“In general, proving attribution is hard, but our radio campaign, combined with Placer’s reporting, showed the direct impact of our advertising when no other marketing occurred, and it was unbelievable. You just can’t argue with a 20% increase in foot traffic over 6 weeks. Our customers are blown away by the depth of insights we’re able to share using Placer, making it easier to prove our ability to generate real world results.”

~ Jennifer Killeen, SVP Search, Social and Performance Digital at Audacy

The Challenge

Restaurant Chain seeks Audacy’s Help to Boost Happy Hour traffic with new promotion

Founded in 1965, a 16 location Detroit casual diner is known for its family-friendly atmosphere, fast service, and fresh Greek-American food. Seeking to increase dining during the 2 - 6 p.m. happy hour, the diner created a new promotion for a discounted combo meal during that time, hoping to bring in families willing to then spend more. To market the promotion, they turned to Jennifer Killeen, SVP of Search, Social, and Performance Digital at Audacy. As a broadcast and digital audio platform that owns 235 radio stations across 48 media markets, Audacy has massive reach into the daily lives of listeners all over the country.

Jennifer began working on a marketing plan focused on growing in-store traffic, especially during the 2 - 6 p.m. window. As she looked ahead at reporting performance, the question became clear: how could Audacy prove the campaign’s success to their diner customer?

Learn more about Visitors by Origin

‍The Solution

Launching a 6 week Radio, Streaming, and In-Car Advertising Campaign

With a short window of time to execute, Audacy put together a multi-faceted marketing plan that included streaming ads, in-vehicle dashboard marketing on car stereo display screens, and radio spots on two local stations. The campaign ran 15 and 30-second spots, with most occurring during the morning rush hour.  

The diner ran no other campaigns during the 6 week campaign, giving Audacy a unique opportunity to directly measure its marketing impact.

Quantifiable Results Help Audacy Prove Their Advertising’s Effectiveness

Using Placer’s foot traffic and customer data for each location, Audacy showed that the campaign clearly succeeded in raising visitation traffic overall, and during the promotional hours of 2-6 p.m.

Learn more about Hourly Visits

Beyond the growth in happy hour visits, the diner also saw dwell time increase by an average of 10 minutes, suggesting happy customers and higher possible check sizes as customers stayed longer to enjoy their meals.

Examining the campaign’s effect on customer loyalty and visits paints an even more interesting picture. As expected, the promotional campaign brought in an influx of “casual” customers (households that made at least one visit during the promotional period), but it also drew an increase in visits from the chain’s most loyal fans, with some racking up visits of 20+ at one location. 

Learn more about Loyal vs. Casual

‍The Outcome

SUCCESS: Audacy Boosts YoY in-store Happy Hour dining traffic By 20%, Overall Traffic by 15%

While changes in dwell time and loyalty are important, Audacy proved the campaign’s effectiveness with two final statistics: each store saw an average YoY visitation lift of 20% during the promotion’s 2 - 6 p.m. happy hour window and an average YoY increase of 15% overall. The successful campaign helped Audacy establish itself as not just a radio partner, but a valued business partner bringing data-driven results.

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