what? a marketing plan right now?

Before we begin, I am sure there is one nagging question going through your head, “the country is in a recession, how can I be expected to launch an integrated marketing campaign?”

This campaign explores multiple facets of marketing and advertising, focusing primarily on digital. During the times of a recession it is essential to innovate. While others are cutting their marketing budgets, Hello Sushi is gaining an extraordinary time to promote their brand and poduct. Great leaders and the organization’s they lead translate moments of uncertainty into moments of opportunity in which to not only streamline operations, but also to innovate. Economic downturns make innovation not only more important, but one could argue, that the process of innovation is actually easier to manage and much more cost effective during economic downturns. More importantly, the products of innovation are more valuable during tough times. As we enter this period of economic turbulence, the question is not whether or not to innovate? The question is how to innovate? There is no better time to widen the gap between the competition.

During difficult economic times, market needs are more exposed than they are during an economic boom; when the market is saturated with everyone’s “great idea” - many of which are chasing needs that have already been satisfied. When markets turn south, it’s easier to discern what the market needs precisely because the market is thinking more about what it needs and why it needs it. Consumers are simply more thoughtful, more aware, and more focused during economic downturns.

Like innovators before us, use this time to be aware of the market, not afraid of it. The great mistake many companies, especially restaurants, make during turbulent times is that they quit listening to the market. They pull back on communications precisely at the moment when the market is speaking most loudly. Now is the time to listen to customers. Now is the time to get out into the market and identify those elusive unarticulated needs Hello Sushi has been searching for. Listen to the market. It’s speaking.

Invest in customers. Now they need you most. Loyalty hangs in the balance. Downturns provide the opportunity to strengthen relationships with customers thereby improving customer loyalty. At a time when consumer sentiment is nearly at an all-time low, rather than reduce customer service, use this time to get closer to customers, connect with them on a deeper level, and show them what’s possible – what the future will hold.

Communications and promotions are not only required to remain relevant, they are signs of hope to employees and to customers that Hello Sushi and its brand are valuable in their lives. During these times, remember that customers are just as worried. Hello Sushi must stay close to them. By helping them get what they want and they’ll maintain recall and recognition over the long haul; they will continue to open their wallets.

It is important to remember that rather than reducing prices, offering more value to customers is far more important, they are looking for more bang for their buck. During difficult economic times, consumers use greater discretion in making purchasing decisions. Every dollar matters and therefore every decision a customer makes is examined more closely. If the service isn’t extraordinary, customers will be more likely to delay purchasing it. And, as every great salesman knows, time kills all deals. Given the scrutiny that customers place on decision-making in turbulent times, the knee-jerk reaction among some restaurants is to reduce price. However, before one reduces price, they must consider how hard they’ve worked to get to that price. Moreover, consider how much time and effort has been invested into getting Hello Sushi to where it is at. Certainly sales are hurting, but there is something much more valuable at stake, the Hello Sushi brand. Brands are sacred and, in the absence of innovation, stand-alone price reductions can wreak havoc on a brand. In some cases, price reductions in the absence of innovation have led to the implosion of the entire restaurant.

However, price reductions do more than compromise earnings. They compromise customers’ perceived value of the products, services and brand, which ultimately affects the long-term equity of the franchise. Therefore, rather than look to price reductions, add greater value to customers. Extend them better terms. Improve the purchasing process. Get products to them more quickly. Increase cooperative marketing activities.

This is where increasing communication with customers becomes vital. In addition to staying close to customers, use this time to increase communications with them. In times of trouble, the worst thing anyone can do is to hide. From a marketing perspective, this involves cutting back communications.

Now is the time to grab market share. Downturns provide the opportunity to widen the gap between competition. While others cower, now is the time to grab market share. Rather than compromise the integrity and quality of Hello Sushi’s product, service or brand by paring back ingredients, eliminating features, or stripping it to its most basic offering, consider using this time to improve the quality of products, invest in new marketing opportunities. The key is to stay the course of strategy.

Now is the time to unleash corporate creativity. The greatest mistake Hello Sushi can make is to mortgage the future by failing to innovate. Remember: one doesn’t need a lot of money to think, but one does need time.

Rather than eliminate spending on marketing, now is the time for Hello Sushi to get creative. Creativity doesn’t require a big budget. Ideas are cheap. Communicating value can be less costly by getting creative in your communications with customers.

Imagine there is no marketing budget, what would you do? If you are already in the process of tightening your belt anyway, you might as well consider investing in a new pair of pants. This is where the following marketing plan comes in to the game.

executive summaryThe beauty of sushi is that all of the elements are harmoniously at work to create the experience, the taste and the presentation. Marketing is the same way.

The proposed plan is a complete and integrated campaign for Hello Sushi in Saginaw, Michigan. This plan encompasses a full spectrum of marketing tools that highlight the recent trends in social marketing. While not all proposed ideas are social marketing tools, each do in fact drive the social environment.

This plan encompasses a redesigned logo that transposes and integrates itself fully to create a seamless transition between each piece. From the new website to online social networks, outdoor, direct mail and packaging, everything carries the same message, Grab Life.

Thorough research concludes that the proposed target market, Generation Y, will fully appreciate and utilize these tools to increase sales and patronage to the restaurant. This plan does not segregate to just Generation Y. It will also transcend to various other proposed demographic and psychographic segments described within.

introductionIt takes more for a restaurant to be successful than knowing how to prepare the most elegant and beautiful entrees. Although craft, skill and creativity do play an important role, the make-or-break aspect of your brand is how you are going to be able to position and market it in the 21st century to create your niche and unique selling proposition.

Having nearly six years of experience in the restaurant business and knowledge of the inner workings, I come to expect great food, great service and a memorable atmosphere. The Tri-Cities, including Saginaw, Bay City and Midland, is a relatively small area with lack of eclectic selection in terms of restaurants, besides the normal franchise chains. This creates an immense opportunity for a small, privately owned restaurant to create its niche and grow profitable.

Though there are a plethora of all-you-can eat Chinese and Japanese restaurants in this area, there is only one direct competitor, Genji. Genji offers consumers a fine dining Japanese type eating experience with a twist. Their unique selling proposition or main attraction is their Grill Chefs. These Chefs operate stations where patrons are seated around a large flat grill, many times with complete strangers. The Chef then dazzles patrons with their skillful utensil handling, often tossing the food in the air, emblazing the grill, dancing around and engaging patrons in the cooking experience. Their sushi area is tucked in a back corner, separated from the often loud main dining area. This area is complete with seating that encompasses a sushi bar, intimate and party seating. They offer skilled Sushi Chefs who prepare immaculate entrees in a traditional Japanese manner.

Where Hello Sushi distinguishes itself and creates a niche is by offering a smaller dining area that focuses solely on traditional Japanese dining. Their menu focuses primarily on sushi and the various types with hors d’ oeuvre’s from a traditional Japanese style that compliment each entrée. Their small dining room allows patrons to obtain a full, immersive dining experience. Staff is knowledgeable and more than willing to explain each item. Chefs demonstrate preparation techniques and offer insight into traditional and modern takes on the whole experience. The atmosphere of the restaurant is quiet and clean, demonstrated by a primarily white setting and minimal décor.

This campaign is integrated along the tagline “Grab Life.” This tagline was derived from the fact that sushi is fresh. When a person thinks about fresh fish they imagine it being plucked directly from the sea. Though the fish used for sushi has met its ultimate demise, the Grab Life idea illustrates that it was recently caught and prepared. Another idea behind this tagline is that many critics of sushi complain about the texture. Needless to say, since it is raw, one could imagine taking a bite out of a live fish and getting the same texture.

target market analysisThe primary target market proposed for this marketing plan is the Generation Y demographic that encompasses high school and college age students. They don’t pay attention to advertisements, but they do pay attention to what their friends do. A huge influencing factor for this generation is media, not necessarily endorsements, but seeing extraordinary people doing ordinary things, such as eating sushi.

From observational studies conducted by myself, I have noticed the typical patron to Hello Sushi to be between the ages of 18 to 35 and eating in groups of friends and family. This leads me to believe that the market opportunity for high school and college students to be incredibly high. It also lends itself for the opportunity to market heavily to younger families.

To market to Generation Y we need to go where they are. Finding where they spend their time is vital. In this day and age, many Generation Y individuals spend their time online on social networking sites.The trick is that you need to grab their attention where they are. You also need to remember to market to their uniqueness. They have a certain purchasing process and rely heavily on their peers for recommendations, who you can use as a powerful tool for convincing. But remember, you have to speak to them as intelligent adults and deliver outstanding service; even though they may be young they are still very intelligent.

Whether it is a business or personal relationship, Generation Y views honesty, integrity, and generosity as the foundation of a good relationship. They are smart and they expect to be given the best, as well as give it. Generation Y is very peer focused, so the value the opinions of others their own age, as well as their parents where they gained their traditional values.

characteristics of generation y

Philanthropic: Give their time, service, and moneySocially Conscious: Believe in giving and helping othersPerceptive and Easily Disillusioned: Dishonesty sends them running and causes distrust that is not forgotten

statistics on generation y• ¼ of all Americans are “digital natives” (Ages13-26)• Internet, mobile phones, and 24-hr TV have always existed for them• Spend more time online than watching TV• They have about 10x as many online friends as real ones• They use a social network daily• They send 50-100 SMS messages per day• They don’t care about the advertisements, they care about what their friends think• Affluent and tech-savvy • Loyalists to express their brand affinity• Presence to a platform with 24/7 access to consumers• Low risk, high appeal, massive buzz potential• 75 percent of college students surf social-networking sites• Teens spend 12.5 hours online while tweens spend only 6.4 hours (typical week during school year)

what they think is cool…or hot• Almost all teens (96%) said text messaging is hot right now• 91% of teens said Apple iPods were hot right now• 70% of teens said the Wii was hot right now up from 54% last year and only 21% 18 months ago• The hottest thing for tweens right now are Apple iPods (92%) followed by the Wii (81%) the DS or DS Lite (77%), downloading music (also 77%) and caring about the environment (71%)

entertainment & pop culture

• During a typical month teens see an average of 1.8 movies (in a movie theater)• Tweens see an an average of 1.3• Tween attendance is consistent with a year ago, while the average number of movies teens see in a typical month has increased slightly from 1.5 movies a year ago• Most appealing move genres for teens - action/adventure titles followed by comedies• Tweens prefer comedies followed by animated features, action/adventure• For the third straight year, “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp retains the title as the most popular Hollywood celebrity among teen and tween females• Funny man Adam Sandler is tops among the boys followed closely by the two Will’s–Will Smith and Will Ferrell• The most popular female celebrity among teen girls? Miley Cyrus, followed by Reese Witherspoon, Keira Knightley and Amanda Bynes• The top female celeb among teen boys is Jessica Alba for the second straight year followed by Miley Cyrus, Ashley Tisdale, and Alicia Keys

jeffery scott, president of integrated account services at campbell-ewald suggests

• They have high ideals and want to do something important, they want to stand for something, they believe in the power of collective action, and want you to do the right thing as a company

• They value education, love the notion of education and want the best and the most education. You can use this to feed them information and help them feel smarter about the decisions they are making, but you can’t lie to them because they are adept researchers.

• Have a strong moral compass, they admire honesty and integrity and they want total integrity. If you stand for something against what they believe, or what they perceive as phony, they won’t buy.

• They are incredibly optimistic; they believe that they can have it all and that everything is possible. The world is not win or lose nor a zero sum game to them. Proceed with full optimism and not doom and gloom.

• They are determined to get where they are going fast and will not wait around. They have high expectations and think they will get them fast, you need to play in to their need for speed.

• They are absolutely color blind and embrace diversity, they want to see their world through your advertising.

• They know they are being marketed to. They are the most media saturated market. They want you to know they know and that they don’t mind, and they are not bothered by the media that surround popular culture. You have to be totally transparent and be honest that you are selling them something. Do not pretend to be part of their group by using jargon and attitude.

• They are kids, not miniature adults. You have to have fun and really entertain them;

DON’T BE DULL.

Generation Y has unprecedented access to product information. Looking for the scoop about a digital camera? Type the brand and model into Google and you’ll be inundated with blogs and reviews. Buying a first car? Go to one of countless auto-enthusiast message boards and you’ll have enough reading material to last you for weeks. Looking for a great restaurant for you and your friends to dine in? You get the idea.

Gone are the days when you would pick up a magazine and read a professional review column, thinking it was the be-all-end-all say on a product. These days, people are putting their trust in blogs, choosing peer opinion versus expert opinion.

Generation Y has extremely fine-tuned BS detectors, if they think something is even remotely fake, it probably is. For brands trying to infiltrate Generation Y and its media, the key factor is, and has always been, sincerity.

Marketing is no longer something you do to youth, but something you do with them. Step out the ivory tower a minute, forget direct marketing or social media and take a look at the world of the young consumer and, importantly, what works. Take a look at what youth are actually saying about your brand and marketing.

Engaging youth is no longer about short term, but a focus on long term creation. Think long term, think organic, think partnership; make youth feel significant, make them feel they belong, welcome to partnership marketing.

Believe it or not but “good customer service” consistently features near or at the top when youth are asked what they want. Furthermore, it’s the difference between youth churning from one company’s marketing to the next, as customer service forms the foundations of that other great tenet of youth marketing: trust.

Youth increasingly seek out companies and brands that display a set of core values similar to their own world view. When GAP were rustled for their tenuous connections with child labour in India, their sales plummeted. Similarly, Starbucks is on the defensive with its fair trade policy and now actively fighting back with a “follow the bean” campaign to demonstrate ethical core values at the heart of the organization.

If you want to engage youth, you need to become part of their universe. The days when you could simply sponsor an event and achieve buy-in are long gone because the market has moved on.

Event creation lies at the heart of the most savvy of youth brands. Red Bull, Jones Soda, Boost Mobile and Nike are all event creators. Each is a market strategy brimming with viral potential and long term touchpoints that expose short term campaigns for what they are, small caffeinated spikes in attention that soon die off.

Events not only create the peer group stars of tomorrow (think Nike & Air Jordan) but they also offer bags of Social Utility to youth and help companies build tightly defined loyal customers.

other target market segments

Segmenting one group of consumers to target this campaign is extremely difficult. Sushi consumers cover a large area of diverse and densely populated groups. Hello Sushi’s location in the City of Saginaw places it in the heart of the shopping and business sector of Saginaw. It is also located relatively close to two college campuses. This opens the door for a multitude of new customers.

The following represents a few primary psychographic trends of sushi connoisseurs:

The Sushi Lover: People who want to eat sushi for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They simply can’t get enough of it.

The Health Conscious: This includes anyone who has committed to a healthy diet.

The Student: More and more young people have developed healthy eating habits. The appeal to sushi is that it can be obtained and eaten quickly, while offering a healthy alternative and change of scenery from cafeteria and mass marketed food chains.

The Shopper: The avid shopper who frequents the mall with a, “shop till you drop,” mentality. The key is to bring them into the restaurant when they are ready to drop.

The Social Butterfly: The type of restaurant goers who eats with large groups of people to experience and enjoy the history and culture of ethnic cuisine.

The Curious and Open-Minded: The “if you try it, you will like it,” type of people. Through marketing, publicity and word-of-mouth, these people seek out new experiences.

Realistically an integrated marketing campaign can not target everyone. For it to be effective it has to be focused and not completely scatter-brained. However, this does not mean it can not appeal to everyone. The previously mentioned psychographic descriptions cover a broad range of ages and demographic factors. The creative ideas that follow this section appropriate themselves to play off this idea.

creativebusiness card

The first piece of creative promotional material created for this project is the logo. Shown on the business card sample on the left, it illustrates the clean simplicity that is characteristic of sushi and the new Hello Sushi brand.

This logo will be effectively communicated through all facets of the campaign, maintaining a stable continuity. As you will see throughout, it offers multiple options for Hello Sushi to communicate the Grab Life tagline.

website

The redesign of the website is the most crucial aspect of this campaign. The newly created website will be the driving force of communication to all other forms of media. The layout of the interface is neat and clean, maintaining the continuity of the rest of the campaign.

The following describes the user interface and how it will play out.

When the user first goes to website it will appear white for a brief moment. The redesigned logo will slide across the screen from left to right. When the logo stops the two chopsticks will wave at the user. Then entering from the left will be a rolled up bamboo sushi mat. The mat will unroll and the text for each item will bounce off the mat to add visual appeal. Each of these effects will happen rather quickly to not keep the user waiting.

After the flash interface has played out, the chopsticks will then become the cursor. The user will be able to maneuver the chopsticks as they would a cursor. When the user clicks a link on the bamboo mat, on the left hand side, the chopstick will pick up the word, giving it an almost three dimensional look. The rest of the links will then disappear. The chosen link will rise to the top with the sub-links panning down. In the example illustrated on the right, you can see the user selected Nigiri Sushi, which was at the bottom. In the second frame, you can see that it rose to the top with the sublinks displayed below it.

The first frame on the following pages illustrates what happens when a user chooses a sublink, in this case Saki. A bamboo mat, similar to the side bar, unrolls and the elements of that specific type of sushi appear in their rawest form, in this case seaweed, salmon, avacado, rice plants, and a chili pepper. These elements in their live, natural form continue to play off the tagline Grab Life.

When a user wants to know more about each of the items they can then select a specific item. As illustrated in the picture on the following page, the user has selected the salmon. When the user grabs the salmon, it moves down next to the bamboo mat, with a text box appear next to it. Inside the text box is a sample of the history of using salmon, types of salmon used and how it is preprared.

The final page illustrates the connect portion of the webpage. This link is critical to the entire social marketing plan that is described in the following section. Logos are displayed on the bamboo mat side bar, and are direct links to Hello Sushi’s pages at the sites. In the center is the collection tool for email addresses. The entered email address will be collected in a database and utilized in the social marketing plan.

social marketing

Hello Sushi’s possibilities and opportunities in the social networking and digital atmosphere are nearly endless. With the countless numbers of tools available for companies, Hello Sushi’s marketing needs to not only inform patrons but also engage them through integrated and immersive techniques.

Typically when a customer enjoys a dining experience, they become repeat customers. When that same person comes back to the restaurant, meets the owner and creates a connection, they become a patron, thus increasing their loyalty. This loyalty creates a sense of belonging to the patron, when they feel this connection they make it a point to refer to the restaurant, promote the restaurant and connect their experiences with others. This creates a word-of-mouth buzz surrounding the restaurant, leading to not only new customer opportunities, but also a nearly free marketing tool.

This is where social marketing steps into the arena. The relatively inexpensive tool allows Hello Sushi to become closer to their customers through conversing and connecting. Once a restaurant realizes who their customers are; their motivations; preferences and types, social media creates a tool that allows casual customers to become brand ambassadors. With the groups previously defined, and the ever expanding digital atmosphere, all the above mentioned groups will find the appeal of this social marketing plan.

The social arena also integrates perfectly into the Grab Life tagline by connecting on social scale involving patron’s lives.

The following explores multiple social media types and opportunities that will allow Hello Sushi to optimize a complete, engaging and most importantly, integrated social marketing campaign. Many are obtainable from the multitude of mobile devices which will allow people on the move to find information and choose Hello Sushi as their dining destination.

The following showcases multiple opportunities that can be utlized by Hello Sushi:

Register Hello Sushi on Yelp.com, Urbanspoon.com and TripAdvisor.com. Each of these three websites allows customers to view your profile for more information and post reviews of their experience. This will allow curious first-timers searching for a new dining experience to discover Hello Sushi and also allow you to effectively target local customers

Yelp is the fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what’s great about your restaurant. It will also allow them to tell you what is not so great, which helps recognize concerns and problems that need to be addressed. It is the ultimate city guide that taps into the community’s voice and reveals honest and current insights on local businesses and services on nearly everything. It is also a fun and engaging place for passionate and opinionated influencers to share the experiences they’ve had with Hello Sushi.

It is fairly common knowledge asking friends is the best way to find restaurants. Yelp will make this process faster and easier by collecting and organizing friends’ recommendations in one convenient place. Essentially this is word-of mouth marketing - amplified.

Yelp has been striving to make life better for people who love to patronize great local businesses. Users find that discovering accurate information on local establishments entertaining.

Urbanspoon is the world’s leading provider of time-critical dining data, a major division of a very important multi-national corporation, and an all-around big player in the multi-billion dollar restaurant information industry.

TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel community where users can get real information, advice, and opinions from Hello Sushi Patrons. TripAdvisor is a place they can go for insights and tips, a place that is literally alive with experiences and opinions. It’s a place that feels like a local neighborhood coffee shop, a café, a pub. A friendly and relaxed community filled with unscripted and honest conversations between travelers.

Sign up for a Twitter account. This will allow you to create a Twitter profile explaining your business. You can utilize this free tool to create promotional giveaways, specials and announcements, an excellent alternative to mass mailing. It will also allow you and your followers to listen to and converse with your customers and potential customers.

Twitter is a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices.In countries all around the world, people follow the sources most relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens—from breaking world news to updates from friends.

Simplicity has played an important role in Twitter’s success. People are eager to connect with others and Twitter makes that simple. Twitter asks one question, “What are you doing?” Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the web.

Twitter solves information overload by changing expectations traditionally associated with online communication. It is ambient with updates floating to phones, IM’s, and/or web sites.

The result of using Twitter to stay connected with patrons and friends is that you have a sense of what they are up to. This means you can step in and out of the flow of information as it suits you and it never queues up with increasing demand of your attention.

Utilize MeetUp. Meetup is the world’s largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities. This tool could be utilized to gather crowds for a sushi eating event, such as new menu items, or even for sushi preparation and training.

Create a blog. This is a great tool to bring customers into the restaurant and kitchen. It will allow them to go behind the scenes of the inner workings and employee mindsets, making patrons feel like a part of the business. Hello Sushi can create updates with information about recipes, employee profiles, and kitchen tips and tricks. This will break down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Remember, customers want to be a part of something more than just a meal, they want to feel like they belong and a blog can be that tool. It can even be networked to your Twitter account

Create an E-Newsletter that explains the latest happenings, new menu items, entertainment news, recipe of the month and anything else you want to tell your patrons about what is happening with Hello Sushi. This will also create a helpful tool to collect email addresses for future opportunities to connect with your patrons.

E-Newsletters draws patrons into stores better than magazine and advertisements because they are current, relevant and to the point. They offer a great opportunity to send a value message to consumers who are already loyalists, and therefore more likely to react

Create a Facebook fan page. This will allow you to connect with your customers. Hello Sushi can find friends via collected email address and word-of-mouth. This page can be constantly updated with fresh content and create another tool to allow you to be involved in conversations. It can also be fully networked with most of the other recommendations.

about facebook

Every Facebook Page is a unique experience where users can become more deeply connected with Hello Sushi. Users can express their support by adding themselves as a fan, writing on your Wall, uploading photos, and joining other fans in discussion groups. You can send updates to your fans regularly — or just with special news or offers. Add applications to your Page and engage your users with videos, reviews, flash content, and

more. Creating a Facebook Page is easy and free. Your fans love you, and their friends will know it.When your fans interact with your Facebook Page, the actions they take are automatically generated into social stories. These stories are published to News Feed, which friends may see the next time they log into Facebook. The stories link back to your Facebook Page, inviting more people to interact with it, which generates more social stories and drives even more traffic to your Page. Think of it as word-of-mouth marketing, only completely free and happening online.

get even more distribution with facebook social ads

You can increase the viral distribution of your Facebook Page with Facebook Social Ads. Create an ad creative and attach it to stories in News Feed or in the left-hand Ad Space. Social Ads increase the number of friends who will see the story when they visit Facebook, and you can also target the ads to specific demographics. Create a Facebook Page and get started with Facebook Social Ads.

get meaningful statistics

Get valuable metrics about your presence and promotion on Facebook. With Facebook Insights, you have access to data on activity, fan demographics, ad performance, and trends. With this information, you are better equipped to improve your custom content on Facebook and adjust your ad targeting. Facebook Insights is a free service for all Facebook Pages and Social Ads.

rely on authentic demographic data

Facebook’s robust database of authentic demographic information provides you with a deep understanding of exactly who is engaging with your business and how. From the performance of your social ads to the viral distribution rate of stories about your business, Facebook Insights helps you learn more about your target audience.

make informed decisions

Facebook Insights provides the necessary information to improve the content of your Facebook Pages and the performance of your Social Ads. Refine your Social Ad target demographics, budgets and creatives based on Insights data to increase traffic to your Facebook Page or website. Use the data to adjust the content of your Page and optimize for increased engagement with your customers and fans.

promote your business in a fun wayFacebook Surf allows you to keep track of your potential customer base by closely monitoring the web pages they visit on a daily basis.

A counter begins when a user enters your web page, and a notification pops up when the user leaves, alerting them that a story will be published in their news feed. No additional user action is needed for the story to be published.

Facebook Surf uses the viral nature of the News Feed to spread the word about Hello Sushi. All friends of the user will be able to see precisely how much time he spends browsing your webpage.

facebook image scan

Facebook Image Scan is an exciting new addition to the Facebook Business Solutions family. Using a sophisticated computer algorithm developed by Facebook, Image Scan is able to browse the images in a user’s photo album and identify brand markings and products with startling accuracy. For example, eating sushi at Hello Sushi.

The users on Facebook already do an enormous amount of promotion of your product in Photo Albums, by being seen in photographs eating your food. Facebook Image Scan simply intends to bring these promotions to light by tagging them in photos and providing pricing, as well as a link back to your page.

keep close tabs on your customers

In business, the customer is king, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t elusive. Facebook Locate utilizes cell phone and GPS technologies to literally locate a Facebook user’s exact location. The coordinates will be transmitted to the user’s News Feed, and a map of your nearest physical store location will be texted to the user’s phone.

the potential of the news feed

Because the user’s location is published in their News Feed, it opens up a wealth of possibility for the user’s Facebook friends. Due to the viral nature of the News Feed, friends will be able to keep abreast of the user’s location, and in turn, store locations they are near. The potential for group meeting and mass group purchases at your store is quite exhilarating for your business.

Similar to Facebook is Myspace. Although not completely necessary, Hello Sushi can create an account here and keep patrons informed and engage in conversations and comments.

Create a YouTube account. This will allow you to incorporate video into your social media strategy. Much like the blog, it will allow you to take your patrons behind the scenes, giving them a pass to a part of the restaurant that only insiders are allowed to go. You can provide quick tips, how-to’s from the Chef and the whole dining experience. Then when you load these videos to your YouTube account, they can be imbedded into all of your other social marketing tools.

Utilize Google Alerts. This tool can be used to listen to what is being said about Hello Sushi, the website or even a chef. Even by just by setting up a Google Alert system with just Hello Sushi can bring priceless insight to the both positive and negative talk that is being said online about Hello Sushi. It is highly recommended that you utilize other search terms to gain insight in to the industry and what is happening all over the world. For example, lets say that there is a salmonella scare from a popular fish distributor. Although Hello Sushi may not use them, you can communicate to concerned patrons, via your new Blog, Twitter account, Newsletter, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Social Calendars, etc., that they are free from harm.

As noted throughout these social networking ideas, they are fully integrated. With simple links on your newly designed website, users can go to each page. It is important to note that collecting email address will be vital, as some patrons may be hesitant or unknowing to your new social networking opportunities. A simple box that lets users type in their email on the website will become an excellent collection tool. Another pertinent time to

collect email addresses will be at the restaurant. This can be done by putting a line on the customer’s check that they can simply fill in. As an incentive to give their email address, Hello Sushi can offer a small rebate off their next purchase, which in turn will get them to come back again.

When you collect the email address, enter it into a simple database with software like Microsoft Excel. When users sign up for each of these social networking sites, they are required to enter their email address. Now that you have their email address, you will be able to easily find them on each social networking tool.

It seems that they key idea behind all of this is that no one else in the Tri-Cities is promoting themselves in such a fashion. Granted this could be seen as a negative side effect and many people could disregard Saginaw as a destination point. Mostly, it provides people who already live in the area and people who already plan to visit the area. These social marketing techniques are not being utilized and can offer groundbreaking results in a not-so-groundbreaking media platform. When searching on review sites for restaurants in the area, most customers will find that Hello Sushi is the only restaurant reviewed, or even to have a profile.

A popular site, www.celebritysushi.net/blog, portrays just that. It gives a basic idea that all over the media celebrities are seen at various sushi establishments, granted all over the world, but none-the-less they are eating sushi. Sushi is known as a healthy alternative. Therefore this generation sees beautiful and fit celebrities eating healthy sushi. They also view sushi as a sort of “risk-factor” due to the raw fish. This plays into the whole rebellious teen idea. The social factor of sushi is also an important role. Dining at an American Sushi restaurant can be seen as a social event. Many patrons come with a large group of people and order copious amounts of various sushi types. They then sit their, comment on the texture, taste, ingredients while laughing and having a good time. Which fits perfectly with the whole social campaign. All of the ideas recommended would allow you to infiltrate their social lives and portray yourself as an extension to this social arena by giving patrons a social place to dine.

The main point with all of these tools is that they are free. Hello Sushi will not have to pay a cent to sign up and implement these marketing strategies. These strategies are an excellent way to step into the 21st century, and with a little imagination and creativity, Hello Sushi will be able to connect with their customer base.

outdoor/ambient

The Tri-City area has many opportunities for utilizing this outdoor advertising. The major I-75 and I-675 routes are high traffic areas that maintain an excellent opportunity for a local business.

Outdoor has always been one of the most effective means of advertising money can buy. And it’s even more important to rely on outdoor advertising today as American consumers spend more time with outdoor than watching television, reading the paper or listening to the radio. The one advertisement that they are guaranteed to see is outdoor advertising. When they are driving, they are outdoor’s captive audience.

outdoor advertising is smart because it

• Costs less than other forms of advertising.• Targets today’s highly mobile consumer.• Offers competitive reach as compared to other media venues.• Presents creative designs that can create market awareness and name recognition.• Has the audience that television, newspaper and radio must first build.

outdoor research

• 15. The number of hours people spend per week in a car.• 2 out of 5 in-car consumers make the decision to shop on the way home.• 49% of the U.S. population notice directional billboards.• 48% of Americans did not pick up a newspaper yesterday.• 1 out of 4 Americans have not watched the evening news in the past week.

The main point to understand is that the advertisements not only have to be creative and eye catching, but also maintain the continuity of the scope of the entire integrated campaign.

The designed billboards maintain continuity by utilizing the redesigned logo, effective use of white space and same headline.

The first billboard designed is simple and direct. It showcases the name of the restaurant, the tagline “Grab Life” and the rest whitespace. What will make this billboard stand out and catch the eyes of consumers is the use of 3-dimensional objects for the chopsticks. In the logo we will use actual pieces of wood, or other objects that will withstand the elements, but allow for easy fastening as mandated by the manufacturer and owner of the billboard. These chopsticks will protrude from the sign and extend downward past the actual sign. Grasped by the chopsticks will also be the word, “Saginaw.”

The second billboard utilizes the same ideas as the first billboard. It will be simple and direct, showcasing the name of the restaurant, tagline, whitespace and 3-dimensional chopsticks. Where it differs, is in the positioning of the chopsticks. They will be facing upwards, with the grasping end pointing to the sky. Instead of grasping the words, “Saginaw,” they will be holding different objects. These objects could range from many things such as a bird, airplane, car, people, etc. This further exemplifies the idea of grabbing life.

to-go packaging

Another idea created for this campaign is a re-design of the takeout packaging. Through my observational studies, I noticed many customers come in for takeout sushi. There were two major types of people I noticed who were participating in this. The first was the person on their lunch, looking for a quick sushi takeout. A few customers were even ordering larger portions for many people in the office. The next type were various groups of younger kids. When they walked in they were laughing and having a good time. Two separate groups came in and I overheard them talking about how they were taking it to a party for the guests. A couple of other instances involved couples walking in and talking about their picnic date, and how they were excited to eat the sushi in the park.

The current packaging is simple carryout Styrofoam, nondistinctive to the restaurant. Even the plastic bags used to hold them are the common “Thank You” bags used by everyone. The proposed packaging is simple, yet elegant and maintains the continuity of all other pieces. It is meant to be a standalone piece, meaning it would not require a bag. Chopsticks are used for handles, being held up by two flaps with holes in them. Since the products that will be held inside are very light, the concern of them tearing or breaking is nonexistent.

The container is a box with a cut down the middle where it folds apart. Wrapped around the box is a white sleeve to hold the box together. This sleeve will have the logo and address of Hello Sushi. When the user is ready to open the box, they remove the chopsticks and fold the flaps down. They can then slide the sleeve off and open the box.

The inside of the box will be separated down the middle, the long way of the rectangle. The top portion will have three small compartments that will hold packet(s) of soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger. Next to those three compartments will be three long and thin compartments. One will hold the chopsticks used to eat the sushi and the second will hold rolled up napkins. The third one will hold a piece of marketing that could show a takeout menu, business card, etc.

The pictures shown on the following pages illustrate a design that was previously created that plays off the proposed idea.