In the advertising chapter of my book Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, I talk about the Integrated Marketing Communication campaign that Denny’s started back in 2009 to build its brand among lapsed and infrequent customers. They put together some clever TV ads, print advertising, a press kit that generated a fair amount of coverage, a web site, and a “Give Everyone in America a Free Grand Slam Breakfast” promotion that ran two days after the Super Bowl. The campaign had a great response, despite the fact that Denny’s web site crashed as soon as the first Super Bowl ad ran; and the restaurant kept the promotion going for a second year in 2010.
This year Denny’s continued to advertise on the Super Bowl, but they discontinued the Free Grand Slam promotion. The restaurant chain is now using a variety of online projects to promote the company. Among these is the Always Open With Dave web series featuring conversations between Arrested Development star Dave Koechner and a celebrity guest taking place at a table in a Denny’s restaurant. The series is hosted at the College Humor web site.
Denny’s has also been pushing its “diner” image through ads and web series, and with ads promoting its “dinerish” food.
In addition to the 2009 Super Bowl Commercial, I’ve included a more recent ads below:
2009 “Diner” commercial
“Hon”