The Power of Radio: ‘souper’ results for fast casual restaurant chain.

INSIDERADIO
March 30, 2015


The parent company of the Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurant chains is on the air with a fresh ad campaign and a new voice. Patrick Warburton, former star of "Seinfeld" and "Rules of Engagement," is voicing the spots that are now airing in the Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire and San Diego markets. In a spot entitled "Once Upon a Tomato," he tells a tale of the brief life and "sacrificial death" of a fresh tomato. In his signature distinctive deep voice, the ad ends, "If a chopped up, pureed and simmered Tomato could smile — he would." Up next: broccoli is the star. The root (pun intended) of the ads are the longtime friendship of Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp.’s new CEO John Morberg and Warburton, who were classmates in elementary school.

So far, Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes says in the markets where the spots have run, sales have risen nearly 5%. San Diego-based Garden Fresh operates 128 restaurants in 15 states.

Midwest department store shifts dollars to radio. The Middle America department store chain Gordmans Stores is the latest retailer to say it is shifting dollars out of print as it weans itself from Sunday circular inserts. CEO Andy Hall told investors last week the retailer has just hired a new advertising agency and, as a result, won’t spend as much on newspaper space. Instead, he said it will shift dollars to radio and television. Print will still be on the buy, but to a lesser degree. "We probably won’t kickoff a new campaign until midyear, but I think that’s an exciting opportunity for us," he said on a conference call. Gordmans has 99 locations in 22 states, with plans to open six more this year while exiting the Chicago market. Hall said the new ad agency has begun doing research and interviewing customers as it fine-tunes the marketing strategy. One decision that has already been made is to put more focus on what Hall said are "specific natural shopping periods" for a department store, such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and back-to-school. But at the same time it will continue marketing through the year. "Our everyday value price is the cornerstone of our business model," Hall said. "And I think we got a little astray from that model in the past and I think we will get back on board this year."