World's Largest Ice Cream Float
In marketing, it often pays to think BIG – literally! Back in 1998, I was in charge of Marketing Communications for the 3rd largest Denny’s franchisee. Our company had purchased 10 really run-down Denny’s restaurants in the metro Atlanta area. While renovations and staff re-training was under way, my challenge was to make the most of the re-openings and call attention to the “all new Denny’s experience” in the area.
Hmmm – how to accomplish that with a relatively modest budget. We were a significant Coca-Cola customer, and they were headquartered in Atlanta; so it seemed a good idea to brainstorm with them about our restaurants.
Long-story short – we decided to break the record for the World’s Largest Ice Cream Float. That alliance brought significant additional funding from Denny’s corporate, a vast number of resources from Coca-Cola and media coverage from Maine to Miami and Syracuse to San Francisco. The highly successful event was the outcome of a genuine collaborative partnership.
Revenues climbed. We earned top honors in Marketing and in Development at the Denny’s annual convention. More importantly, we attracted considerable attention of major restaurant financiers.
And, by the way, apparently Coca-Cola thought the venture so successful that they broke the record again in 2007 with their official re-launch of Vanilla Coke. One little idea with a big result!
