Nando’s:::the most complaiend about advertisement of the year.

"due to element of sexuality and objectification of women"

McDonald's:::Tourists are lovin’ it…

McDonald's Piccadilly Circus

BRAND OWNER:McDonald's Corporation

CATEGORY:Food

REGION:UK

DATE:Apr 2009 - Dec 2008

Piccadilly Circus is London's equivalent of Times Square - right at the heart of the city and filled with brands digital billboards, each clamouring for attention. Some 1.1 million Londoners and tourists pass through each week. McDonald’s tends to have a presence there, but wanted to create a more interactive experience and encourage people to specifically photograph the brand’s ad and then share the photographs.
McDonald's therefore launched an interactive sign where passers-by can interact with images displayed on McDonald's giant LED screen, and visitors can take an interactive role at one of London's most photographed locations. 

A series of images ranging from hats to speech bubbles, to idea clouds are shown on the giant LED screen billboard. People in Piccadilly circus can then position themselves to make it look as though they are wearing a hat, saying something or having an idea. People are then encouraged to post up their photos to Flickr or Facebook

McDonald's has long been the friend of weary tourists whose enthusiasm for the local cuisine has been exhausted by one dietary novelty too many...
But now that relationship has gone one step further, with the launch of a new 'interactive' billboard in London's Piccadilly Circus. The giant LED sign displays a rolling selection of images which invite camera-happy tourists to strike a pose with the props on screen.

Some of these have a British theme - an open umbrella and a city gent's bowler hat - while others are just about inviting participation - a birthday cake with candles you can pretend to blow out, a hammer that seems to beat you over the head, a strongman barbell you can hold triumphantly aloft.

The YouTube clip above shows the idea in action and the magnetic appeal it has to tourists... how many go on to eat a McDonald's burger after painstakingly lining up their shot has not yet been established but we're SO tempted to send someone down there to follow that up!  Participants can also upload their snaps to a dedicated Flickr group, set up to corrall all those happy memories into one big experience-extending gallery and ensure that the event remains public long after the holidaymakers go back home.

Inventive stuff from Leo Burnett! 

Flickr group 

Dominos Pizza :::Remote-controlled pizza

BRAND OWNER :Dominos Pizza CATEGORY :Food
REGION :USA
DATE :Nov 2008 - Dec 2007
MEDIACHANNEL:TiVo

Domino’s Pizza wanted to find a way to make it even more convenient for people to get their pizza fix.
Recognizing that most people require pizza when lazing around at home watching TV, Domino’s wanted to create a customer interaction via their TV. The brand wanted a mechanism that would mean that the customer did not need to get up off their couch to order food.
Once off the couch, there is the risk that a consumer will find a competing take away menu while looking for the Domino’s flier or deciding to eat something in their own fridge.
Domino’s teamed up with PVR service TiVo to allow customers with broadband to order a pizza via their television set. When a customer was fast forwarding through a commercial for Domino’s, TiVo flashed a pop-up ad asking if the customer would like to order a pizza and then direct them to an ordering screen.
Customers were able to select their crust, toppings, and sauces from an ordering screen. And pizzas show up at the customer's door in about 30 minutes, for the same price as what is offered locally. They could even see a timer on their screen showing how much time was left until delivery.
This is the first time TiVo has set up a partnership with a restaurant company to sell food through the television.

In-N-Out Burger: Professionalizing Fast-Food

How do you build a word-of-mouth following for your product or service? That's one challenge most companies would love to wrestle with, but few do.
California's fast-food chain In-N-Out Burger is an exception, with a famously devoted customer base that inspires envy throughout the industry—and brand recognition well beyond its geographic reach. But instead of pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into ad campaigns like rivals Burger King (BKC) and McDonald's (MCD), In-N-Out relies mainly on its carefully located stores, billboards, bumper stickers, T-shirts, and its own rabid fans to broadcast its message.
In this excerpt from her new book, In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules BusinessWeek writer Stacy Perman shows how the chain's marketing strategy works.

This excerpt tracks how Rich Snyder, son of founders Esther and Harry Snyder, expanded the chain, focusing closely on the quality of the food—and the staff—before he was killed in a plane crash in 1993.
Rich Snyder was 24 when he became president of In-N-Out Burger after his father, Harry, died in 1976. He shared Harry's belief that running a successful fast-food business wasn't about cutting corners or using the right equipment. What it boiled down to was the people on the front lines.
Where the two differed, however, was that Harry had hoped his "associates," as he and Esther insisted on calling employees, would work hard, save money, and leave. Rich had another idea: "Why let good people move on when you can use them to help your company grow?" Rich also wanted to establish a much bigger footprint for In-N-Out Burger.
There was another difference between father and son: Rich was a born-again Christian. In the 1980s he began printing biblical references on cups and burger wrappers, and then he went further, commissioning a Christmastime radio commercial that asked listeners to let Jesus into their lives, alongside In-N-Out's jingle. Many stations refused to run the ads, and Californians showered the company with complaints. Rich essentially shrugged off the reaction. The Bible chapter-and-verse references remain to this day, and radio ads commingled with evangelism still crop up.
But on issues of quality, Rich remained his father's son. In 1984, in Baldwin Park, Calif., he set up In-N-Out University, a training facility, with the aim of filling the pipeline with qualified managers and reinforcing the company's focus on quality, cleanliness, and service. About 80% of In-N-Out's store managers started at the very bottom, picking up trash before rising through the ranks. Rich realized that if he wanted to expand, he needed to put a system in place that would professionalize management.
To attend In-N-Out University, an associate usually had to have worked full-time at a store for a year. In that time, she had to demonstrate initiative, strong decision-making ability, and impressive people skills. A cornerstone of In-N-Out's limited growth strategy was to expand only as quickly as the management roster would allow. At the university Rich came up with a number of ideas to hone the training process. For instance, a team of field specialists was deployed to motivate and instruct associates. Inspired by pro sports teams, Rich began producing a series of training films and videotaped trainees to critique their performance.
Although the work could be dreary—imagine a four-hour shift spent cleaning up spilled milk shakes—associates were made to feel part of an important enterprise and given opportunities to advance. On-the-job training was wedged in between mealtime rushes, and everyone was given large helpings of feedback. Rich wanted each associate to understand his job and how he could do it better. The result was that many part-timers came for a summer job and stayed for a career.


Despite some flickers of media attention since its founding in 1948, nothing gave press-shy In-N-Out more publicity than its own longtime customers. Staying simple and remaining focused on its core values had allowed In-N-Out to stay true to its loyal fan base. And it was precisely those customers who often did the heavy lifting, frequently boasting about their zealous affection for the chain to everybody else. Regulars engaged in an ongoing contest, trying to outdo each other on how many hamburgers they could eat at any one time. Some regulars also assumed the responsibility of bringing in a constant stream of new devotees, an act generally referred to as "the conversion."

INFURIATING ADVICE
Rich thought of his job as the point at the bottom of an inverted triangle. He was there to support everyone in the company. When talking to store managers, he was always careful to refer to the shops as "your stores," hoping this would help instill a sense of ownership.
At one point when Rich was planning the expansion drive, he sought the advice of a food industry consultant. The expert told Rich that if he slashed salaries, In-N-Out could save a "ton of money." This infuriated Rich. Recounting the story, he said it was exactly the kind of advice one would expect "from a guy who wears a suit and who thinks you don't pay a guy who cooks hamburgers that much money."
From its start, In-N-Out paid employees more than the going rate. (Associates always made at least $2 to $3 above minimum wage.) As of February 2008, In-N-Out was paying new part-time associates $10 an hour—just 51 cents less than full-time workers at Wal-Mart (WMT), whose $375 billion in annual sales is about 1,000 times greater than In-N-Out's. Store managers at In-N-Out make at least $100,000 a year and are eligible for monthly bonuses tied to store sales.
Rich also established an expansive set of benefits, including 401(k) plans, paid vacation for part-timers, and health, dental, and vision plans for full-time workers. Each year, he put on companywide picnics and a gala dinner. Managers who met their goals were sent on trips with their spouses, often to Europe in first-class seats. For a Christmas outing to a performance of The Nutcracker, Rich insisted that his managers wear tuxedos. He thought they stood shoulder to shoulder with any blue-chip manager and wanted them to feel that way, too.
The upshot of treating its employees with special care is that In-N-Out boasts one of the lowest turnover rates in the business. Industrywide, only about half of all fast-food workers stay beyond a year. And the numbers plummet to just 25% at two years and 12% at three. In In-N-Out's case, managers' typical tenure is 14 years, while part-time associates remain, on average, for two.
To this day, the corporate culture inspired by Harry and Esther and carved in stone by Rich stands in stark contrast to rivals' systems of low-paid burger flippers and cashiers who don their disposable hats for what society has deemed McJobs. And it never drove up prices or pushed down quality.

A Double-Double, Twice
At the same time, without corporate solicitation, a roster of celebrity names regularly endorsed the chain. "When I first joined the band, we must have eaten there at least three days a week," recalled rocker Sammy Hagar, who signed up as the front man for Van Halen in 1985. "We were in the studio recording 5150, and we'd send someone to go get food, and we'd talk about sushi or pizza and always end up with In-N-Out." Gordon Ramsay, the British celebrity chef with 12 Michelin stars, global fame, and profanity-laced rants, once admitted to sitting down for a Double-Double and then "minutes later I drove back 'round and got the same thing again to take away." PGA golf champ Phil Mickelson mentioned the chain so often that whenever he fell into a losing streak, sportswriters began suggesting that he cut back on the Double-Doubles.
Before long, tourists got wind of In-N-Out Burger and began making their own pilgrimages to what was considered the quintessential Southern California attraction. Fans passed the "secret menu" on to one another and described the sublime pleasures of tucking into an Animal Style cheeseburger. Vegetarians talked up the chain's off-menu Grilled Cheese. Expatriate Californians pined for their favorite burger, and In-N-Out T-shirts were the epitome of cool. Analysts spoke of In-N-Out's "uncopyable advantage," while everybody else talked about its unparalleled cult following. According to William Martin, who devised the training curriculum for In-N-Out University, the Snyders and the rest of the chain's highest echelon were definitely conscious of the mystique that had developed around In-N-Out. "They were all aware of it, and they loved it," he said. "But they had no explanation for it." That didn't mean, however, that they didn't know how use it.



Website : http://www.in-n-out.com/

In Saudi Arabia::: NEVER say NO to your customers

Franchise Brands: More than a Logo

Franchise Brands: More than a Logo
March 9, 2009

In franchising, it’s not just the corporate logo that needs to be carefully guarded, although that’s important. It’s the logo plus everything else—corporate colors, signage, buildings, trucks, uniforms, products, services, prices, promotions, ads, window posters, and even mundane stuff like pens, wrappers, and every collateral item in existence.
SUBWAY restaurants, named the #1 Global Franchise Opportunity for 2009 by Entrepreneur magazine, has more than 30,500 locations in 87 countries. Imagine what it’s like to control every aspect of the SUBWAY brand in every franchise location around the globe.
If it sounds like a major headache-inducing challenge—well, it is. “Multi-unit franchises may face a variety of difficulties along the way toward building brand consistency,” says Gary Findley, CEO of the Findley Group, in Franchising World (“Consistency: The Key to Branding," April 2007).
“Balancing brand uniformity while respecting franchisee independence and regulating brand messages while effectively targeting local communities are two of the struggles that often arise.”
Findley believes the only way to control the brand is through RQM—repetitive quality marketing.
“In RQM, repetitive is remaining persistent and consistent with the marketing message,” Findley says. “In RQM, the overall objective is to remain consistent.
Consistency in the marketing campaign will not only strengthen the brand identity, but it often leads to positive business growth.”
In the franchise world, however, marketing consistency takes on a whole new meaning. “…marketing touches everything a business does,” Findley says, “from the design on the bathroom tiles to the rips in the salesperson’s jeans, and anything a customer sees, touches, hears or smells can affect the brand image.”
For large and small franchise operations alike, educating franchisees about the value of the brand is often the first and most important step.
Taylor Bond, CEO and president of Children’s Orchard, a US-based children’s clothing resale franchise, explains it this way in Franchising World (“Communicating the Brand,” February 2005): “…we have aggressively focused on communicating the ‘picture of value.’ That means we have done everything humanly possible to help our franchise owners understand that the brand is the market share.
We explain that the brand is a mental message, a picture that consumers connect to their store.” Bond says smaller franchisors should point to the success of large global brands to get their franchisees “to understand and embrace the value of the brand.” It’s crucial, he says, to “tie the brand directly to the value of the business.”
In large, sophisticated franchise operations, the franchisor maintains control of the brand through numerous means, including franchisee training programs, comprehensive brand guidelines, and providing franchisees with consistently executed branding and marketing materials.
Providing brand guidelines is not that difficult, but enforcing them across a far-flung franchise system is another story.
“While many franchise systems provide their franchisees with guidelines about logo usage, signage and advertising, many fail to fully enforce those guidelines,” says Nikki Sells, vice president of franchising for Express Personnel Services, in Franchising World (“Consistent Brand Identification Increases Market Share,” December 2006). “This is why a customer can go from one unit to the next and have a completely different experience with the brand.
Enforcing clear guidelines will not only help franchises stay true to the brand when marketing, it will also improve customers’ experiences.” Sells says it may take site visits, customer surveys and focus groups with field reps to determine adherence to brand standards.
That’s why superior global franchisors such as SUBWAY and McDonald’s make franchisees part of the solution. McDonald’s requires its restaurants to spend a minimum of 4 percent of gross sales annually for promoting and advertising the business. Owner/operators work with local agencies to place advertisements and, in some cases, produce their own creative material, as long as it follows system guidelines.
McDonald’s also encourages its operators to offer feedback and ideas that could benefit the entire system; the Big Mac, Egg McMuffin and Filet-o-Fish sandwiches were all developed by owner/operators.
International branding is particularly difficult. Language and cultural issues present unique challenges for franchises. For food franchise systems, local cuisine preferences may require entire menus to vary. McDonald’s, for example, operates in India but does not serve beef there.
Instead, the Indian system offers a choice of vegetarian and non-vegetarian menus; the non-vegetarian menu is comprised of chicken and fish. Product names retain the McDonald’s branding concept but are country-specific: McVeggie, McAloo Tikki, Shahi Paneer McCurry Pan and Veg Pizza McPuff.
Challenges not withstanding, globalization is a means of rapid brand expansion. US-based Yum! Brands, owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants, has enjoyed widespread acceptance for its franchise brands around the world. The KFC business in France has the highest unit volumes of any KFC in the world. For the last four years, Pizza Hut has been ranked as the #1 most trusted food-service brand in India in a consumer survey in The Economic Times.

Mainland China is Yum! Brands’ top market for new company restaurant development worldwide. The company opened 471 new restaurants last year in mainland China. KFC, with more than 2,300 restaurants in China, is the leading quick-service restaurant brand, while Pizza Hut, with 400 locations, is the leading casual dining brand in mainland China. Yum! Brands says it opens a new KFC every day in mainland China. In 2007, operating profits for Yum! Brands’ China Division were more than US$ 375 million.
When a franchise system decides to change its brand, the implications are mind-boggling. In 2001, global shipping giant UPS acquired Mail Boxes Etc., a private postal center service. In 2003, “The UPS Store” brand was introduced. Tests in select US markets pitting The UPS Store against Mail Boxes Etc. showed a strong preference for The UPS Store. That meant thousands of US-based Mail Boxes Etc. stores had to be rebranded. Stores in Canada were rebranded in 2005. Stores outside North America, however, maintain the Mail Boxes Etc. brand. UPS currently operates over 6,000 stores worldwide.
Despite the arduous requirements of global branding, the business opportunity associated with a strong international franchise is unparalleled. Controlling their brands across thousands of locations is a key reason leading franchise systems succeed—and why their brands are among the most recognized in the world.

McDonald’s::: Personalised coupons

BRAND OWNER:McDonald's
CATEGORY:Food
REGION:China
DATE:Feb 2008 - Mar 2008


Discount coupons are an important element in driving in-store traffic, but McDonald’s wanted to help lower cost of its coupon strategy while breaking through the cluttered coupon market and targeting 18-25 year olds.
McDonald’s came up of a way of putting the target audience in control of their coupon – allowing them to customize their personal coupon according to their preference.

McDonald’s partnered with China’s largest online network QQ, and created an advertising banner that was embedded within the QQ Member Instant Messaging screen to encourage click-thru.

After clicking on the banner, users are able to customize their meal according to their preference.

They could then either print or download their personalized coupon onto their mobile phone.

In just 4 weeks a total of almost 550,000 clicked through and some 800,000 coupons were created. 680,000 QQ members downloaded the coupon onto their mobile or printed them after having customized them.

This represented a 43% conversion for McDonald’s. Furthermore, 190,000 people redeemed their coupons at a McDonald’s store, giving the campaign a total response rate of 11.87% (compared to a traditional insertion coupon campaign that yielded a 0.62% response rate).

Domino's nightmare .. A lessons for marketers

It's a PR nightmare scenario: A national fast-food chain has to respond to a video, spreading rapidly online, that shows one of its employees picking his nose and placing the result in the food he's making.

That's exactly what Domino's , the nation's largest pizza delivery chain, has spent the past several days doing.

Two employees — fired and facing charges — posted a video on YouTube on Monday that shows one of them doing gross things to a Domino's sub sandwich he is making. Among them: sticking cheese pieces up his nose and passing gas on the salami.

The video had been viewed more than 550,000 times by Wednesday.






For Domino's, the PR response hasn't been easy. The video reflects some of the worst fears consumers have about food purchased from restaurants. The video and discussion of it has moved on to Facebook, Twitter and dozens of other social-networking sites.

But Domino's is getting fairly high marks from social-networking and crisis-management gurus about its response.

And marketers are getting an instant lesson in the dangers of an online world where just about anyone with a video camera and a grudge can bring a company to its knees with lightning speed.
"Nothing is local anymore," Domino's spokesman Tim McIntyre says. "That's the challenge of the Web world. Any two idiots with a video camera and a dumb idea can damage the reputation of a 50-year-old brand."

An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for Michael Anthony Setzer, 32, of Conover, N.C., and Kristy Lynn Hammonds, 31, of Taylorsville, N.C., for food tampering, a felony in North Carolina, police say. McIntyre says Domino's is mulling a lawsuit.

Here are key things experts say marketers can do to quickly catch and respond effectively to similar social-networking attacks:
• Monitor social media. Big companies must actively watch Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social sites to track conversations that involve them. That will help uncover potential crises-in-the-making, says Brian Solis, a new-media specialist and blogger at PR2.0.
• Respond quickly. Domino's responded within hours. "They responded as soon as they heard about it, not after the media asked, 'What are you going to do?' " says Lynne Doll, president of The Rogers Group, a crisis-management specialist.


very smart.. using same media

Patrick Doyle, President, Domino's U.S.A., responds to video of (now former) Domino's team members.

Follow us at http://twitter.com/dpzinfo


• Respond at the flashpoint. Domino's first responded on consumer affairs blog The Consumerist, whose activist readers helped track down the store and employees who made the video. Then it responded on the Twitter site where talk was mounting. "Domino's did the right thing by reinstituting the trust where it was lost," Solis says.
• Educate workers. It's important that all employees have some media and social-media training, says Ross Mayfield, co-founder of Socialtext, which advises companies on new media.
• Foster a positive culture. Workers who are content and customers who like your product are far less likely to tear down a company online, PR guru Katie Delahaye Paine says. "This would be a lot less likely to happen at places like Whole Foods."
• Set clear guidelines. Companies must have clear policies about what is allowed during working hours — and what isn't, Doll says. "It won't prevent everyone from breaking the rules, but at least they'll know what the rules are."
As a result of the incident, Domino's is looking at banning video cameras in stores, McIntyre says.

--------------------------

Recap & learnings
----------------------

Corporate Crisis Management: is defined as an unexpected event that creates uncertainty and threatens an organization’s priority goals and public image.

Managers facing crises as such consider the possible consequences of their reaction. On one side - reacting to uncontrolled events may foster further awareness to the problem. On the other side, ignoring such events may result in risking social legitimacy (the firm may be perceived as being irresponsible, dishonest, or acting in a manner that exhibits little concern for the community).

Bradford and Garrett (1995) investigated the effectiveness of five different corporate responses to a crisis event. The possible responses were (a) no response, (b) denial, (c) offer an excuse, (d) agree that the firm caused the event but argue that the severity of the event is less than publicized, and (e) agree that the event is severe and accept responsibility for the event.



The possible conditions were (a) the firm can provide evidence that they committed no unethical action,
(b) the firm can provide evidence that they had no control over the event,
(c) the firm can provide evidence that the event is less severe than suggested in the media,
and (d) the firm accepts responsibility for the event.


Across the different conditions, the “accept responsibility” response was found to be the optimal communication strategy.
Other research in this field indicate that consumer expectations about the firm (consumers with a preexisting favorable opinion of a firm vs those who lacked a preexisting favorable opinion - Dawar & Pillutla, 2000) and their commitment to the brand ( low versus high commitment - Ahluwalia et al. , 2000) moderates the effects of negative publicity.



In this week Domino’s Pizza crisis, the firm decided to react to the event (taking 48 hours respond). They have presented an apology, suggested information (both public and personal) and a promise for taking future steps. Interestingly, it chose unconventional media channels to confront their consumers, the same channels in which the crisis found its way through - social media interactions.


Consumer research will be needed to test consumers’ perceptions and behaviors in few months time. Currently, it seems that although the images were shocking, the company has succeeded in reacting well to the event.


Online trend tools indicate that the buzz around it lost an interes...

twitter trends:






blog citations:

search volume:



Description of the crisis:
On the night of April 13, two Domino’s employees engaged in an act of food violation posted their acts on YouTube (putting cheese in their nose, blowing mucous on a sandwich etc). The videos went viral online, viewed by millions of people until blocked.

Reactions to the crisis:
April 14:
1. The employees were fired and warrants were issued for their arrest.
2. Domino’s has also posted a statement on its corporate website.
“The opportunities and freedom of the internet is wonderful, but it also comes with the risk of anyone with a camera and an internet link to cause a lot of damage, as in this case, where a couple of individuals suddenly overshadow the hard work performed by the 125,000 men and women working for Domino’s across the nation and in 60 countries around the world.” .
3. On an interview with Domino’s Domino’s spokesman he says: “Nothing is local anymore, that’s the challenge of the Web world. Any two idiots with a video camera and a dumb idea can damage the reputation of a 50-year-old brand.”
4. The company decided not to issue a press release. Dominos spokesman was interviewed on that: “the company can deal with tens of thousands of impressions, but a strong response from Domino’s would alert more consumers to the embarrassment.”
5. The company shared an an apologetic e-mail from the employees: “It was all a prank and me nor Michael expected to have this much attention from the videos that were uploaded! No food was ever sent out to any customer. We would never put something like that on you tube if it were real!! It was fake and I wish that everyone knew that!”
April 15: Domino’s activated social media activities:
6. In a YouTube video, Patrick Doyle, president of Domino’s USA, apologizes for the incident, and describes the steps his company is taking to ensure such an incident doesn’t happen again.
“We sincerely apologize for this incident, we thank members of the online community who quickly alerted us and allowed us to take immediate action.
Although the individuals in question claim it’s a hoax, we are taking this incredibly seriously.” Moreover, he said that the Conover srore has been shut down and is being sanitized from top to bottom and promises to make sure “that people like this don’t make it into our stores.”
6. Dominos started social media activity on twitter (under the username “dpzinfo” - it receives 1425 followers as for today).
With public information and personal twits (for example: “Most of our stores are designed so that anyone in the lobby can fully see the food prep area.”) information on the brand and on preventive acts are presented.
Examples of other corporate crises:
1-Johnson & Johnson’s response to the Tylenol incident - 1982
An unknown terrorist spiked Tylenol capsules with cyanide which resulted in seven deaths. Media coverage made it clear that Johnson & Johnson had no control over this post manufacture product tampering, suppressing any Could counterfactuals.
The actions taken by Johnson & Johnson were considered as highly effective:
The company recalled extra-strength Tylenol from all store shelves across the country, offered a reward for the murderer, and introduced a tamper resistant package. In this case, although the brand’s market share fell sharply (from 35% to 8%), it has recoverd within a year.
2-Jetblue flights cancellation
3-Alleged defects in tires manufactured by Firestone
4-Gene-spliced corn contamination of Taco Bell products
5-Benzene contamination in Perrier bottled water
6-Racial discrimination by Texaco in the promotion of employees
7-Burger King Employee Takes Bath In Sink

Crises Management: Trendsspotting Insights On Dominos Case Study

View more presentations from Taly Weiss.

Fast-Food Research Shows McDonald's Still Number One

McDonald’s and Burger King remain America’s #1 and #2 most preferred fast-food chains, while Subway unseated Wendy’s in 2008 to nab the #3 spot, according to research on the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry from Experian Simmons.

Other major chains in the top-10 rankings, which show preference trends over five years (2004-2008), are Taco Bell - which reclaimed its #4 spot after dropping to #5 in 2007, Wendy’s, which dropped from #3 to #5, KFC, Pizza Hut, Arby’s and Dairy Queen.

The proliferation of QSR chains in the US also has caused “others” (an aggregation of the many smaller chains) to hold a significant market share as well, the research found.

Niche Chains on the Rise
The rankings also show that three QSR chains - Chipotle , Jamba Juice, and Panera Bread - are relative new comers to the market, yet have become an important force in the QSR market by carving out a specialized niche with their offerings. Chipotle has risen from #57 in 2004 to #26 in 2008, while Jamba Juice has jumped #58 to #38 and Panera Bread has climbed steadily from #29 to #18 in the same time period.

Dramatic Jump in QSR Visits
The average number of visits Americans make to quick service restaurants, which has held steady at approximately seven since 2004, substantially increased to 11 between 2007 and 2008. This, Experian Simmons suggests, may be caused by the current economic crisis.

Midwesterners Frequent QSRs Most
Overall, Midwesterners are most likely to eat at quick service restaurants, the research found.
The following table lists the likelihood of people in each of four US regions (Northeast, Midwest, South and West) to eat at the 13 fast food chains Experian Simmons reviewed. The table on the right illustrates the percentage of each region’s residents that eat at the quick service restaurants. Overall, Midwesterners have the highest percentage of visits to McDonald’s and several other major chains, while Northeasterners score highest with Burger King and Wendy’s.

Westerners frequent Taco Bell and “other” QSRs more than those in other regions. One reason they are more likely to eat at “other fast food restaurants” may be because the Western region has a number of quick service restaurants that aren’t present ?in other regions, said Experian Simmons.
Additional survey findings:
Men (115 Index) are more likely than women (87) to eat alone at a fast food restaurant.
Women are more likely to take their children below age 12 to a fast food chain during lunch than any other meal time (126).
Hispanic Americans are more likely than non-Hispanic Americans to go to a fast food chain with children during all meal times.
Americans aged 18-24 are three times more likely than older Americans to snack at a fast food chain with friends/co-workers.

Other research from the NPD Group finds that kids and young adults are visiting restaurants less because of the high cost and because of a perceived availability of less healthy choices. The study also finds that Baby Boomers’ restaurant use is increasing.

About the research: Data analysis is based on results from the Experian Simmons National Consumer Study/National Hispanic Consumer Studies conducted in the Fall of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, as well as the 2008 Full Year study.

An additional report that discusses the impact of the recession on family dining and QSRs also is available from Experian Simmons.

Arby's "Mona Greasa"

Brand: Arby's Roast Beef Restaurants
Agency: Fletcher Martin
Review Date: March 19, 2009

Artist Phil Hansen paints a version of the Mona Lisa in burger grease, which makes viewing this spot much like watching a car wreck: you are revolted but you can't look away. Created for Arby's by Fletcher Martin, this online video is captivating. Each slimy stroke Hansen makes adds another line to the grease painting and you watch with skepticism as the form begins to take shape and the pile of used burgers grows. The Web address,burgergreaseart.com, sends viewers to the Arby's site touting its new "never fried, never greasy" Roast Burgers. But as non-greasy as those sandwiches may look on the site, the only thing I crave after watching this demo is a salad. --Eleftheria Parpis

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1315793544/bctid16930089001