Sonic’s consumer engagement play: touch-screen tech at the drive-in

Like all marketers, Sonic is grappling with how to utilize technology. For Sonic the challenge is to wow customers and make them continue to return to its fast food restaurants — and to do it in a way that makes sense for a classic burgers and shakes drive-in chain.

The 60-year-old brand has embarked on a project to install touchscreen displays at all of its 3,500-plus restaurants across the country. The drive-in screen tech has allowed Sonic to maximize the 11 minutes on average a customer spends on its property, far longer than most fast-food joints. The idea is the systems will allow for customized messages to consumers — and an opportunity for Sonic to capture e-mails for future marketing. Sonic has said the “point of personalized” feature drives higher order size.

“It’s pretty powerful and I don’t think it will allow any fast-food chain to catch up to in 10 years because it is so incredibly unique to our brand,” Sonic director of national marketing Sarah Beddoe said at the Digiday Content Marketing Summit yesterday in Half Moon Bay, California.

Watch the three-minute clip below for Sonic’s thinking behind the initiative.

https://digiday.com/?p=129593

More in Marketing

Women’s sports marketing boom ‘huge up and coming opportunity,’ spurs new agency services

Women’s sports are having a moment. Brands, media companies and agencies are looking to get in on the action.

Creators still turning down work as the Hollywood SAG-AFTRA strike continues

The Hollywood strikes were supposed to be a game changer for many of them, but the situation hasn’t quite lived up to the hype.

Agencies move on from creating content for specific platforms to focus on short-form video

Given the rise of short-form video, agencies that focus on the format, rather than specific platform expertise, will reap the rewards.