favorite drink combo will get happy hour
extended for another hour. This will promote the great variety of drink offerings Sonic has as well as get people to visit Sonic
restaurants.
Another contest we will have will be done through YouTube. People will be
given a chance to come up with their own “two guys” Sonic commercial. Contestants
will post their videos on to YouTube under the title “Sonic Two Guys.” One
commercial will be selected to use as part of Sonic’s television advertising campaign.
The winners will be given an all expenses paid cruise as an incentive to participate.
All of our promotions will be communicated through Facebook to help spread
the word. We will do this through the use of paid promotions along with those who
get our updates from liking our page. Paid Facebook promotions will allow us to
target those individuals who are in our selected target markets at relatively low cost.
We will also use a variety of banner ads on targeted websites to promote our
throwback menu items, contests, and happy hour extension tweets.
18
Budget
We divided our budget dependent on the
index numbers associated with each type of media.
Our target audience most frequently is exposed
to outdoor advertising. So 40% of our budget is
allocated to outdoor advertising. The least popular
medium was newspaper, so we didn’t use that at all.
We tried to hit all other media so that we can increase
our frequency as much as possible. We think that this
allocation of budget will be the best way to hit our
target audience in the most effective way.
Media Budget Alloca/on Outdoor Television Internet Magazine Radio Non-­‐Tradi7onal and Online media Type of Media
Outdoor
Television
Internet
Magazine
Radio
% of total budget
0.4
0.35
0.1
0.1
0.05
Non-Traditional
and Online media
Total
$ allocated to medium
11200000
9800000
2800000
2800000
1400000
Total $
2000000
1
28000000
19
Appendix
http://sonicdrivein.com/Profile/FactSheet
20
Personal Biographies
Kallie Smith
Carson Grover
Carolina Peralta
Kallie is from the Seattle area, she graduates in July of 2014.
Kallie enjoys running, hiking, wakeboarding, and snowboarding. She likes
to have fun and do anything outside. She enjoys marketing and doing media
research.
Carson is from Boulder City, NV. He is majoring in
Communication with an emphasis in advertising. He will be graduating in
April of 2014. He enjoys reading, watching movies, traveling to new locations,
eating, and trying just about anything fun or adventurous.
Carolina was born in Lima, Peru but moved to Washington
D.C at the age of 9. She enjoys running, DIY projects, and baking. She will
obtain her Bachelor’s degree in Communication in April of 2014. Her goal is
to become an event coordinator for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
21
Personal Biographies contd.
Jane Garrity
Tayler Christensen
Addison Montgomery
Jane is from Portland, Oregon and graduates in 2014 with a
degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations. She wants
to work in corporate PR with an international company. She loves traveling
and would like to do so for work. She has been married for 10 months and
has a cat, Hestia.
Tayler is from Portland, Oregon and is studying
Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations. He will be graduating
in July 2014. He wants to start his own social media marketing business,
and dreams of being an author. He enjoys doing anything outdoors, reading,
traveling and spending time with his family.
Addison is from Denver, Colorado. She will graduate in 2014
with a BA in Photography and a minor in Communications. Aside from her
photography she loves using her Graphic Design skills whenever possible.
She enjoys spending time with her family and friends making new memories.
22