• by Tanya Gazdik , September 19, 2016

If election politics are wearing thin, Bob Evans Restaurants has a welcome distraction. It’s a contest that asks a simple question: patties or links? 

The company is kicking off a promotion appropriately called the “The Sausage Selection Election.” Consumers are asked to cast their vote for the sausage they prefer.

Two videos, “Patties for the People” and “Links for Liberty,” promote the positive attributes of each form of sausage. Patties use a red logo and the video promoting them includes a take-off on a phrase consumers might be familiar with: “Make Sausage Great Again.” Creative design is from 30 Lines, Columbus, Ohio. 

“The Sausage Selection Election started as a fun communications campaign and has really engaged the imagination of our team so we planning more ways to reach people with the age-old question, "sausage links or patties?”

Sara Bittorf, Chief Marketing Officer, Bob Evans Restaurants, tells Marketing Daily: “We created The Sausage Selection Election because sausage is as American as apple pie. Links or patties is a question as important as boxers or briefs and is a part of America's identity. The question resonates with everyone, from our loyal guests to new audiences that are not as familiar with our brand.”

Consumers who visit www.bobevans.com/election will be introduced to the candidates and can cast their vote to receive a special offer for participating, a free side of breakfast sausage at any Bob Evans Restaurant from the opposing party to encourage discourse and understanding between the parties. 

Bob Evans will announce state-by-state results after voting ends Oct. 17. Early projections (from sales data) show that the coasts are all about links and the middle of the country is about patties.

“Given the sales data we see, we suspect that the links states and patty states might mirror overall electoral college sentiment,” Bittorf says.

Post House Creative, Gahanna, Ohio, developed the campaign ads, but the idea and messages came directly from the company’s internal team. This is the restaurant’s first foray into the election process.

“We hope to create unity from America's love of all things sausage,” Bittorf says.