TGI Friday's

Problem

TGI Friday's, an 800-store restaurant chain, was hit hard by the recession. Not only did the economy take its toll, but the category was severely overbuilt.Because the category was so saturated, TGI Friday's found it hard to differentiate, and was forced to continually use deep discounts. Many stores were close to folding when they decided to do something radically different so they could survive. Their new agency, Publicis, recommended the creation of a spokes-character, "Woody," who would be billed as their "#1 Facebook Fan."

Social Media Solution

To make the character credible, Woody needed 500,000 Facebook fans fast. They created an integrated e-mail/Facebook promotion that offered new fans a downloadable coupon for a free burger or chicken sandwich.

Success

The promotion went viral, and with the buzz they got 500,000 new fans within the first six days. Because they didn't want to upset people who didn't have the time to get in it, they extended the origina promotion. Three weeks later, they reached one million coupon downloads. The goal was achieved. Woody got 784,000 fans within 30 days, and was clearly the undisputed #1 Facebook fan of TGI Friday's.