CKE Restaurants has found a new way to engage its target audience (males 18 to 34) by bringing consumers to an interactive living room complete with a 42-inch flat screen TV and streaming video, fast food, a working remote control and a video game controller.
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| CKE Restaurants targets males 18-34 with its new interactive Web site. |
The parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants, has created a lifestyle image for its core audience through revamped Web sites at
www.carlsjr.com and
www.hardees.com. CKE has teamed up with Spacedog, an interactive marketing agency based in Los Angles, CA, to create a destination for the QSRs’ main consumers – “young, hungry guys.”
The new Web sites give consumers a new way to experience the brands and a taste of the young male lifestyle with the click of a mouse by dropping visitors into a young man’s living room. Each QSR features a different style living room. The flat screen T.V. streams video clips and mini commercials, including Paris Hilton’s Carl’s Jr. commercial and a trailer of The Matrix Online videogame.
Visitors can click on any item on the coffee table, including a cell phone to find out where Hardee’s or Carl’s Jr. restaurants are located, a wallet to print a $1 coupon off a burger, or a video game controller to play an online game. Consumers can also use the remote control to select different “channels” or streaming ads on screen.
“The Web site provides a more hands-on experience,” said Roger Mincheff, president of Spacedog. “What the site has become is a direct extension of the brand and its message. It literally puts you in [the male consumer’s] world.”
Not only does the Web site tout Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s brands, but it taps into what the brands’ target audience really enjoy — gaming, TV, eating and having fun.
“The hungry young male doesn’t just eat, he plays video games, he reads,” Mincheff said. “It’s really all about the lifestyle.”
The Web site also changes according to the time of day consumers visit. For example, visitors who log during the morning will see Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. breakfast food featured on the coffee table. Consumers who log on in the evening will see a night scene outside the living room window and the restaurants’ dinner food featured on the table.
To add further fun to the brand, consumers can also click on a picture frame that contains a photo of model/actress Cameron Richardson who starred in CKE’s “Bull” commercial first shown at Carl’s Jr. in 2003. Consumers who click on the picture can listen to and leave messages for the actress.
CKE updated the Web sites to better communicate its brand message and give visitors “a personality…that they didn’t have before,” said Tina Long, director of public relations for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s.
“They’ve become an interactive playground,” Long said of the Web sites. “We hope to build a positive relationship with site visitors by providing them with relevant information, promotional benefits, and reasons to try – or continue to enjoy – our food in our restaurants.”
CKE features about 10 promotion partners on the Web sites, including THQ, Warner Bros. feature films, NAMCO, Ubisoft Games and Maxium. The company selected partners that reach similar demographics as its brands, Long said. The revamped Web sites will remain up indefinitely, she said.
The Web site’s interactive components pave the way for future promotions and giveaways, Mincheff said. Syntax Groups Corporations has already provided eight 26-inch Olevia LCD TVs for promotional contest prizes on the two Web sites. The Olevia TV is featured on both sites.
Carl’s Jr. is already promoting a sweepstakes through the site. Consumers who log on to www.carlsjr.com and click on the Maxim magazine can enter to win a party in their own living with Maxim models. The magazine takes viewers to a layout of Maxim models and invites consumers 21 and older to enter the Carl’s Jr. and Maxim In Your Living Room sweepstakes.
Consumers must log onto www.maximonline.com to complete an entry form. One grand-prize winner will receive a party for 40 people, with waitress service provided by Maxim models, food from Carl’s Jr., gift bags for guests, entertainment by a DJ and a photographer. The sweepstakes runs through June 14. The winner will be announced on June 20. Internet materials support.
“Maxim appeals to our core demo of young men and is highly popular and relevant to this age group,” Long said. “The magazine is an authority on guys and “cool,” and we are proud to be associated with it. The partnership simply furthers our efforts to reach our core male consumer.”
The promotion is not out of the ordinary for Carl’s Jr. Traditionally, ads for Carl’s Jr. have been “edgy and provocative,” Long said.
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