Article
Geo-based Pepsi Loot app to drive traffic to QSRs
With the new app, consumers will earn points and rewards for checking in at restaurants that serve Pepsi.
May 11, 2010
Geo-location-based applications are increasing in popularity, with Facebook and Twitter getting in on the technology. This summer, PepsiCo will be using the technology to drive consumers into restaurants, including quick-service brands.
The Pepsi Loot iPhone app, which should launch later this month, combines a locator app with loyalty rewards, leveraging the learnings from the Pepsico's partnership with Foursquare. That partnership, according to the New York Times, will offer points and rewards to Foursquare members who check in at retail outlets that sell Pepsi.
The Loot app, which was developed by mobile media company Zumobi, is the first geo-targeted loyalty reward program for Pepsico. It allows consumers to locate nearby restaurants serving Pepsi also well as gives them the chance to earn points for checking in at those locations.Those points are accumulated to earn free music downloads.
Participating Pop Spots, as the restaurants are known, also will be offering exclusive rewards such as a free Pepsi with purchase of an entrée. That means users can earndouble rewards, earning points for Loot rewards as well as special offers from QSRs such as Taco Bell or Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.
For PepsiCo, the Pepsi Loot app is just one feature in its expanding social media strategy, known as The Pepsi Refresh Project. Bonin Bough, PepsiCo director of social and emerging media, said the company's goal is to shift from relying on impressions as a measurement metric to tracking the number of connections it has with consumers.
"The Loot app is a perfect example of building a deeper connection where we can communicate with the consumer on a continual basis as well as within that one (app)," he said.
The app allows users to post their location or send invites to their friends via Twitter or Facebook, allowing more mentions of Pepsi and the restaurant customer online.The social media component is important to PepsiCo since it has increased its digital communications efforts since the launch of the Refresh project earlier this year. The Loot app builds on that — as well as brings its restaurant customers into the loop.
Having a location-based tool ties into the growing consumer reliance on such technology as well as the iniquitousness of mobile devices.
"This nexus of being connected to your network and your provided location information enables us to be able to provide any experience that can also be shared out with the rest of your network," Bough said.
QSRs benefit
For Pepsi's QSR customers, the app is a way to drive traffic into the stores, important any time but especially so as summer nears and the economic recovery has slowly begun. The program requires no additional investment beyond the brand-based incentives the restaurant opts to offer.
Margery Schelling, PepsiCo vice president/CMO foodservice, said the new app also is a good way to help QSRs with their own social media efforts. Pepsi Loot users will not only see a map of nearby Pop Spots but also be able to access those restaurants' Twitter and Facebook links.
Schelling said the app as a chance to connect its restaurant customers to consumers while leveraging social media.
"It's a nice triangle between the consumer, the enabling technology and our customers' needs," she said.
It also incentivizes consumers to choose Pepsi and one of its Pop Spots when dining occasions arise. And with 48 percent of food and beverage consumption taking place outside the home, Pepsi and its customers have plenty of occasions to capture.
Pepsi Loot will track consumer usage and provide restaurant customers with data sorted by restaurant type and which dayparts the rewards are redeemed. The data will not provide specific times of redemptions but will track which Pop Spot's offers are redeemed relative to other offer.
Importance of location technology
Taco Bell, a long-time Pepsi customer, is developing the incentives and messages it will offer as part of the Pepsi Loot program, said Rob Poetsch, Taco Bell spokesman. The company anticipates it will focus on a variety of occasions, including beverages, value items and new offerings.
Poetsch said the company is particularly looking forward to taking part in its first geo-based app. Location information and mobile usage are increasingly important to its fans, the company has found. Access to the company's mobile website has increased more than 105 percent in the last year. And users of the mobile website and the brand's iPhone apps most access it locator tool followed by its nutritional information.
"Location information is the No. 1 reason people access our mobile site and use our iPhone apps, so we're excited about the oppoturnity this Pepsi Loot program offers consumers," he said.
Like PepsiCo, Taco Bell also sees the app as a chance to capitalize on consumers' impulse to dine out and win out over its competitors.
"This is yet another way to get in front of them while they're making that decision," Poetsch said. "So it they have this app and they're accumulating rewards, which is an innovative customer loyalty program, we are front and center in that decision-making process."
Popeyes, another Pepsi customer, is looking forward to the program to connect consumer who want chicken and who want Pepsi while also growing their brand recognition, said Karlie Stanton, communications manager for Popeyes. The app will introduce Popeyes to those who may be unfamiliar with the brand while pushing its social media presence to those who know the brand but not its online presence.
"It's exciting for us because we have a hand in social media right now, and this gives us another way to reach potential customers," she said.
Popeyes will not be offering special incentives because its franchisees already have agreed on DMA-based coupon offers on its website locator tool.
Taco Bell and Popeyes stores are among the 200,000 restaurant locations participating in the Pepsi Loot program. Other QSR brands in the program include Arby's, Bojangles'; Culver's, Panda Express and Taco John's. A limited number of franchisee-owned Dairy Queen locations also will participate.
PepsiCo will support the launch of the app with digital advertising, point-of-purchase materials expressing the "Eat. Drink. Get loot." theme and a social media push to consumers.
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