Male Millennial, Gen-Z Opps: Sonic launches frozen Tots (Score 23)

Sales lead: Reach out if you can help Sonic promote its new offering. 

• Sonic entered the frozen food market by launching Tots at over 4k Walmart Supercenters. 
• Sonic Tots come in a 28-oz package and are priced at $4.98. 
• It will roll out at additional retailers soon.

Target demographic: Millennials & Gen-Z with a male skew

The company will likely:

• Test more retail products
• Launch fresh creative or a campaign to promote Sonic Tots
• Increase ad spend

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Sonic spent nearly $64.6m on national TV ads YTD, down 7% from $69.2m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend fell slightly (2%) from $141.2m in 2021 to $138.8m in 2022. 
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as NFL Football, College Basketball, NBA Basketball, Friends, and SportsCenter. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Sonic spent around $16m on digital display ads YTD, a slight (5%) increase from $15.3m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 1.8b impressions via Facebook (45%), Instagram (23%), YouTube (16%), desktop video (14%), desktop display (2%), and mobile display (1%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend increased by 13% from $30.8m in 2021 to $34.9m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 100% of these ads directly onto sites such as facebook.com, instagram.com, youtube.com, twitch.tv, and espn.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: Sonic also invests in OOH, print, radio, and local broadcast. 
  • It holds media planning discussions in Q4, and it buys during Q3. 

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: I believe these agencies are past the three-year average tenure, so get in touch to see if you can pick up some of Sonic's business. 
• Current roster:
  • Zenith Media: media AOR
  • VaynerMedia: social AOR
  • Mother: creative AOR
  • MSLGroup: PR

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix.