Transparency in Engagement Marketing, Part 1

“Why does your food look different in the advertising than what is in the store”?  This question was recently asked by a consumer and was answered by Hope Bagozzi, Director of Marketing, McDonald’s Canada.  Rather than brushing this question under the rug, McDonald’s seized upon the opportunity and used it to show how food photography  is produced and followed it up with an expose on how secret sauce is made. With a combined 5 million views on their You Tube videos it is easy to see that McDonald’s achieved marketing nirvana by practicing transparency in their marketing efforts.

What does it mean to be transparent in your marketing efforts?   Simply put, it is one of the best ways to practice engagement marketing.  While it is hard to find a concise definition of engagement marketing, it is best defined as:

Engagement Marketing: a marketing strategy that directly engages consumers and employees. It invites and encourages both to participate in the evolution of a brand.

In short, engagement marketing helps customers and store employees develop a relationship with the brand.

Here are some examples that have been used in the quick service restaurant and convenience store industry and why they work:

CBS’s hit series, Undercover Boss, has profiled many industries and has touched the Quick Service Restaurant and C-store industries.  In February, Undercover Boss profiled Checkers restaurants as they went behind the scenes with CEO Rick Silva. 

In one situation, Silva had a tense situation when he encountered a restaurant manager who was verbally abusing his employees.  Silva kept his cool, yet took action when he temporarily closed down the restaurant and rather than fire the manager, chose to have him retrained.  Throughout the piece, Silva showed his poise and humility when he admitted that he had a lot to learn as he had several “Lucille Ball” moments. This is exactly what consumer’s and employees like to see, a boss that freely admits he doesn’t know everything and one that takes decisive actions but treats others fairly.

In another episode of Undercover Boss, 7-Eleven seized on the opportunity to put their CEO, Joe DePinto on the front line.  He was first put on an orange 7-Eleven smock to handle rush hour at a busy store on Long Island. (See this link when DePinto, aka: “Danny” teams up with 18 year store veteran Delores.) DePinto then got to try his hand at making doughnuts in the corporate bakery in Baltimore and thirdly, distribute fresh food and sandwiches on the night shift in North Texas.  Since its premiere, DePinto's Undercover Boss segment has rerun twice on CBS and been picked up all over the world. Like other CEO’s featured on the show, DePinto gained a new appreciation for store-level employees:  "Our franchisees and our store managers are the ones who get it done every day with our customers.  

So what does a leading national franchise do when their focus group tells them that their product is “the worst they’ve ever had? We’ll look at this next week.  We’ll also further define engagement marketing in very practical terms.