A new, full-scale approach to advertising looks to be a game changer for BJ’s Restaurants Inc.
The Huntington Beach-based chain recently rolled out a $20 million marketing campaign that’s expected to run for the rest of the year and include TV, print and digital advertising.
That’s an increase of nearly 20% from the prior year and comes with a reset of the chain’s marketing team. BJ’s parted ways with Matt Hood, its chief marketing officer since 2008, and hired Tim Hackbardt, a veteran of Aliso Viejo-based Johnny Rockets Restaurant Group Inc., as vice president of marketing. It also hired a trio of shops to handle the new campaign: creative shop Rule of Three in Emeryville; strategic agency Emaxx Partners in Irvine; and Saputo Design in Westlake Village.
The shops worked together on a “360-degree brand idea,” including new ads, a revamped website, new beer labels, menus, display banners for the restaurants, and an employee guide.
Two new TV ads, titled “Hopstorm” and “Pizzooki Princess,” showcase BJ’s for family dinners or as a gathering spot for a guys’ night out.
The campaign follows a rugged 2013 for the chain, which saw same-store sales fall 2.7%.
A prior ad campaign drew brickbats from company watchers.
The new TV spots have so far been shown in about half of BJ’s markets—the chain’s 151 locations, all company-owned, are spread over 17 states—reaching an estimated 14 million households.
Southern California is home to more than a third of the BJ’s, where the new ad campaign took effect earlier this year.
So far, so good, said Gregory Trojan, the company’s chief executive and president, during a first-quarter earnings call last month.
“We are encouraged by the results in the [second] half of the quarter in terms of sales momentum, particularly by our continued improvement in guest traffic trends,” Trojan said. “[Los Angles] is our largest market, and this is the first time we mounted a TV campaign here, backed by solid product news. It clearly responded as we saw about a 6.5% sales lift during the three weeks we were on air in L.A., with ongoing strong follow-on results as well.”
Other markets also responded, he said, adding, “we saw the needle move bigger where we’ve spent more, and particularly on TV.”
Digital
The restaurant chain has also seen “incremental gains from our digital campaigns in markets where we employed digitally embedded video content, personalized retargeting and social campaigns,” Trojan said, all while “taking a significant step back in the level of promotional activity,” such as discounting menu prices.
The digital marketing campaign lasted four weeks, generating 106 million impressions in all markets where BJ’s restaurants operate. A print campaign—a four-page insert advertising new menu items—encompassed a
similar geographic spread, reaching 4.6
million households, according to the company.
Marketing Expenses
Marketing expenses totaled $5.5 million during the first quarter, up from the $3.3 million it spent during the same period last year.
Another $4.7 million are earmarked for the second quarter and will likely include additional TV advertising buys.
“What we have learned in terms of media mix [so far will help] refine our media model,” Trojan said.
