Hooters claims SMS callout in TV spots upped sales by 32 percent

By Giselle Tsirulnik - October 12, 2009
Hooters� SMS call-to-action in TV commercial spots

The Hooters girl in the VOD commercial

Restaurant chain Hooters of America�s use of text-message marketing within its video-on-demand commercial spots resulted in a 32 percent increase in sales during the program.

Television commercials ran with graphics at the bottom of the screen inviting viewers to learn more about the Hooters Mobile Club. By clicking a button on the remote control, viewers were taken to a longer video where a Hooters girl demonstrates how to text the keywod WINGS to short code 36832 and receive Free Boneless Wings by joining the Mobile Club.

�Initially, Hooters simply wanted to reach people in a new way that caught [people's] attention,� said Cindy Setlock, director of national accounts at State of Text, Denver. "They wanted customer interaction, an offer that would bring people in, and a campaign with repeat potential.

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�State of Text and Cox Media came together with the idea of combining mobile with video-on-demand,� she said. �The video-on-demand allowed the customers to watch the video and learn about the Hooters offer on their terms, rewinding or pausing at will.

�Mobile made the offer instant, completely trackable and transportable. The combination of the two mediums gave Hooters a powerful and successful campaign.�
Hooters� SMS call-to-action in TV commercial spots

The mobile call to action

The aim of the promotion was to make it more convenient for viewers to learn how to join the Hooters Mobile Text Club.

Additionally, Hooters wanted a way to track the number of responses to the VOD and the number of people choosing to opt-in to the program.

Lastly, the overall strategy was to increase Hooters� store traffic.

Cox Communications tracked the number of customers clicking the remote to see the longer Hooters VOD, as well as the time spent watching it.

State of Text tracked the increase in the number of people added to the mobile database. State of Text provided tracking consistent with TV day-parts.

State of Text compared the data with the TV schedule to determine the effectiveness of individual programs. Hooters tracked redemption rates at the store.

The mobile coupon redemption rates reached 25 percent and the Hooters mobile database achieved hundreds of entrants in minutes.

Throughout the course of the four-week campaign, almost 600 new people were added to the Hooters mobile database.

�One of the interesting things that we've seen with Hooters is how well its mobile club does, and how much real-time feedback and results benefited Hooters,� said Sean McKesson, CEO of State of Text.

�We've done cross-media promotion before, from billboards to print ads, but merging video-on-demand with mobile really brought Hooters results that work for them," he said.

�Mixing mobile with video-on-demand is a natural continuation of the on-demand structure of both mediums. State of Text and Cox Media will continue developing new VOD programs with the successful results we've seen.�

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