Clicking and Screaming

A common problem faced by PR Flacks is how to delicately tell your client that it is unlikely that their latest product  announcement will make the front page of the Financial Times.  With the advent of Social Media, I think we are now going to be having similar conversations with clients but this time saying no-one really cares enough about your brand yet to create content for you for free.

Denny’s, the American diner chain, recently launched a competition piggybacking on the current USA election campaigns. To be in with a chance of one meal at Denny’s per month until the next election in 2012, candidates need to submit a short video to the obligatory YouTube channel by the 5th August, in which they campaign for the ‘real’ breakfast against the fake fast food breakfasts. The top six entries will then be put forward for a public online ballot and after the 15th August the country’s best Presidential poser will be announced.

The competition is part of Denny’s “Vote for Real” campaign, itself a component of Denny’s “Don’t Fall for Fake” initiative which is based on trying to persuade people to have a real breakfast at its restaurants. The company kicked off the effort this spring using an election-themed campaign, playing off the presidential election, with guerrilla marketing tactics, PR, TV spots and in-store activities.

So a nice, integrated campaign, built on a nice relevant platform.

The Vote4real microsite for the competition is pretty well done, though a little light on content.  It’s interesting that it has gone with a traditional press release and not the more avant garde SMPR.  The PR team also seems to have done a pretty good job in raising awareness of the competition as part of the ongoing campaign in the marketing press.

Only drawback is that two weeks into the competition there are zero entries.

It’s difficult to say why there is such a muted response.  Perhaps the restriction that it needs to be an impression of either John McCain or Barack Obama has put people off; Perhaps it is that the prize is not the biggest or the shinest.  Or perhaps its because people don’t care that much about breakfast to spend time and effort making an advert for why Denny’s is better than other fast food outlet breakfasts.

Which is something Denny’s should’ve been told before spending lots of time and effort creating a fake campaign that no-one cares about