Krystal Restaurants Gives Away Energy Drinks Via Facebook, Twitter
NEW YORK -- Krystal restaurants launched a week-long giveaway to promote its new Krystal Blitz energy drink. Each day between now and August 17, the southern quick service chain will hide links on its Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube pages that direct participants to a coupon for a free 20-ounce Krystal Blitz. Once found, consumers can directly share the coupon with their friends by posting the URL to their own social media pages.
"Interactive and social marketing is very hot right now from a media consumption standpoint," said Brad Wahl, vice president of marketing for The Krystal Co. "We want to be relevant to today’s young consumer, who fits very well with today’s heavy fast food consumer. Social media is one of those ways for us to be relevant, unique and different as a brand."
Online guests can improve their chances of finding a coupon by visiting all of Krystal’s social media sites each day. Each URL will only remain live for a limited time—about 30 minutes to an hour—and each coupon is only valid for 24 hours. The company will post clues on its social media pages to help users find where and when each day’s coupon will be available.
"It’s good to see someone using the social net sites in a new and different way," said Bill Sipper, senior partner at Cascadia Consulting, when asked about Krystal’s strategy. "But are people going to really care enough to go through all that work? And the answer is that honestly I don’t know."
Wahl, however, is confident people will "engage and play" with Krystal online. Past online promotions offering chances to win free products, such as Krystal’s recent online video game show, have proven very successful as an incentive, he says. "You have the fun aspect of it: There is a little game that’s going on and it’s not just easy for everybody to get. That just adds to the intrigue of the interaction and the engagement with the brand."
The Krystal Blitz was launched across Krystal Restaurants’ 384 locations on July 17 of this year. The carbonated energy drink features a mix of enhancement ingredients including Taurine, Green Tea Extract and caffeine and is served to consumers in a 20-ounce cup either "on the rocks" or as a frozen treat.
"Interactive and social marketing is very hot right now from a media consumption standpoint," said Brad Wahl, vice president of marketing for The Krystal Co. "We want to be relevant to today’s young consumer, who fits very well with today’s heavy fast food consumer. Social media is one of those ways for us to be relevant, unique and different as a brand."
Online guests can improve their chances of finding a coupon by visiting all of Krystal’s social media sites each day. Each URL will only remain live for a limited time—about 30 minutes to an hour—and each coupon is only valid for 24 hours. The company will post clues on its social media pages to help users find where and when each day’s coupon will be available.
"It’s good to see someone using the social net sites in a new and different way," said Bill Sipper, senior partner at Cascadia Consulting, when asked about Krystal’s strategy. "But are people going to really care enough to go through all that work? And the answer is that honestly I don’t know."
Wahl, however, is confident people will "engage and play" with Krystal online. Past online promotions offering chances to win free products, such as Krystal’s recent online video game show, have proven very successful as an incentive, he says. "You have the fun aspect of it: There is a little game that’s going on and it’s not just easy for everybody to get. That just adds to the intrigue of the interaction and the engagement with the brand."
The Krystal Blitz was launched across Krystal Restaurants’ 384 locations on July 17 of this year. The carbonated energy drink features a mix of enhancement ingredients including Taurine, Green Tea Extract and caffeine and is served to consumers in a 20-ounce cup either "on the rocks" or as a frozen treat.