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LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery Strategic Plan
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WHAT WE DO.
MAJIC = COMMUNICATIONS
STORYTELLERS
It has been said that an idea is only as strong as it is told. Here at MAJIC, we do just that. We are storytellers. We share your unique story to the world, making sure your message reads loud and clear to your audience. From branding to advocacy and media relations, we cover the full 360 when it comes to communicating your story.
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HERE IS HOW WE TELL THE
STORY In human nature, it is our appetite that drives us and defines us. We eat to prepare for the day. We eat to celebrate. We eat to get through that big meeting, or we eat to socialize. We eat when we are happy or at times when we are sad. Fact of the matter is we don’t eat just because we’re hungry. We eat because we want to taste our lives.
Don’t just live your life,
Live your appetite.
Takeout and Delivery your appetite
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY How we can tell your story. About Majic: MAJIC is a public relations firm comprised of professionals committed to providing clients with the kind of narrative-oriented communication that provides results. We here at Majic recognize that great PR comes from great planning, and we are able and willing to do the unglamorous work if it means glamorous results. The Challenge. LivingSocial is rolling out its Takeout and Delivery offering in markets across the United States. While a great service, it faces several obstacles: •
•
•
Competition: LivingSocial faces stiff competition in the onlineordering market in the form of Grubhub, Seamless and Campusfood. These competitors have been in the market for a while and have established loyal followers and elaborate customer review systems. Need for differentiation: With the increasingly crowded onlineordering market, LivingSocial’s service needs to stand out from the crowd to attract both merchants and customers. Not Always a “Deal”: Since LivingSocial is known as an online coupon company, it will be important for us to make it clear what this service does and does not offer.
Goals. Majic will promote the new Takeout and Delivery service in the markets of Atlanta, Chicago and Miami. The goal is not only to raise awareness of the offering but also to increase the usage. This will attract a larger following for LivingSocial in these markets, which will benefit both LivingSocial and the merchants that the company works with.
Target Market. For each city Majic has selected a different target market. In Atlanta, the aim is to recruit start-up restaurants to work with LivingSocial and specifically Takeout and Delivery. By increasing the number of restaurants using the service, Takeout and Delivery can attract more customers who might crave a wider variety. In Chicago, the business center of the Midwest, Majic is targeting yuppies. These young workers have money to spend but not the time to go grocery shopping or cook dinner. Majic hopes to capitalize on the situation by providing them with the Takeout and Delivery service. For Miami, Majic has targeted the jet setters. This means communicating how Takeout and Delivery opens up diverse, international food options to the affluent residents of the city.
Strategies. We have devised four strategies to play to LivingSocial’s strengths and the market’s opportunities. • Position LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery as a service for instant gastronomic gratification. • Utilize key influencers in communicating the message of convenience in LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery. • Leverage LS’s strong merchant relations as a differentiator to other takeout and delivery services. • Employ new media to show how Takeout and Delivery adds value to the LivingSocial experience for both merchants and customers.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY How we can tell your story. By providing an overarching direction for the campaign these strategies ensured an integrated, consistent campaign. Messages. The key messages Majic is committed to conveying for LivingSocial are: • LivingSocial respects and protects merchants more than any other online ordering service. • LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery service is a quick and convenient way to get the food you crave. Tactics. The following tactics were chosen because they align with our overarching strategies and offer the best chance of success. • What’s Your Craving? Utilize social media to incite public discussion about their food cravings and how LivingSocial Takeout and Delivery service can instantly satisfy their craving. • Free Time is Me Time. Have city’s key influencers share their stories on what they were able to accomplish by ordering from Takeout and Delivery rather than cooking. This tactic will encourage dialogue between members on the time saved and the overall convenience from using the LS service. • Merchant Secrets. Use visual media to showcase the care and attention put in preparing a delicious dish, generating publicity for the merchants and the Takeout and Delivery service.
Timeline. The strategies and tactics outlined can start as soon as the service is launched and continue indefinitely. Each tactic can run indefinitely with little maintenance after the initial launch. Budget. Going digital allows an extraordinary reach without the financial burden of using traditional mediums. Besides staff time to manage the tactics, Majic foresees only two major expenses: • $10,000 What’s Your Craving website design and maintenance, taking into consideration the different features that are to be included. • $10,000 What’s Your Craving mobile application programming and maintenance, again depending on the quality deemed necessary by LivingSocial • Those two large expensive plus professional expenses and media launch related expenses will total to $31,420. Evaluation. With the tactics being so web-based, tracking becomes much easier. Using online metrics it will be possible to see not only how many times the blogs and websites are visited, but also the social media buzz surrounding the new offering.
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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
Synopsis: LivingSocial (LS) has a reasonably high merchant satisfaction compared to other companies. However, they have a relatively negative customer service image in recent media. Although LS has been making many efforts in utilizing all social media outlets, their tactics (or lack thereof) are not used to its full potential compared to competitors who make many efforts in engaging their fans. With several big brands such as GrubHub and Seamless that already have a wide network of followers, the biggest challenge we face is getting customers to “make the switch” to takeout and delivery. That said, LS has plenty of opportunity to follow suit with big competitors and reach out to customers on both the digital and grassroots levels. Much more, the combination of being a well-known brand and having other services to offer will allow them to position themselves as a one-stop shop for everyone's “instant” needs--whether for deals or food.
A GLIMPSE:
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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
LivingSocial’s Reputation: 10 Insights on Current Perceptions MERCHANT INTERACTION
CUSTOMER INTERACTION
•Discontentment from small business owners. Few good stories are out there but you can find stories of LivingSocial costing small business owners money. US News and World Report ran a story with an anecdote of LivingSocial and other deal sites putting a Chicago restaurant out of business, citing numbers that merchants don’t plan to repeat deals
• Enables trying new things in the area. Yelping “LivingSocial” in brings up many reviews. In Miami the first ten painted the interactions positively eight times and negatively twice, Chicago 6:4, Atlanta 8:2
• Better “merchant customer service” than Groupon. Groupon is portrayed as bigger but lacking LivingSocial’s personal touch. CNNMoney had a story about a Chicago-based merchant’s great customer service experience with Living Social and his terrible experience with Groupon
• Buying things on the Internet remains risky. Daily Deal Media, an industry publication, reported on a widely run story of a chef refusing to honor his daily deal in Indianapolis (close to Chicago)
•Quietly profitable. While stories of deals gone wrong are often told, BusinessInsider heralded a LivingSocial survey of its merchants that found that 85% of business owners expected to break-even or make a profit eventually through participating in daily deals.
• It is innovative. Chicago Sun-Times reports LivingSocial offered Cyber Monday deals whereas Chicago-based Groupon did not
• The deals are funny, but tread a thin line. The Chicago Examiner criticized a LivingSocial deal that portrayed women in negative light, comparing older women to basset hounds • Great way to save money during these tough economic times. CBS.com highlights Living Social and other deal sites as great money savers
• Wearily optimistic of LivingSocial’s potential. InsideOut, a blog for small businesses marketing on the internet, warns of the dangers of using deal sites but also lauds their potential to bring in more customers. • It brings in tough customers. MeasuredUp.com, which takes customer reviews of businesses, gives a negative review of LivingSocial’s ability to bring in loyal customers.
Chart on profitability based on Business Insider
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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
LivingSocial’s Communication and Outreach Report
They do not interact with their audience in a meaningful way on Facebook. All of the negative comments are ignored or handled somewhere off Facebook, leaving visitors with the impression the claims of bad service are true.
LEGEND: divides deals into a variety of categories to cater to each target audience, from college students seeking instant delivery to parents searching for family activities
aesthetically appealing, modern look
informal, youthful language
WEBSITE
Email notifications drive audience to the promotion and other promotions on the LS website. An idea would be to have some kind of live chat or ‘post comments’ area, allowing viewers to communicate and share their thoughts on both the promotions and LS. The details included are promotional, persuasive interesting, and effectively communicate their message – this is a good deal
outstanding adequate inadequate
Can see how many purchases there have been; gives audience an idea of a promotion’s popularity
The takeout and delivery section offers a friendly formatted, online food ordering system; does not have much distinction from other online food ordering systems
Three commercials, 30 images of previous ads, two posts on wall with a poll and an announcement on CyberMonday
FACEBOOK Users say it all....
Uses notes section as a channel for press releases including Nov. 15 instant access, seems written to both attract customers and businesses
59,480 Likes Their audience is very online savvy, so ignoring a huge medium like Facebook doesn’t make sense. They should be answering people’s complaints on Facebook and making it apparent LS provides great customer service.
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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
LivingSocial’s Communication and Outreach Report tweets on promotions every few days
YOUTUBE
actively engaged with followers; consistent tweet replies to everyone
TWITTER Question tweets don't seem to have direct link to promotions (ex. What's everyone listening to to get through hump day?) but they are actively engaged with their followers.
The channel views is 36,921, and total uploaded views 1,069,744. LS has uploaded 279 videos.
authentic and conversational tweets Other Twitter handles but no direct link from the twitter page.
Twitter is also directly accessible from their Mobile App, making it that much easier to tweet about the deals people just purchased.
MOBILE APP
The promotion is mostly for their website versus a specific type of deal
Use real customers to post their positive experience with LivingSocial deals-what escapes they used, massages they had, and excellent meals.
Although the commercials are engaging, interesting, fun and promotional, LS doesn’t interact with the audience. They have not responded to comments posted and seem to simply post and move on.
OTHERS
Have a handle of press releases for more business related items (not for their everyday customers).
Android and iPhone mobile Maps and information on deals and locations easily apps accessible 4.5 out of 5 stars, iPhone Frequent mobile alert 4 out of 5 stars, Android notifications of new deals 2,648 votes - iPhone 6,272 votes - Android
Accessibility to other social media Facebook/Twitter
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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
Sizing Up the Competition: A media audit on top three competitors SOCIAL MEDIA TRACKER: • 28,880 Active monthly users • 495 talking about GrubHub
BEST PRACTICES • GrubHub has a brand identity of making food ordering fun, interactive, customer-friendly, and “goofy” •Acquired Dotmenu in late 2011 • Dotmenu is the umbrella over two online ordering websites: Campusfood and Allmenus, and Campusfood and Allmenus are known for their ability to connect with college students • With the acquisition of Dotmenu, Grubhub’s college marketing will expand • Social media outreach gives clients a feel for the fun kind of company that Grubhub portrays
• Have a Grubhub’r of the Week Tab that features cartoon versions of their employees and intersting facts about them • Very quick to respond to customer posts • Aesthetically pleasing welcome page •11,570 Followers • 3,620 Following •5,347 Tweets • Recent pictures include “goofy” employee pictures as well as pictures of food. One can see the employees are food-centered, fun, and love their jobs • Anywhere from 2 to 10 tweets per day
•4 ½ star rating for both Android and Apple • Ratings and recommendations • Cannot sort or customize to Seamless’ extent • Recent customer reviews are bad-complaints regarding app glitches •(http://blog.grubhub.com/) •Links directly to GrubHub site • goofy pictures of GrubHub employees eating or drinking •Very casual language and blog posts at least three times a month
• Friendly and goofy personality of the company is evident
WEAKNESSES •YouTube channel could be more interactive and reach more people
•23 Videos
•Fake reviews can boost a restaurants rating (as of now there is no honestly policy)
•7,645 Video views
•No points or rewards system • No strongly distinguished from Seamless
•25 Subscribers
•Videos range from app tutorials to news segments and goofy plays on holidays like the Groundhog Day video.
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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
Sizing Up the Competition: A media audit on top three competitors SOCIAL MEDIA TRACKER: •Over 32,000 Likes on Facebook •Have an Order Now page, a link to download their Mobile App page, Job Postings page BEST PRACTICES • Have over 7,500 restaurants in 37 cities across the US and also available in London • Search quickly sorts all restaurants and gives information on ratings and reviews, price range, delivery/pick-up time, delivery/pick-up fee minimum, and distance from location • Restaurants can then be filtered to emphasize any of these categories • Seamless caters towards corporations making ordering lunch for a big office easy (one online order for everyone even at multiple restaurants) •They also have catering options, on-site dining options, a virtual café (for those meals not compensated for by the company), a savings calculater, and exclusive deals just for corporations • Recently bought MenuPages (which is a database of 35,000 menus and customer reviews) • 24/7 Customer Care
•Refer a friend on Facebook to receive a $10 credit (and your friend receives $5) •Very interactive wall – customers can post reviews/ questions and Seamless promotes deals or engages with their users
•Fast, instant, online ordering •Can search, sort, and filter restaurants you want to use •Map is available to see location of any restaurant
•Customers can post photos of them eating food from Seamless
•(http://thedeliverybag.com/)
•Links to actual website, Twitter Page, and Seamless Blog
•Links directly to Seamless Online Ordering •Gives updates on restaurants and giveaways
•4,574 Following
•Posts range from new restaurants in different cities, to staff favorites, or highlighting funny Tweets @Seamless
•15,913 Followers
•Have a new blog post everyday
•Twitter account fairly interactive with customers – replies to any Tweets directed towards them, negative or positive
•Pages include tips on ordering, FAQs
•8,888 Tweets
•All photos are of food available through Seamless or of employees enjoying food (no customer photographs)
NOT-SO-BEST PRACTICES
•Hard to find account
•YouTube channel could be more interactive and reach more people
•9 subscribers
•Fake reviews can boost a restaurants rating (as of now there is no honestly policy)
•42 videos
•No points or rewards system
•4 ½ star rating for current version (4 star rating overall)
Easy assortment and navigation
•4,782 video views
•Videos range from ‘How-To-Order’ to funny ordering but no video has over 200 views
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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
Sizing Up the Competition: A media audit on top three competitors SOCIAL MEDIA TRACKER:
BEST PRACTICES • Have a wide membership network • Assorts customers by campuses • Elaborate rewards system-- users can receive badges from ordering the 10th time to ordering something in the wee hours of the morning; badges amount to discounts eventually • Very elaborate and easy search customization-- can arrange by category, price, daily discounts promoted by the merchants themselves, distance of the food, delivery time, and even which restaurants are currently open to serve • The publicity on the company’s on-campus visits to give free food and merchandise to college students is an excellent grassroots tactic •Half-time commercial competition is an excellent idea to engage fans NOT-SO-BEST PRACTICES •Really should work on creating a mobile app
• Over 36,762 Likes on Facebook
• Surprisingly no current app
• 166 talking about it
• Users have voiced strong opinions to have one-- currently under consideration
• Contain two customized static html tabs featuring their half-time commercial contest, and its associated YouTube video • Contains a Flicker tab which contains all the images from their grassroots reach-out at college campuses • Constant status updates and many fan interaction on the page make the campusfood very engaging.
•(http://thedeliverybag.com/) •Links directly to Seamless Online Ordering •Gives updates on restaurants and giveaways
• Lots of posts on the recent contest
•Posts range from new restaurants in different cities, to staff favorites, or highlighting funny Tweets @Seamless
•469 Tweets
•Have a new blog post everyday
•1,870 Following
•Pages include tips on ordering, FAQs
•4,998 Followers •Twitter account very interactive with customers – replies to any Tweets directed towards them, negative or positive
• No official YouTube site, but Campusfood
has hosted several eating contests that third party users have posted video of
• No photos Rewards system that generates loyalty
• Could widen customer network if they increased social media outreach by having a blog Examples of Badges:
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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
Sizing Up the Competition: LESSONS AND OPPORTUNITIES
• GrubHub’s unique personality is appealing and relatable to customers, their social media tactics and messages allow them to convey this as well as engage customers in participating with their “GrubHub” activities • LS could use this as a model to strengthen their brand personality in how they reach out to customers. •LS can work on implementing more social media activities for their many followers, like GrubHub does
• Seamless’ blog on online ordering gives tips and FAQs on their service. LS should put their own blog up solely for online ordering so that they can distinguish that specific service from their discounted deals
• Campusfood has a rewards system, which reinforces customer loyalty-- even though LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery isn’t discounted, they can utilize a reward system (with or without their daily deals section) that would encourage people to use them over others.
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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
strengths
weaknesses
• Statistically high merchant contentment due to 85% of merchants that either broke even or made a profit. • Highly known, watched and popular brand, despite being a startup, so getting the word out will not be difficult • Despite some customer complaints, still have a solid customer base with many downloads and high ratings on mobile apps • Already have situated their casual and fun brand personality on their site and social media efforts
• Current negative perceptions on purchasing-customer service • Lack of differentiation from other online-ordering sites • Difficulty to get college students to switch to using LS for food ordering; Campus food, All Menus and GrubHub are well known for their marketing and connection with college students • No clear differentiation communicated between full-price food ordering and discounted deals
THE S.W.O.T. opportunities • LivingSocial can publicize and brand themselves more strongly in terms of their merchant relations to differentiate themselves from competition that otherwise have questionable merchant relations-- further research must be made on this •Because Living Social is tapping into on-the-go online food ordering, and are already known for on-the-go deals, there is opportunity to position themselves as a one-stop shop for everyone's instant needs--- whether deals or food
threats • Seamless’ wide network of followers poses as a threat. That plus LS’s competition with Groupon makes LS seem like the underdog • Merchant’s lack of follow through and communication during the order process could threaten the reputation of LS’s dependability to deliver • Other competitors have elaborate customer reviews and history of success in service-- their credibility is a threat to LS
• Their big network of merchants and discounted deals will allow them to combine their daily deals with online ordering as a tactic to promote and build some followers
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GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Assessing the In’s and Out’s of the Current Situation
Goals. Majic will promote the new Takeout and Delivery service in the markets of Atlanta, Chicago and Miami. The goal is not only to raise awareness of the offering but also to increase the usage in a way that will make it a sizable competition to companies like GrubHub and Seamless. The strategic plan will attract a larger following for LivingSocial in these markets, which will benefit both LivingSocial and the merchants that the company works with. Objectives: • Drive traffic to the LivingSocial Blog and social network pages. • Raise awareness of Take Out & Delivery by 25% ◦ Measurable by Twitter "followers" & Facebook "likes" • Increase number of merchants participating in Takeout and Delivery by 30% in each city • Increase sales of Living Social Takeout and Delivery by 35% within five months of media launch
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TARGET AUDIENCE Profiles of three city hot spots
MIAMI • •
• • •
Males: 49.7% Females: 50.3%
• • • • •
72.6% White (includes White Hispanic)
As of 2010, the ethnic composition of Miami was as follows:
11.9% Non-Hispanic White 19.2% African American or Black
• •
59.5% of residents are foreign born
•
Miami International is the second-largest international port of entry for foreign air passengers
Miami ranked as the richest city in the country and fifth in the world in terms of purchasing power of its residents.
1.0% Asian 0.3% American Indian or Alaskan Native
As of 2010, the ethnic composition of Miami was as follows: 45% White (includes White Hispanic) 31.7% Non-Hispanic White 32.9% Black or African American 5.5% Asian
ATLANTA
Metro area is the seventh most populous and fifth-largest urban area in the United States, with a population of around 5.5 million.
Median resident age: 37.7 years
Males: 48.5% Females: 51.5%
• • • •
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Third most populous urban area with a population of 9.5 million
• • • • •
Over 250,000 business firms in the city Home to 11 Fortune 500 companies 20% of population is between the ages of 25-34 Population of about 2.7 million 32.2% of adults over 25 have a bachelor’s degree
• •
Males: 49.8% Females: 50.2%
• • • • •
72.6% White (includes White Hispanic)
As of 2010, the ethnic composition of Miami was as follows:
38.4% Non-Hispanic White 54% African American or Black 3.1% Asian 1,100 restaurants in the city
CHICAGO
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Ninth most populous urban area with a population of 5.4 million
• •
130 retail centers Second most shopping center space per capita
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!
TARGET AUDIENCE Key Influencers Identified in the Three Cities MICHELLE BERNSTEIN Restaurant owner, celebrity chef
MIAMI
ABOUT: Appearances on “Top Chef” and “The Today Show.”; operates two restaurants in Miami, Michy’s and Sra. Martinez; the menus reflect the international population; one of the most visible and respected chef’s in the Miami area
SARA GRUENEBERG Contestant from Top Chef
RESIDES: Chicago, IL AGE: 30 PROFESSION: Executive Chef Spiaggia (and of sister restaurant Cafe Spiaggia) CULINARY EDUCATION: School of Culinary Arts at The Art Institute
!
ATLANTA
CHRIS JONES Contestant from Top Chef
DOUGLASS RODRIGUEZ Celebrity Chef, specializes on Cuban food. ABOUT: Known for bringing the Cuban cuisine to the American mainstream; Over 20 years of restaurant success; invitations from David Letterman and appearances on “Top Master Chef.”; books about Latin cuisine have positioned him as a leading voice in the restaurant scene.
!
Miami Herald (MH), read by many has a “Ask the Restaurant Critic” section •one can ask a question which will be sent to the critics, to then receive a response •MH can include an article on LivingSocial both in the food critics area, or in the Entertainment section (restaurants)
STEPHANIE IZARD Restaurant owner, Top Chef Winner
!
RESIDES: Chicago, IL AGE: 30 PROFESSION: Chef de Cuisine, Moto Restaurant, Chicago CULINARY EDUCATION: School of hard knocks – self-taught
JANINE FALVO Contestant, Last Chance Kitchen RESIDES: Atlanta, GA AGE: 38 PROFESSION: Executive Chef, Briza Restaurant, Renaissance Atlanta Mown CULINARY EDUCATION: Pennsylvania Culinary Institute
ABOUT: Came into Chicago food scene in 2006 with her own restaurant Scylla; identified as top 10 restaurant in the nation by Bon Appetit magazine; participated and won the competition for Top Chef season 4; has written a cook book and will soon be opening a second restaurant. FOLLOWERS: 23,000 followers on Twitter
TYLER PERRY Actor and Producer ABOUT: Highest paid man in entertainment last year according to Forbes magazine; over 600,000 Twitter followers; known for ! charity work for causes around Atlanta.
CHICAGO
As described on the Bravo website, “The series delves into the lives of six sassy women from Atlanta's social elite.” The show could place a mentioning and website view/scene of LivingSocial, having cast talk about it.
!
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TARGET AUDIENCE The Jet-setters, Yuppies and Start-up Restauranteurs
MIAMI JET SETTERS
CHICAGO YUPPIES
MERCHANT:
ATLANTA
START-UP RESTAURANTEURS
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TARGET AUDIENCE The Jet-setters, Yuppies and Start-up Restauranteurs MESSAGE
SUPPORTING FACTS
MIAMI JET SETTERS
• • • •
Miami has the largest cruise ship port in the world Nearly 12 million people visited Miami in 2009 Miami is home to 150+ ethnicities and 60+ languages This diversity is reflected in the variety of restaurants
MESSAGE PROFILE OF A JET SETTER: Demographics
• Ages 19- 60 • Upper middle class to upper class • Household income of $80,000 to $150,000 Psychographics
• Loves experiencing and living the “good life” • Eats for “taste,” not for “hunger” • Always entertains; will throw parties and get-
togethers that almost always have catered or ordered food
LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery provides you with a variety of cuisine selections instantly.
• Well traveled, has tried a variety of cuisines • Self- proclaimed Epicure • Picky about food---always wants good quality • Hates to wait, prioritizes convenience; looking for the next instant thing
SUPPORTING FACTS •
Technographics
• Avid smartphone and tablet user; always online • Strong user of social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs), publishes their life on social media
• Tech-savvy, early adopter, trend follower--looking for the next hype
LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery reduces the hassle in providing the foods you crave for any size party.
• •
Taco Bell’s Touchdown 5 buck box deal illustrates a growing trend of quick-service restaurants moving towards large gathering offerings An increase in pizza ordering on weekdays indicates people’s desire for instant gratification Recent research has indicated a strong correlation between food cravings and ordering take-out
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TARGET AUDIENCE The Jet-setters, Yuppies and Start-up Restauranteurs MESSAGE
LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery service saves you the time and energy put in preparing your meals.
SUPPORTING FACTS •
CHICAGO YUPPIES
Millennials spend more than half of their food dollars on takeout indicating their busy schedule and need for gastronomic convenience Chicago is home to eleven Fortune 500 companies with over 250,000 firms in the city Workforce of over 4 million Chicago is the #1 City for Recent Grads, according to GradSpot.com
• • •
MESSAGE PROFILE OF A YUPPIE
Psychographics
.Demographics
• Works exhaustively long hours. • Extremely busy; doesn’t have
• Aged 21-35 years • Income of 35-50k a year. • Educated young professionals
looking to make a mark in their career
• Bachelor’s Degrees, some hold Master’s Degrees
• Single or in a relationship (or it’s complicated)
• Looking for the most efficient way to get something done
Technographics
time to cook, has a refrigerator full of microwave meals
• Tech-savvy, keeps up with the
• Work hard, play hard attitude--
• Frequent buyer of productivity
will invest in simple luxuries to reward self (shopping, nights out, getting the latest tech gadget)
• Loves living and experiencing the “city life”
latest phones and laptops apps
• Sleeps with their smartphone under their pillow
LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery’s customizable food selection allows you to pick the right meal for the right price.
SUPPORTING FACTS • •
Young people are becoming more price conscious; shopping around more Young consumers 50% more likely to try new food
• Strong user of social media
(Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, Salesforce); publishes their life on social media
MAJIC
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TARGET AUDIENCE The Jet-setters, Yuppies and Start-up Restauranteurs MESSAGE
MERCHANT:
ATLANTA
START-UP RESTAURANTEURS
PROFILE OF START-UP RESTAURANTEURS • New and recently opened restaurants trying to expand their customer base • Menus contains many secret family recipes, prides themselves in the authenticity of their food; truly believes that they will hit big with the right steps • The flyers and posters that they’ve been posting have had minimal effect • Already providing delivery and pick-up service to gain more clients • Already experimenting with social media sites to, fairly familiar with the web and digital devices
EXAMPLE of Target Audience:
LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery is a fail-safe way to tap into thousands of potential customers for your new business.
SUPPORTING FACTS •
Difficult to break into restaurant business-- over 1,100 restaurants in the city
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60 million LivingSocial members worldwide.
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According to BusinessInsider, 85% LivingSocial merchants have either broken even or made profit
MESSAGE
Shaun Doty, the co-founder and executive chef of Yeah Burger, is trying his hand at chicken. Doty will open a fast casual chicken concept that serves local free-range and pastured poultry at Ansley Mall. The restaurant is set to open in September 2012 but a lease has not been signed, according to the ABC’s report.
LivingSocial makes the best effort to build strong relationships with merchant more than any other company.
SUPPORTING FACTS •
LivingSocial takes pride in their Merchant Bill of Rights, which differentiates themselves from other food ordering companies.
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STRATEGIES AND TACTICS How we can tell your story.
The three main take-aways from analyzing the situation and target audience
LIVING SOCIAL’S TAKEOUT AND DELIVERY
SATISFACTION IN FOOD
SAVES TIME AND ENERGY
GOOD FOR MERCHANTS
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STRATEGIES AND TACTICS How we can tell your story.
TRANSLATING INSIGHTS INTO STRATEGIES LIVING SOCIAL’S TAKEOUT AND DELIVERY
SATISFACTION IN FOOD
• Position LivingSocial’s
Takeout and Delivery as a service for instant gastronomic gratification.!
SAVES TIME AND ENERGY
• Utilize key influencers in
communicating the message of convenience in LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery.
GOOD FOR MERCHANTS
• Leverage LS’s strong
merchant relations as a differentiator to other takeout and delivery services. • Use new media to show how Takeout and Delivery adds value to the LivingSocial experience for both merchants and customers.
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STRATEGIES AND TACTICS How we can tell your story.
TRANSLATING INSIGHTS INTO STRATEGIES INTO TACTICS LIVING SOCIAL’S TAKEOUT AND DELIVERY
SATISFACTION IN FOOD
• Position LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery as a service for instant gastronomic gratification.!
What’s Your Craving?
SAVES TIME AND ENERGY
• Utilize key influencers in
communicating the message of convenience in LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery.
Free Time Is Me Time.
GOOD FOR MERCHANTS
• Leverage LS’s strong merchant
relations as a differentiator to other takeout and delivery services. • Use new media to show how Takeout and Delivery adds value to the LivingSocial experience for both merchants and customers.
Merchant’s Secrets
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STRATEGIES AND TACTICS How we can tell your story.
What’s Your Craving?
GENERAL OVERVIEW: Using social media to incite public forum about their food cravings and how LivingSocial Takeout and Delivery service can instantly satisfy their cravings.
DETAILS
• “What’s your craving?” will be an online site where LS members can share posts about the food they love and crave and suggest restaurants to satisfy that craving. • The site can work like Google Adwords where restaurants and related cuisines drawn from the comment thread can be featured on the side so that people can order from them instantly. • This tactic can be a supplement to LivingSocial’s pilot SocialStudies website. RATIONALE: from a CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE: • Associating gastronomic satisfaction with the Takeout and Delivery service: Where do food cravings come from? Many research studies suggest that mental imagery may be a key component of food cravings -- when people crave a specific food, they have vivid images of that food. • This tactic will utilize this phenomenon to help members develop or realize their food craving, and position LivingSocial as the very service that instantly satisfies it at a touch of a button. • Inciting discussion of foods allows members to share their experiences with other merchant foods and suggest these to each other.
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An online behavior study found that 39% of those surveyed engaged in social network conversation about potential purchases.
• There are lots of food forums online already but are disjointed, aesthetically outdated and not centralized. from a MERCHANT PERSPECTIVE:
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• Suggesting actual foods from restaurants will drive new customers, and allow free promotion of the merchant’s cuisine. • Having real, everyday support or suggestion of restaurants to others provides a kind of credibility to the restaurant that is genuine and believable. SUGGESTED METHODS OF EXECUTION e.g. What’s your craving can be either 1. integrated on the takeout delivery sit or 2. be a completely separate site. It can be organized by cuisine and tags. • Activity on this site can have a rewards system just like Campusfood-- either a badge system a restaurant expert etc and can be shared through all social media portals Facebook, Twitter etc. Sample facebook post, “I just satisfied my craving with LS’s Takeout and Delivery!”
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STRATEGIES AND TACTICS How we can tell your story.
What’s Your Craving?
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STRATEGIES AND TACTICS How we can tell your story.
Free Time Is Me Time.
GENERAL OVERVIEW: In partnership with each city’s key influencers, LivingSocial will share stories on what they were able to accomplish with the time they saved by ordering from Takeout & Delivery instead of preparing the meals themselves.
DETAILS: • Key Influencers (foodies and non-foodies) will fill in the blanks of a quirky form that shows how much they can get accomplished while getting their food delivered to them instead of cooking. • These stories will be posted on LivingSocial’s site as well as whatever social media the key influencers use (i.e. their blog/Twitter/Facebook etc.) • This can start a conversation between customers and LS about the benefits and convenience of ordering food from LS. • Customers using LS Takeout & Delivery will be encouraged to share their own stories on what they were able to accomplish. • These customer-generated stories can be utilized on a LivingSocial blog or any other venue deemed appropriate by LivingSocial staff. RATIONALE: • The tactic has a strong backing in proven evidence. It is known that using the key influencers as opinion leaders will spread the new offering faster than if opinion leaders were not used. • It is also good to know that people who use interactive social media like filling out our template are also the people willing to try new things.
• Another helpful fact is that interactive social media is much better at capturing the attention of potential customers. from a CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE: This tactic will really emphasize the ease and convenience of LivingSocial’s Takeout and Delivery service. When they read on the entertaining stories of what the key influencers did when they ordered LivingSocial, they will get the idea of how nice it is to place an order and exert no further effort.
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from a MERCHANT PERSPECTIVE: Key influencers will be able to pick their favorite foods from a variety of merchants, highlighting certain dishes and restaurants. Merchants will be portrayed as quick and convenient through this tactic. Also, being associated with a key influencer and being written about in a fun way can only help draw LivingSocial customers to the the merchants’ shops.
SUGGESTED METHODS OF EXECUTION: 1. Highlight key influencer stories on LS main site (city specific) and on their blog. 2. On LS blog, have customers comment on their own time saving stories.
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STRATEGIES AND TACTICS How we can tell the your story.
Free Time Is Me Time.
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STRATEGIES AND TACTICS How we can tell your story.
Merchant’s Secrets DETAILS: • Merchants can submit videos of the preparation and execution of their favorite recipe. The look and feel will be analogous to that of Food Network shows such as Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, except you can order and eat what you see. • Members will see the restaurant’s kitchen and chef, and the time and work put into making a meal. RATIONALE: from a MERCHANT PERSPECTIVE: • Merchant Secrets is a great tie-in to LS's Merchant Bill of Rights and how LS is not a daily deals company but instead a local commerce company. • LS cares about our merchants, and this tactic will give them another opportunity to showcase their cuisine • Drive new customers to their business • LivingSocial’s focus is on both the customer and the merchant, the only way for the customer to have an enjoyable experience is through excellent service by both LivingSocial and the merchant. We value their commitment to superior customer service. from a CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE: • Many research studies suggest that mental imagery may be a key component of food cravings -- when people crave a specific food, they have vivid images of that food. Seeing the food being prepared will make them want it. • Consumer Reports survey shows 9 of 10 Americans want imported foods labeled with their country of origin. Showing
GENERAL OVERVIEW: Using visual media to showcase the care and attention put in preparing a delicious dish. that it is important to Americans to know where the food is from and how it is cared for and prepared. SUGGESTED METHODS OF EXECUTION: Merchant Secrets videos can be 1. integrated on the LS site under the corresponding restaurant and 2. have Recipe Of The Month on the main Takeout and Delivery page. • LS will suggest the idea to merchants via email. The message will include a brief explanation of the project and a checklist of requirements for video submission. Some ideas for the checklist include: • min length: 1.5 mins • high resolution • filmed in restaurant’s kitchen (where other meals are cooked)
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• Once submitted, LivingSocial will upload each video to the corresponding merchant, and will be found on the merchant’s page (have to select/click merchant name). • LivingSocial can feature a “Recipe of the month,” that can be chosen at random. The video, including the merchant’s name, will be posted on the Takeout and Delivery page. • An “Email chef for questions on this video.” link can be placed under the video so that viewers can email merchant directly and establish a more personal merchant-consumer relationship.
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STRATEGIES AND TACTICS How we can tell your story.
Merchant’s Secrets
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Why go DIGITAL? When thinking about the most cost effective and efficient way to reach the vast network of LivingSocial members, we believe that going digital is the best way. Here’s why: • • • • •
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Going digital is extremely cost-effective relative to other traditional media in terms of execution and reach Content can be added and edited at any time of the day. Digital sites can be accessible to everyone - any age, any location, any audience. Digital sites garner free promotion by social media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogspot An online behavior study found that 39% of those surveyed engaged in social network conversation about potential purchases. Social networks, SMS and other consumer content producing platforms are giving customers a larger microphone to share their opinions than ever before. 11% of those blogged about the purchase experience, posted a comment about the purchase on a social networking site and 11% posted a review online, respectively.
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EXPECTED STORY LINES How the media can capture your story
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“Appetites are kept happy with LivingSocial’s new service that satisfies cravings.”
MIAMI "Chris Jones Puts Living Social's New Service, Takeout & Delivery to the Test. the Verdict: Fast and Easy"
CHICAGO
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ATLANTA
“Chefs capture and share the secrets to their favorite recipes on LivingSocial’s new Takeout and Delivery.”
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EXPECTED STORY LINES: IN FOCUS How a national media outlet can capture your story MEDIA OUTLET: Wall Street Journal REPORT: Julie Jargon is a Restaurant Industry Reporter. She is interested in unique topics. She doesn't like trade magazine topics and doesn't cover events. When sending an email, indicate it is a story idea or pitch in the subject line and do not send large attachments or photos. Jargon began covering the restaurant industry in April 2009. She previously covered the food industry and consumer products. Before joining the paper, she worked for Crain's Chicago Business. Before that, she wrote for Westword, an alternative paper in Denver. She has written extensively about consumer foods and commercial foods too. She also has a twitter feed http://twitter.com/#!/juliejargon.
PUBLICATION: The Wall Street Journal is considered the most widely-read periodical in the nation's business and investment community. The lead time for feature and news coverage is one day to one week. The lead time for The Wall Street Journal Reports is three to five months, although stories are often developed during the two or three months immediately preceding the issue. The lead time for Marketplace and Enterprise is two months. Deadlines are at 5:30pm ET for in-depth business and Marketplace stories and 3pm ET for shorter stories. The paper does not publish a Holiday Gift Guide. The outlet offers RSS (Really Simple Syndication).
PITCH: Pitch to Julie Jargon, who often covers consumer patterns, with the trend that food cravings combined with working away from home leads directly to a demand for convenient meals. • The research of Violet Perez Siwik, “Food Cravings, Ethnicity and Other Factors related to Eating Out,” she found a positive correlation between having cravings for food and ordering out. • People seeking the food they crave outside the house instead of at the dinner table is a trend that Jargon should be interested in covering, for it implies a boom for the restaurant business. • She also found that the more adults work outside the home the more they eat out.
• The Center for American Progress found the average American works 8.3 hours a day-- days are lengthening in the sense that what used to take an hour now takes five minutes. This workforce will be the first generation where dual-earner households are the norm, according to the Rikleen Institute for Strategic Leadership. • This means, in relation to Siwik’s research, that more adults are working longer hours, craving more food and hence will be ordering out more. Further, experts are predicting complicated household duties with both spouses hard at work. Increasingly, as Americans try to fit more and more into their day, people are going to come to rely on advances in technology like LivingSocial’s Takeout & Delivery.
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EXPECTED STORY LINES: IN FOCUS How a national media outlet can capture your story MEDIA OUTLET: Wall Street Journal POTENTIAL INTERVIEWS: Workforce experts: • Lauren Rikleen, Rikleen Institute for Strategic Leadership -Lauren would be a great source to talk to regarding the trends in the workforce and how those trends are drawing workers away from their kitchen. The Rikleen institute is a respected authority on workforce trends and as the founder Lauren’s quotes would build a strong foundation for the article. •" Neil Howe, Author, Millenials in the Workplace -Like Lauren, Neil could offer insight into how today’s young professionals live their lives and eat their meals, both in and out of the office. As the author of the book Millenials in the Workplace, he has a certain amount of authority and perhaps would be motivated to participate in order to get his name out there in order to sell more books. LivingSocial perspective: •" Tim O'Shaughnessy, LivingSocial CEO -Tim would be able to provide quotes about the benefits of time saving advances like Takeout and Delivery. He could talk about the value of having the ability to get dinner in a quick, convenient manner. Restaurant trends: •" David Morris, food service analyst for Packaged Facts -Packaged Facts is a leading provider of market research in consumer goods, food and beverage markets. As an analyst David could provide information on how quick restaurants can be when backed with a system like Takeout and Delivery.
UPSIDE: If the article is positive, this article would insert the idea of convenience and instant gastronomic gratification into the mainstream media. This article would frame online takeout and delivery services as a time saver for anyone with a hectic schedule. DOWNSIDE: This article could risk being a health-related article, associating cravings with poorly planned meals, and thus risk putting takeout and delivery services in a negative light. The probability of this occurring is low, however, since Julie Jargon covers the restaurant industry. TIMING/NEXT STEPS: The article ideally would be published within two weeks before the big launch of LivingSocial’s Takeout & Delivery in May. The next step would be to have a follow-up article about the convenience of Takeout & Delivery at the work place or personal stories on blogs about how much time Takeout & Delivery saved them (and what they were able to do with that free time).
Storylines: “Takeout and Delivery Come to the Rescue for Hungry American Working Adults” “Food Cravings Spell End to Dinner as We Know It” “Takeout Temptation Too Much for Today’s Young Professionals”
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TIMING AND BUDGET How we can tell your story.
BUDGET
Tactic
$ Free Time is Me Time
Blog page
$0
Website cost chart:
Merchant Secrets Flip Camera
$180.00 What’s Your Craving?
Website Design
$10,000.00
Website Maintenance App design
$240 $10,000.00
Media Launch Related Activities
$6,000
Overhead Professional Fees
$5,000
Estimated Total
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$31,420
TIMING
to continue indefinitely after pilot
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EVALUATION Measuring how well your story was told.
General Evaluation •
Increase of traffic to the LivingSocial Blog and social network pages.
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Raise of Twitter "followers" & Facebook "likes"
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Percent increase of merchants participating in Takeout and Delivery
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Percent increase in sales of Living Social Takeout and Delivery within five months of media launch
What’s Your Craving? • • •
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Track number of people who visit the blog Track the number of people who post on the blog Analysis of demographics of those posting on blog/Twitter/Facebook to see if we are missing any key audiences Track number of mentions on Twitter and Facebook
Merchant’s Secrets
Free Time Is Me Time. • • • •
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Track number of visits to LivingSocial’s blog Track activity on the Key Influencers’ blog Track number of people who comment or post their own story Analysis of demographics of those posting on blog/Twitter/Facebook to see if we are missing any key audiences Analysis of key words of merchants Track cravings related to food or restaurants that aren’t involved with LivingSocial’s service
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Track how many people watch the videos Track how many people comment on the video Track what type of comments are being said (example: positive or negative)
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LIVE YOUR APPETITE A GLIMPSE OF WHAT COULD BE Merchant’s secrets
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RESOURCES Backed by Science
• "Atlanta (city) QuickFacts." U.S. Census Bureau, 6 Mar. 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2012. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/1304000.html>. • Beals, Rachel K. "Top Complaints About Daily Deal Sites." US News and World Report. 10 Jan. 2012. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://money.usnews.com/money/ personal-finance/articles/2012/01/10/top-complaints-about-daily-deal-sites>. • "Chicago (city) QuickFacts." U.S. Census Bureau, 31 Jan. 2012. Web. 6 Mar. 2012. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1714000.html>. • "Get the Data." Home. Http://www.worldbusinesschicago.com/data. Web. 5 Mar. 2012. <http://www.worldbusinesschicago.com/data>. • Kerr, Shawn. "Are Groupon or LivingSocial Deals a Good Idea for Your Business?" Are Groupon or LivingSocial Deals a Good Idea for Your Business? -. InsideOut Solutions, 6 Nov. 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2012. <http://insideout.com/blog/2011/11/06/are-groupon-or-livingsocial-deals-a-good-idea-for-your-businessimw/>. • Llana, Sara M. "Who Works the Longest Hours? Mexicans, Says OECD Report." The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http:// www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2011/0413/Who-works-the-longest-hours-Mexicans-says-OECD-Report>. • Ortutay, Barbara. "Groupon Competitor LivingSocial Plans National Black Friday Rollout." Chicago Sun-Times. 20 Nov. 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2012. <http:// www.suntimes.com/business/8974467-420/groupon-competitor-livingsocial-plans-national-black-friday-rollout.html>. • Patel, Romi. "My Terrible Groupon Experience (and Great LivingSocial Deal)." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 26 Apr. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http:// money.cnn.com/2011/04/26/technology/groupon_vs_livingsocial/index.htm>. • Piasta, Jacqui. "LivingSocial Compares Chicago Women to Basset Hounds." Examiner.com. 8 Mar. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://www.examiner.com/ feminism-in-chicago/livingsocial-compares-chicago-women-to-basset-hounds>. • "The Psychology of Food Cravings." ScienceDaily. 17 May 2010. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100517172300.htm>. • Schawbel, Dan. "The Expanding Roles of Millennials in the Workplace." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 13 Dec. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://www.forbes.com/ sites/danschawbel/2011/12/13/the-expanding-roles-of-millennials-in-the-workplace/>. • Siwik, Violet P. "Food Cravings, Ethnicity and Other Factors Related to Eating Out." Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Web. 08 Apr. 2012. <http:// www.jacn.org/content/25/5/382.full>. • Torabi, Farnoosh. "Groupon, LivingSocial and More Online Coupons: 7 Tips to Save Money." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 15 July 2010. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505144_162-41540397/groupon-livingsocial-and-more-online-coupons-7-tips-to-save-money/>. • "World Of Flavors." US Foods. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://www.usfoods.com/Food/WorldOfFlavors/Trends/WhatsHotInTakeoutCatering.aspx>. • Yarow, Jay. "Internal LivingSocial Survey: Vast Majority Of Businesses Profit Or Break Even On Daily Deals." Business Insider. Business Insider, 2 Aug. 2011. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.businessinsider.com/living-social-survey-2011-8>. • Young, Don. "No Show Chef Leaves a Bitter Taste for Some LivingSocial Members." Daily Deal Media. 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2012. <http:// www.dailydealmedia.com/642no-show-chef-leaves-a-bitter-taste-for-some-livingsocial-members/>.
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