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Use Cases: How Restaurants Use Diner Insights
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Veronica Puistonen

Veronica Puistonen

Content Marketing Manager

3 mins read

From Frosties to Foot Traffic: Evaluating the Impact of Wendy’s Krabby Patty Kollab

evaluating-the-impact-of-wendys-krabby-patty-kollab

Order up! Wendy’s recently teamed up with Paramount to launch the SpongeBob SquarePants Krabby Patty Kollab to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show. The Kollab featured limited-edition menu items – the Pineapple Under the Sea Frosty and Krabby Patty hamburger – which was available in restaurants across the United States, Canada, and Guam from October 8th to November 11th. In Los Angeles, the collaboration went a step further with an immersive experiential marketing campaign, where customers drove through an underwater-themed experience. 

But are collaborations and experiential marketing efforts like this truly impactful for restaurants? With consumer behavior insights – paired with online and offline measurement capabilities – marketers can more accurately determine how well their campaigns drove foot traffic to their desired locations and better assess their return on ad spend (ROAS). Inspired by this buzzworthy “Kollab,” we explored the campaign’s performance across Wendy’s locations in New York City, Orlando, Toronto, and the U.S. territory of Guam to uncover its impact.

01

How much did the promotion influence diner foot traffic?

Azira’s data revealed that the promotion drew a significant amount of foot traffic to locations globally. In the United States, a store in Orlando saw a 21% rise in foot traffic compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, a store in Guam experienced a 15% increase, and a store in Toronto achieved a 25% surge in foot traffic compared to the previous month. With these insights, marketers can identify which store locations and regions respond most strongly to promotional campaigns and strategically allocate marketing resources to areas with the highest potential.

02

What were the age and income demographics of New York City diners? 

The Krabby Patty promotion attracted a wide range of customers in New York City, with everyone from Baby Boomers to Gen Z’s stopping in for the promotion. 17.4% of the New York City Wendy’s diners were Millennials aged 25-34, 15.0% were Baby Boomers aged 65+, and 8.3% were Gen Z’s between 18-24. This demographic breakdown aligns with SpongeBob SquarePants launching 25 years ago, originally targeting Millennials when it first premiered, making them a core audience for the promotion. 

Household income levels also saw a significant range, with 22.4% earning $0-29K and 25.7% earning $150K+. With demographic insights, marketers can refine campaigns to appeal to specific age groups, income levels, brand affinities, and more, tailoring messaging and creative assets to align with the audiences most likely to engage with their promotional offers.

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03

What was the most frequented path taken by New York City diners?

Our heat map analysis of a Wendy’s location in New York City revealed that the majority of diners approached the restaurant from the north and south along 8th Avenue. With these insights, marketers can optimize their location-based advertising initiatives, such as digital ads, out-of-home (OOH) placements, and experiential marketing placements, to target high-traffic areas and maximize visibility and engagement.

wendys-location-heatmap
A heatmap showing the most frequented paths to a Wendy’s location in New York City.

04

Did the promotion attract international visitors?

Azira’s data revealed that the promotion in Guam drew in a significant amount of international visitors, with 22.3% of footfall from Korean visitors, and 4.7% from Japanese visitors. Meanwhile, the locations in New York City and Toronto almost entirely attracted domestic visitors, with 99% of the foot traffic originating from domestic foot traffic. With these insights, marketers can identify which locations and international markets to cater to, enabling them to craft tailored campaigns that resonate with local audiences or attract specific international visitors to key store locations.

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By leveraging consumer behavior insights, marketers gain an invaluable ability to refine audience targeting, optimize location-based advertising strategies across multiple channels, and measure campaign effectiveness. These insights enable restaurants, retailers, and more, to understand the true impact of their promotions, identify new opportunities, and craft more tailored marketing efforts that drive foot traffic and boost ROAS.

Learn more about how consumer insights can be used by restaurant marketers, or contact us today.