I recently went to the Cheesecake Factory for my boyfriend's birthday and despite previously working there for over a year, when I went in, something struck me that never had before. There are ads in the menu, and although I realized there existence, I had never thought about the relevance of these ads. As an advertising major, it made me question the success of these ads. Are they really getting through to the target audience? I know finding outlets for unconventional advertising can lead to very successful campaigns, but in a menu? I mean even as an ad major I almost breezed right by them. They barely passed my perceptual screens! Think about it, when you sit down for dinner at a restaurant what do you do? You are focused on what is going to get you the food, and that is all. If you're hungry you quickly scan through the menu to find what you want so you can order your food and get it out to you as fast as possible. You're hungry, you want instant gratification, or the closest thing to it. The way the menu is set up, all the ads are on the left side and the menu items on the right side, so as you are looking through the menu, you can easily choose to just ignore the left pages of the menu. It is easy to filter the ads out; perhaps if they switched up the pages, so when you are looking for food on the right side, there is an ad there instead, it might be more successful. If you have ever been to Cheesecake Factory, you know they have an extensive menu (over 200 items) and just trying to figure out what to pick is a chore in and of itself. You are really not looking at the ads, you are trying to figure out which of these things am I going to get; the patrons are too focused on the overwhelming amount of choices. I will say that the ads do speak to the typical customer of cheesecake. The ads are a little more upscale, but not so overdone it doesn't apply to the average person e.g. designer jewelry and cruises. The question isn't do the ads fit the target audience but will they even notice them.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Ads Here, Ads There, Ads Everywhere
I recently went to the Cheesecake Factory for my boyfriend's birthday and despite previously working there for over a year, when I went in, something struck me that never had before. There are ads in the menu, and although I realized there existence, I had never thought about the relevance of these ads. As an advertising major, it made me question the success of these ads. Are they really getting through to the target audience? I know finding outlets for unconventional advertising can lead to very successful campaigns, but in a menu? I mean even as an ad major I almost breezed right by them. They barely passed my perceptual screens! Think about it, when you sit down for dinner at a restaurant what do you do? You are focused on what is going to get you the food, and that is all. If you're hungry you quickly scan through the menu to find what you want so you can order your food and get it out to you as fast as possible. You're hungry, you want instant gratification, or the closest thing to it. The way the menu is set up, all the ads are on the left side and the menu items on the right side, so as you are looking through the menu, you can easily choose to just ignore the left pages of the menu. It is easy to filter the ads out; perhaps if they switched up the pages, so when you are looking for food on the right side, there is an ad there instead, it might be more successful. If you have ever been to Cheesecake Factory, you know they have an extensive menu (over 200 items) and just trying to figure out what to pick is a chore in and of itself. You are really not looking at the ads, you are trying to figure out which of these things am I going to get; the patrons are too focused on the overwhelming amount of choices. I will say that the ads do speak to the typical customer of cheesecake. The ads are a little more upscale, but not so overdone it doesn't apply to the average person e.g. designer jewelry and cruises. The question isn't do the ads fit the target audience but will they even notice them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You noticed them, didn't you? :-)
This is an excellent analysis, but keep going. Why do you think those particular advertisers chose the Cheesecake Factory menu as their medium? Think about the demographics and psychographics of the target audience. Ask yourself, what, exactly, is that diamond company trying to accomplish by placing their ad here?
Wow, now it makes sense!
I always wondered at the back of my mind about these ad's in the menu of Cheesecake Factory, but I never really questioned why they were there!
I remember going through the ad's while Im listening to my friend telling me endless stories about work, and waiting for my meal impatiently as my hunger alarmed me every 5 min.
I am not sure how effective having those ad's in the menu are, but it surely is something different!
Post a Comment