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Food

Restaurants drive consumers to dine out with calculated email coupons

Dianna Dilworth January 01, 2012

When Pei Wei Asian Diner introduced the Caramel Chicken entrée, the Chinese food chain took advantage of the occasion to beef up its email database. Pei Wei, which is owned by P.F. Chang's China Bistro, worked with email provider ExactTarget to create a multichannel campaign centered on email to help spread the word.

McDonald's prompts parents to spend more time with kids

Allison Schiff January 01, 2012

Striking a good work/life balance can be tough, which is why McDonald's Arabia enlisted Leo Burnett Dubai to spearhead "Family Time Forever." The campaign positions the chain as a family restaurant and aims to remind parents about the importance of spending quality time with their children.

Q&A: Tim Anderson, SVP of retail and foodservice, Challenge Dairy

Tim Peterson January 01, 2012

Tim Anderson, SVP of retail and foodservice, Challenge Dairy, on the company's use of engaging, interactive marketing.

Moms: 'It's YoCrunch time'

Allison Schiff December 01, 2011

YoCrunch's first integrated marketing campaign has moms in its cross-hairs.

Beyond Facebook and Twitter: PepsiCo understands on- and off-line social networking

Juan Martinez August 09, 2011

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi delivered the keynote at BlogHer 2011, a women's blogger conference, on August 6 in San Diego. I briefly spoke with Jamie Stein, director of digital initiatives for PepsiCo, about why the food and beverage company is making its third appearance at the annual event and why Pepsi is committed to digital, female-driven brand initiatives.

Tasti D-Lite selects Engage121 as its social CRM platform provider

Juan Martinez June 29, 2011

Frozen dessert company Tasti D-Lite has selected Engage121 as its social CRM platform provider as the company expands globally.

Suburban happy hour kings cultivate new customer relationship strategies

Frank Washkuch January 01, 2011

Direct marketing plays a major role in the consumer outreach efforts of competitive brands Chili's and TGI Friday's.

UFood hires Castle Group for social media, retail expansion

Juan Martinez December 06, 2010

UFood Restaurant Group, a franchisor and operator of healthy alternative food service restaurants, has hired PR and events marketing firm The Castle Group as its first marketing agency. The firm will help UFood launch its first social media initiatives and grow its businesses in the US military community.

Jamba Juice launches "Feel good" integrated effort

Dianna Dilworth October 07, 2009

Hoping to add a little joy to consumers' lives during the recession, Jamba Juice debuted the "Fall feel good moments" campaign on October 5. The integrated initiative ties to the brand's core message of "making people feel good" by giving them vouchers for various services, including coupons for products, tickets for subway rides and an umbrella for a rainy day.

Food Network expands borders, rate base and campaign

Lauren Bell July 23, 2009

Food Network brand continued its multichannel outreach efforts this week, launching a Food Network Canada mobile app for Blackberry and announcing another rate base hike for its eponymous magazine. With its January/February 2010 issue, Food Network Magazine will increase its rate base to 1 million copies. The glossy, published in partnership with Hearst Magazines, officially launched last month with a rate base of 400,000.

Qdoba adds mobile to loyalty efforts

Lauren Bell July 07, 2009

A group of 26 Qdoba stores, all owned by Aztec Partners LLC, is expanding its customer loyalty program into the mobile realm with a feature called Qdoba Mobile Rewards. The Mexican chain teamed with mobile loyalty company Tetherball to create the new program. Qdoba Mobile Rewards, which works in conjunction with the chain's existing, "QCard" program, offers rewards, coupons and special notifications to consumers through their phones when they opt in.

Sonny's Bar-B-Q taps Engauge to invigorate brand, boost online presence

Lauren Bell July 02, 2009

Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q has signed Engauge as its new agency of record, replacing seven-year incumbent AdPartners Inc.

Corporate dining group offers tiered loyalty program

Lauren Bell June 25, 2009

Food service management company Compass Group is working with First Data to roll out a new, tiered loyalty program nationwide. The two companies have been working together on payment and loyalty programs since February 2007. This year, they are rolling out ZipThru Rewards to Compass Group's corporate cafés and dining centers nationwide.

Meredith turns social site into magazine

Lauren Bell June 24, 2009

Meredith is launching a new magazine, Mixing Bowl, as an extension of its nascent social media site of the same name. MixingBowl.com, an online community focused on cooking and other food topics, soft-launched in February with invites to known online "mavens" in the space. The site, part of The Meredith Women's Network, now has 19,000 registered members and expects 180,000 unique visitors this month.