• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 31, 2017

Denny’s is investing in a multichannel campaign, including national TV, to get the word out about its new ordering and delivery capabilities, dubbed “Denny’s on Demand.”

Denny’s partnered with digital ordering provider Olo to completely revamp its mobile app. The first objective was making it fast and easy to find a local Denny’s, customize and place an order, and pay for takeout. The other goal: Enabling on-demand delivery of Denny’s orders. 

All U.S. Denny’s are on the new platform, making the cutting-edge mobile ordering capabilities — which include DM Twitter and Facebook Chatbox ordering — available nationwide. Ordering is also available 24/7 through new mobile and desktop functionality at Dennys.com, where guests can choose pick-up or delivery time, track their order, and view their order history. 

In addition, through Denny’s app and site connections with Olo’s Dispatch — which matches up any given order with the best available option among the nation’s patchwork of third-party delivery options (including Postmates, Uber, Caviar, Favor and DeliverLogic, among others) — Denny’s customers in some areas can take advantage of on-demand delivery. 

The delivery services pick up the food orders at the local restaurant locations, and deliver to the appointed destination within 12 minutes, on average, according to Olo’s site. Olo claims the network now reaches more than 50% of the U.S. population (“from small towns to big cities”). As of last September, the company was the digital ordering provider for more than 160 restaurant brands, and a growing number of chains — including Planet Sub and Noodles & Company — are using its Dispatch delivery capability.

For Denny’s fans, delivery availability currently depends on whether the local franchisee is on board yet, as well as Olo’s network. “Denny’s is not currently disclosing how many [of its] locations have the delivery capabilities turned on, as this is an ongoing process and franchisees are adding units to the platform for delivery on a daily basis,” a spokesperson tells Marketing Daily. 

Easy ordering and on-demand delivery are among the tactics being deployed by a rapidly increasing number of restaurant brands — even the mother of all QSRs, McDonald’s — to fight back in the face of declining traffic and revenue, particularly during the lunch daypart. (See The Wall Street Journal’s summary for more specifics on restaurants’ lunch crunch and other competitive challenges.)

The launch campaign for Denny’s on Demand includes a 30-second TV spot (below), and three :15s that focus in on vignettes from that longer spot, from EP+Co (formerly Erwin Penland). 

The creative dramatizes, in tongue-and-cheek fashion, that Denny’s lovers can now not only order whatever they want, whenever they want it but for the first time, have it wherever they want it. Scenes of fans eating in Denny’s booths perched on the rim of the Grand Canyon, on motorcycles, and on the top of an under-construction skyscraper, as well as at a nighttime pool party, mesh with the brand’s “The World is Your Diner” tagline. 

The campaign also spans digital and social media, including a range of promoted social content and digital ads through various media partners.

In addition, Denny’s partnered with Hulu to offer fans a free 60-day trial of the streaming service with their first online order at Dennys.com. 

Denny’s will also be promoting the new ordering and delivery capabilities through its new Hispanic agency of record, Conill, which launched its first work for the casual restaurant brand in March.