restaurants

Moe's Southwest In National, Social 'Cinco' Promo

Moes-Bobblehead-BCinco de Mayo is a big day at Moe’s Southwest Grill -- in fact, the busiest day of the year, for some of its locations.

For the past seven years, its 'Cinco de Moe's' promotion has been run on a by-market basis, with various franchises offering different special deals. But this year, the promotion is national, and supported by a multichannel social campaign.

On May 5, all Moe’s locations will be offering a special $5 deal on a meal featuring its showcase “Homewrecker” burrito, chips and salsa.

To drive awareness of the promotion, starting in early April, the chain began offering a Cinco de Moe’s bobblehead cup, free with the purchase of a large drink.  

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The 32-ounce cups feature headless illustrations of a person wearing a Moe’s T-shirt (male figure on one side, female figure on the other), so that fans can place the cups under their chins and take photos that make them appear to have been turned into Moe’s bobbleheads. 

The idea, of course, is to post and share the photos with friends, and Moe’s is providing ample opportunities for this. 

Fans can post their bobblehead moments on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtag #cincodemoes. In addition, Moe’s set up fan galleries on Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.

To help the sharing along, Moe’s created two humorous Vine videos and tweeted them to its followers.

To date, hundreds of Moe’s fans have posted bobblehead photos -- with some going the extra mile to insert scaled headshots of themselves (or their pets) on top of the cup images. 

“Sales of the cups have been great, we’re getting lots of new ‘likes’ on Facebook and sign-ups to attend Cinco de Moe’s on our Facebook events page, and we expect the bobblehead posts to multiply in this next week preceding Cinco de Mayo,” reports Moe’s CMO Paul Macaluso.

The Cinco promotion is the latest in Moe’s’ aggressive, ongoing social media efforts, frequently supported with digital display ads, social media ads and radio and other traditional media. Recently, the chain launched its first campaign on national television, backed by paid digital advertising and of course, social outreach. 

The fast-growing chain now has about 500 locations in more than 30 states (concentrated in the Southeast and on the Eastern Seaboard), and plans to open 65 more this year. Launched in 2000, Moe’s was acquired in 2007 by Focus Brands Inc., the global franchisor that also comprises the Carvel Ice Cream, Cinnabon, Schlotzsky’s and Auntie Anne’s chains.

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