Chains love a recurring restaurant promotion: Olive Garden’s BOGO, Applebee’s Dinner for Two, Red Lobster’s Endless Shrimp. At Marie Callender’s, the Pie Sale draws crowds every February and October for deals on their legendary pies. But years of inflation and rising costs had diluted what had been a clear value, resulting in tiered pricing that was hard to communicate and sometimes hard for guests to understand. It was time to mix up more than just custard filling; the Pie Sale needed a strategic new approach.
We worked with the MC team to simplify and streamline the Pie Sale. We created a new restaurant promotion that was easy to understand, easy to implement, and easy to talk about. No more tiers or exclusions, we settled on a simple, straightforward “$5 off any pie.” Clear value, clear messaging, and the added bonus of being easy to implement across a franchise system that doesn’t always align on pricing or promotions.
Spreading the Word
As the brand’s marketing agency, our task was to introduce the new pie sale with a positive spin, through digital advertising, social media and email marketing. We focused on the simplicity and flexibility of the new sale: $5 off any pie. Bright, bold graphics conveyed the message in POP, email marketing and website updates.
Supporting the core marketing channels, paid social media ads reached new and lapsed audiences, sharing the news of our new restaurant promotion. Ads reached more than a million consumers and driving more than 1,000 clicks to the site every day of the sale, all at a low CPC. Targeting customers with an affinity for Marie Callender’s pies (and other desserts), all within 5 miles of their Southern California, Las Vegas and Utah locations, increased the effectiveness of the campaign.
On the organic side, our final Reel was off-the-charts successful. Our look behind-the-scenes at Marie Callender’s pie making, it’s currently standing at 1.2 million views, more than 21,000 likes, 2,000 shares and 3,000 saves. Oh, and more than 8,000 new followers. It’s well on its way to joining the brand’s viral, 4 million view reel from 2023. What’s more, two other Reels in the campaign were among our top Reels in the past two years. They’re each approaching 100K views and yielding nearly a 1,000 followers between them.
A Risk with Results
Changing the Pie Sale has traditionally been a risky endeavor for Marie Callender’s. Any change to price or tiers usually results in an immediate decline in sales and counts. Recovery usually happens at the following sale, and increased profitability only 18 months later. Our results this time? Fewer complaints and higher profit right away. That’s a success story; we can’t wait to see what October brings.
