Applebee's Franchise Drives Lunch Traffic with QR Cat

By Brian Quinton

A top Applebee's franchisee has been driving lunch-time sales with a 14-minutes-or-free guarantee. And part of that campaign is a tabletop picture of a cat that can be made to "talk" with a QR code.




The promotion, rolled in in June, has been successful enough to generate 65,000 code scans so far and a 4.9% increase over pre-launch sales in the lunch category.

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How Text Lists Will Affect the 2012 Presidential Race

By Mary Jane Acito Crenson

It is no surprise both list brokers and marketers are gearing up for the 2012 Election. Donor and voter lists are being evaluated as marketers prepare to get the word out for political parties and hopeful candidates. Will text messaging be part of the mix?




Most certainly. Response to text messaging is strong. Open rates hover consistently at 96% to 99%. An email or postal message carries more information but may not experience the same reader involvement. Here's some ideas on how candidates may be using this cost effective medium.

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Shopkick Partners with CPG, Grocery Brand for Rewards via Loyalty Card

By Brian Quinton

In its first partnership with a supermarket chain, location-based mobile app Shopkick will let customers at almost 300 Giant Eagle supermarkets link their loyalty cards to the app and get rewards for buying products, not simply scanning their bar codes.




The prospect of rewarding customer for buying has led three of the biggest CPG brands-- Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods and Unilever-- to agree to test shopper check-in rewards on an array of their product lines sold at Giant Eagle.

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