Golden Corral experiments with new fast-causal concept (Score 17)

Sales lead: Contact this company's DMs if you can help it promote the new restaurant concept. 

• Golden Corral (GC) is testing a new fast-casual style called Homeward Kitchen.
• The first location will open in December in Southern Pines, NC.
• The chain will test Homeward Kitchen in other locations later on. 
• It will offer dine-in, takeout, drive-thru, online, and third-party takeout ordering.
• GC's DMs hope this helps it attract younger consumers. 

Target demographic: Millennials & Gen-Zers

The company will likely:

• Continue experimenting with new ways to reach a younger audience
• Keep increasing national TV spend
• Review the current agency roster

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

• YTD spend: GC spent around $23m on national TV ads YTD, a 12% increase from $20.6m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend jumped 78% from $17m in 2021 to $30.2m in 2022. 
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as The Five, Friends, The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell, Two and a Half Men, and The Ingraham Angle. 

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

• YTD spend: GC spent approximately $1.4m on digital display ads YTD, a 22% decrease from $1.8m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 188.2m impressions via Facebook (46%), Instagram (31%), and YouTube (23%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend increased by 82% from $1.1m in 2021 to $2m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 100% of these ads directly onto facebook.com, instagram.com, and youtube.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: GC also invests in OOH and local broadcast.
• Top podcasts sponsored: My Brother, My Brother and Me, Louder With Crowder, The BOB & TOM Show Free Podcast, Dave & Chuck the Freak: Full Show, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. 

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: GC's agency relationships are past the three-year average tenure, so reach out to see if it plans on making any changes. 
• Current roster:
  • VIA: creative AOR
  • Horizon Media: media AOR