Cheeseburger in Cyberspace
There’s something that just seems wrong about a 45-year-old woman clipping coupons so she can inhale two 1,410- calorie Monster Thickburgers for the price of one.
At least that’s what the executives at Hardee’s thought.
So the fast-food chain turned to technology to get its coupons into the hands of its core customers — young men who aren’t exactly watching their weight.
Hardee’s customers in Indianapolis and St. Louis can download coupons to their cell phone for free and then show the phone to a cashier for a discount. The program, which began two weeks ago, is confined to those two metropolitan areas for now. But if it’s successful, it may get a national rollout.
“We’ve gotten some positive feedback from a couple of restaurants. It’s too early to talk about redemption,” said Steve Lemley, vice president of marketing for St. Louis-based Hardee’s. “The whole idea of electronic couponing was new to us.”
Indeed, it’s still new to many companies. However, the more that companies like Hardee’s dabble, the more the cell phone is becoming a popular tool for marketing and advertising.
“The technology has been there for a while, but companies are just starting to get on board,” said Susanna M. Tully, associate director of client strategy for Sharpe Partners, a New York-based digital marketing firm.
Currently, the most popular methods of engaging customers involve text messaging, to enter a sweepstakes, to get alerts about products or to vote for something, like your favorite American Idol.
Other companies, such as Burger King and Embassy Suites, have gone for banner advertising. Still others, including American Express, have adapted their TV ads for streaming on cell phones.
Electronic coupons are less popular, but not unheard of.
In 2005, for example, McDonald’s restaurants in Southern California distributed coupons for a free McFlurry. Customers had go to a Web site, enter a cell-phone number, and then they would get the coupon as a text message. Dunkin’ Donuts had a similar campaign that year in Boston for 99-cent lattes. Store traffic increased 21 percent.
All of these methods take advantage of the sophisticated cell phones flooding the market. They have big color screens and access to fast networks. Consumers, especially the young, also are more willing to surf the Web on their phones and send text messages than they were five years ago.
Overall, about 42 percent of cell-phone users are open to advertising if it’s relevant, if they asked for it or if they will get coupons or free services, according to the market research firm Yankee Group.
With numbers like that, Tully said companies don’t dare turn away.
“Whenever the behavior starts to expand to larger than just a niche group, companies start to pay attention,” she said.
For Hardee’s, it just made sense.
The chain’s core customers are young and male since it launched the Thickburger line of sandwiches in 2003. But studies show most people who clip coupons are middle-aged and female.
“Guys are lazy,” Lemley joked.
Hardee’s is working with San Jose, Calif.-based Cellfire to deliver its coupons for chicken sandwiches, breakfast biscuits and chili cheese fries to customers.
Cellfire was founded in 2005, but launched nationwide in June 2006. It has worked with companies such as Bath & Body Works, 1-800-flowers.com, Hollywood Video and T.G.I. Friday’s on similar electronic coupon campaigns.
“The Internet is limited. Paper couponing is expensive,” said Brent Dusing, co-founder and CEO of Cellfire. “Suddenly, you have the mobile phone, which has a pervasive relationship with the customer. Besides your wallet and your keys, it’s something that you don’t leave home without.”
The number of people registering for Cellfire’s services has been growing “exponentially” in the last few months, he said, but wouldn’t give specifics. The high number of Hoosier users is one reason Cellfire and Hardee’s chose Indianapolis, though.
That’s important to both companies because Hardee’s pays Cellfire based on the number of coupons redeemed.
For now, the company is just worried about getting employees and customers to understand how Cellfire works. Employees are being trained and fliers are up in Hardee’s restaurants pitching it to customers.
“We think it will take a little time to get the coupon-off-of- your-cell-phone thing,” Lemley said.
