• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 27, 2012

The day's second presentation looked at how Applebee’s turned to mobile marketing and QR codes to boost its lunch business. Keynoter Ana Maldonado-Coomer, head of mobile for Applebee’s owner Thomas & King explained that rise of mobile interaction underpinned the program it developed for Applebees. Reserarch showed people wanted to sit down for lunch but only spend about a half hour eating and getting back to work, so the co. developed campaign around 14 minute lunches.

The target audience skewed young, into pop culture shows like Glee and The Office, and games like Angry Birds. So entertainment was a big part of the campaign, along with convenience. Created ads drivingn to Facebook pages accessible via mobile with info. like lunch menus and directions. The agency also ran mobile ads on Pandora to reach the intended audience since that’s where they spent a lot of time.

With AdMob, Vidopia and others they created rich media ads to engage on both visual and audio level. Applebee’s 88 location 340,000 guests in and out every day. QR code is way to turn point of purchase into trackable media—in restaurants everyone is on the phone. The QR on three-sided table cards allowed users to use their phones to connect to a video of a talking  “Table Cat,” who served as unoffical spokesperson for the effort.

Maldonado said the 9-week campaign resulted in a .91% click- through rate compared to a 0.14% CTR for the desktop, which said was a very encouraging sign for mobile. Now T&K is leveraging the talking kitty on its Facebook page to further interact with visitors and the company is planning its next flight featuring the Table Cat. Move over Puss 'N Boots.