Zubi Advertising | Agency Profile, Contacts, AOR, Client Relationships

See Winmo sales intelligence in action

Gen-Z Media Opps: Darden continues dropping spend amid COVID-related struggles (Score 38)

Olive Garden (OG) some via TV because that media had already been purchased. Darden does continue doing some digital marketing just to keep that channel moving, but the company hasn't "really started focusing on those new customers." 

As Darden escapes the struggles caused by the pandemic's effect on restaurant traffic, its ad spend will XXXXXX. The fact that it's still using digital channels and hired digital marketing specialist Ana Castellanos in June 2021 lead me to believe you should primarily offer high-ROI digital strategies.

According to iSpot, OG is the main brand Darden is currently advertising via national TV. So far this year, OG has spent approximately $18.4m on this channel, less than half of the approximately $41.8m it spent within the same 2020 timeframe. The brand ended up spending approximately $69.8m on this channel last year, down notably from the approximately $101.9m it spent in 2019. OG's commercials of 2021 have targeted millennials and Gen-X (female skew) viewing shows such as The Voice, Dateline NBC, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, SpongeBob SquarePants and Chicago P.D.

Since the beginning of 2021, Pathmatics reports Darden (this includes data for all subsidiaries) has allocated roughly $6.4m toward digital ads, down 14% from the roughly $7.4m it allocated by this point of 2020. The company's estimated full-year spend of 2020 reached $14.7m, 41% less than that of $25.1m in 2019. Darden has earned around 1b digital impressions YTD via Facebook (35%), Instagram (32%), Twitter (21%), desktop video (7%) and desktop display (5%) ads. Most of this year's desktop video ads have been YouTube (87%) or Hulu (13%) ads.

As you can tell, Darden is largely targeting Gen-Z via paid social and OTT advertising. It especially targets parents. The company's spend may pick back up throughout the coming year, but in the meantime, sellers will have an advantage if they can offer ways to increase the ROI for the relatively lower amount of spend that Darden is allocating right now. Per Kantar data, Darden also invests in OOH, print (newspapers) and local broadcast, but its overall spend in these channels drastically declined last year. It additionally utilizes earned media channels, particularly email.

Agency & martech readers - As its leaders keep rethinking Darden's marketing strategy, keep it on your radar for work down the road. Right now, its roster includes Scoppechio (creative assistance).