Article

And, action: Culver's turns to Instagram videos to attract millennials

Video marketing is becoming more popular because it takes a 'deeper dive' into the story brands want to tell.

October 6, 2014 by Alicia Kelso — Editor, QSRWeb.com

Culver's first jumped on Instagram in January 2013. Last month, the brand extended its presence on the visual social media channel with a new "Culver's Community Theater" campaign—a series of videos targeted specifically toward millennial consumers.

Culver's Community Theater features 15-second videos starring the brand's signature menu items. The videos take a page from some of the classics, and include "Top Bun," "The Lord of the Onion Rings," "The Edible Terrestrial," "The Wizard of Cod," "Oreo and Juliet," "Mary Mixins," "Frytanic," "Game of Cones" and "True Blue Brothers."

Within three weeks of the campaign, Culver's reached 400,000 users and realized 75,000-plus views. Paul Pitas, Culver's director of communications, said this is exactly what the brand wanted to do with its first dive into Instagram video marketing. "Our satisfaction with the number of users and views in three weeks time was a result of comparing users and views to our other social platforms; not what other companies have done in similar Instagram campaigns. The important thing is that we have a good baseline," he said.

The company doesn't know if these users or views have translated into restaurant visits because there hasn't been an incentive attached to Instagram, versus the brand's Facebook and Twitter campaigns. But Pitas said the ROI comes from the campaign's appeal to the ever-important younger demographic.

According to Business Insider, more than 90 percent of Instagram's 150 million users are under the age of 35.

"The videos are targeted at younger guests who are active on Instagram. The intention is to reach millennials. We also created the campaign with a mobile viewer in mind because an increasing number of people are browsing via mobile," Pitas said. Millennials, he added, are a target for a reason.

"They're great brand ambassadors. At some point these folks are going to be are the chief meal officers. It's important to get to folks early and keep it going," he said.

Because of the early results from Community Theater, Pitas said the company most likely will launch more video campaigns in the future.

"This will give us a good baseline for future social promotions," he said. 

Video marketing trend

Culver's Community Theater hits on another trend for marketers – videos. The popularity of YouTube, combined with the rise of sites such Instagram and Vine, have led to brands using videos to better tell their stories, Pitas said.

"We've done still (photos) on Instagram and that has been very popular for us. But for the story we wanted to tell, we wanted video. It allows for us to communicate a more in-depth story and hold our audience's attention for a longer period of time," he said. "I think more brands are exploring video because it brings a lot of value. Customers like to share those videos and that's important."

Pitas said the pace of social media and digital platforms is hastening attention spans for marketing campaigns. A typical campaign on a social channel, for example, "burns out" in about 10 days.

"You've got to get in and out now. We have to change our way of thinking because the attention span of people online is a fraction of what it used to be," he said. "That's what is tricky for these video campaigns – they provide a deeper look than a photo, but you can't take too deep of a dive because you have to still be quick. You have to get the impact in about 15 seconds. But it's worth it because the videos have actually enhanced our other social media campaigns."

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