Arby’s, the second largest quick-service sandwich chain in the U.S., has teamed up with omni-channel loyalty and engagement platform PunchTab to engage customers and reward them for trying the restaurant’s new Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich.
Arby’s and PunchTab launched a rewards campaign called “The League of Brisket.” The campaign, which launched Sept. 30, and runs through Oct. 30, encourages customers who are passionate about brisket to join the league and complete challenges to earn free food and gear, as well as an entry for a chance to win the grand prize -- pro football tickets and “the ultimate tailgate party.”
The Arby’s campaign engages and rewards participants for uploading purchase receipts. Participants are also rewarded for engaging with Arby’s across a variety of channels, including checking in at an Arby's location, taking online quizzes, Tweeting, Liking, and completing online challenges.
For example, an Arby’s fan can earn 1,000 points for uploading a photo on Instagram using the #LeagueOfBrisketRewards hash tag, and earn another 1,000 points for checking in at Arby’s on Foursquare or Facebook. For making a purchase and uploading the receipt, Arby’s patrons will receive 3,000 points.
For this campaign, PunchTab created a mobile web and web experience, which lets Arby’s customers upload a receipt without requiring an app download. When users make a purchase, they can take a picture of their receipt and submit it via the mobile website. The receipt image is automatically uploaded and upon verification, points are rewarded. Alternatively, consumers can upload their receipt from their computer and submit it online from the campaign home page.
Mary Ellen Barto, VP Media Impact for Arby’s, told Loyalty 360 that Arby’s is leveraging mobile because consumers are spending more time on their mobile devices - from phones to e-readers to iPads.
“Not only are they spending more time on mobile devices, they are utilizing them while they are on the go, to search for dining out options and nearby locations,” she explained. “We want to intercept them during that window of opportunity. Continuing to ensure that our menu offerings and digital elements are optimized for mobile use is important.”
The role of mobile in this particular campaign, Barto added, is to drive interest and participation with The League of Brisket Sweepstakes.
“We are finding that many entrants are collecting points through mobile efforts, and in fact, in the first week of the sweepstakes being live, 24% of participants who checked in purchased the sandwich and uploaded their receipt,” she said.
In terms of engagement, the League of Brisket campaign has helped increase the conversation around the new Smokehouse Brisket sandwich across multiple social networks (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), Barto said.
“We’re measuring engagement via number of tweets, shares, receipt uploads, and Instagram posts,” she said. “We typically don’t share specific goals, however, we can say that we established goals for the promotion in terms of participation and engagement prior to the start of the campaign. In terms of our partnership with PunchTab, we executed a similar campaign in May 2012 that saw great results and determined that partnering with PunchTab again on the launch of the Smokehouse Brisket sandwich would be an effective way to drive online engagement.”