Online activity key to target young adults but offer must match up
SOCIAL media is a key method TGI Friday’s employs to engage a younger audience
Platforms such as Facebook have a large younger audience, although this form of new media is also gaining traction with an older demographic, which is an added bonus.
The TGI Friday’s Facebook page launched in July 2010 with the aim of targeting young adults and creating an extension of the Friday’s experience offered in the restaurants.
Young adults now expect a brand’s Facebook page to do more than simply ‘broadcast’ marketing messages, and are savvy with regards to what the best sites offer.
Friday’s most active and engaged fans are given vouchers to try new menu items at the time of launch, and are invited as VIP guests to special events.
Recently ‘ultimate fans’ attended the Guinness World Record simultaneous flair bartending attempt in Covent Garden and the ‘midnight clubs’, which took place at key stores across the country to celebrate Friday’s 25th birthday.
The aim is to drive online evangelists for the brand and for them to discuss their personal experiences as facilitated by Friday’s.
People expect a Facebook page to contain more than marketing messages.
Facebook was also used to introduce the innovative ‘cocktail genius’ app, which allows fans to enter personality traits of their friends and discover the perfect cocktail match from Friday’s extensive list.
After posting the cocktail on their friend’s Facebook page, fans are rewarded with a voucher for a cocktail at the 1986 rollback price of £2.99. This interactive approach is something young adults now expect from a brand.
Friday’s takes a similar ‘do it properly or not at all’ approach to YouTube.
It is a powerful social medium but young adults are discerning and expect good quality content.
To date, Friday’s has created a video of 101 bartenders breaking a Guinness World Record, travelled back through time to 1986 to celebrate 25 years in business, and made the bartenders super-human, thanks to some innovative special effects. The Guinness World Record video alone received 100,000 views in a matter of weeks.
Friday’s has embraced another form of new media – blogs.
Although bloggers are by no means exclusively young, it is a medium which has been embraced by a younger market keen to read and be read by others.
While Friday’s has employed several online and social media tactics to engage a younger audience, it is by no means limited to this.
The whole Friday’s experience is very much targeted at a young audience, from the legendary food and drink which we offer to the memorabilia which adorns our restaurants. The 20-somethings are constantly looking for new experiences, and we continue to develop our offering.
So while it is important to target young people through new technology and emerging media, it is also imperative the entire experience offered is tailored to this demographic.
