4Food Hamburg: You customize, you promote

(abridged version published in the October issue of successful marketing, written in August)

will be carefully prepared their own gluttonous feast photos uploaded, so that netizens comment on the practice of scoring, has long been popular, not surprising. If you have a restaurant that offers an Apple store version of the consumer environment, if you would like to also be able to advance through the Internet to customize their own burgers, and send it to Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare to share with you, you can not believe it? New York City in August, the opening of the "4Food" is such a creative restaurant, it will be grafted traditional catering to the new branch of social networking, to open up a different style with McDonald's, KFC, a new way of catering marketing, is an out-and-out future pie.

It's a burger, and it's a unique experience.

Into the 4Food, you may mistakenly think that you are stepping into another Apple store, instead of a menu like KFC and McDonald's, the 240-inch LCD screen on the wall, which serves as a service for you with the hottest ipad tablet, is also a message from fans on Twitter, Or Foursquare users who are "checking in" at this restaurant.

In 4Food, you'll get more than just a hamburger or a drink, more like a happy game combined on a line. You can go down the counter like you used to, and if you like to do it yourself, you can also link to the restaurant's online order system via the ipad. In fact, if you're already bored with the same menus, you can log in ahead of their website (4food.com) and personalize them according to your preferences.

The hamburger they sell is not the same as the usual, there is a hole in the middle, more like the sweet circle, so that customers can stuffed avocado, baked beans or cheese and so on. By choosing a different type of burger and stuffing the same stuffing, you can match up with a variety of new burgers. Of course, the so-called solo Lele is not as good as Lele, you can also through Twitter, Facebook and other social networks to the public to share with friends. Before the official opening, 4Food was also on Twitter, with nearly 500 fans talking about how 4Food and New Yorkers could reduce the city's rubbish, and users with the best options would receive one months of free plowing.

Even it hires the staff is also different, they all come from the unemployed organization's recommendation, everywhere unconventional 4Food strives to raise the commercial revenue at the same time seeks to take the initiative to undertake the more social responsibility, for constructs the beautiful community to make a modest effort. Swept around the world's green consumption tide, 4Food naturally unwilling to be outdone, only willing to sell absolute organic food, to promote healthy consumption patterns. Consumers who are willing to try new ideas are often the ones who are deeply concerned about lifestyle, natural ecology and community building, naturally competing with each other, even if prices are higher.

With the increasingly homogenization of services, providing a unique consumer experience, the implementation of experiential marketing, has become a business to implement brand differentiation strategy of another new point of appeal. The product is tangible, the service is intangible, and the experience created is unforgettable; compared with external goods and services, the experience is internal and deep into the hearts of consumers. It is by the cool electronic hardware facilities, open social media interaction, participatory consumption patterns, green fashion products, and social care staff recruitment program, 4Food not go the ordinary way, so that marketing ideas into the fast-food service every detail, establish a distinctive brand image, The success of the monotonous traditional catering service into a memorable unique experience of consumption.

A customer, a salesman.

Traditional restaurants rely on the word-of-mouth spread of consumers to attract new customers, slow growth, obviously can not meet the development needs of modern enterprises. And advertising is not only expensive, but also easily caused by the resistance of the audience, the effect is increasingly low. Social media may be a good choice, the meal is the most commonly used social communication mode, the use of social media to promote food is suitable but. Different from the traditional fast-food enterprise marketing model, 4Food, through clever set up incentive mechanism, play social network interactive and participatory advantages, greatly enhance the breadth and intensity of word-of-mouth communication, so that customers to each other marketing, become a salesman for me.

The adoption of social networks makes the whole process fresh and interesting, but how long will it last? That's why 4Food is taking incentives. It hopes that the relationship established with consumers can be sustained over time, not just a meal. After the 4Food website has customized the burger and named it, it becomes your personal work, and if selected by other customers, your account will receive a 25 cent sales commission per copy, and the next time you can replace it with an equivalent burger. Interestingly, the 4Food will also put the best burger on the list, and the first-ranked consumer will get a free burger every time they come to spend. In this way, customers can not only customize their own delicious hamburger, but also can be a unique formula to share with you, get other people's identity, and even bring a real economic benefits, one more, why not? This has prompted customers to proactively promote themselves through Twitter, Facebook or blogs and other media, unknowingly acting as 4Food marketers.

In addition, 4Food is also working with Foursquare, a mobile social networking service provider, to provide points, discounts or coupons for "check-in" users. The higher the frequency of the customers ' attendance, the more points they get, thus obtaining the badges of the corresponding grade. The user who has the most attendance in 60 days will also become the "Mayor" (mayor) of 4Food and enjoy the special discount. With easy check-in, users can record where they've been and tell Twitter and Facebook friends about their location and personal experience. It is the word of mouth between old and new friends, not only improve brand awareness, but also form a word-of-mouth communication.

A chance and a challenge

In the face of fierce competition, the catering industry has already used new technology to improve the profit space, but most of them are more high-end TV audio equipment or the latest tidal touch-point system, like 4Food so enthusiastic embrace the network, comprehensive innovation is never seen. 4Food on the one hand to provide customers with unusual personal experience, on the other hand, the use of social networks to motivate customers to spread Word-of-mouth, two-pronged, the effect is well worth looking forward to. Notice that a mobile fast-food vehicle called "Kogi" has only been used by Twitter's online Word-of-mouth marketing the stomach of countless Los Angeles was quickly conquered in just three months, becoming one of the most famous mobile restaurants in the United States, and even the BBC, The New York Times and Newsweek reported it as a target. It is said that 4Food alone has been planning the restaurant for several years and plans to open up to 12 outlets in a short period of time.

Of course, the success of 4Food has yet to be tested. First, how long can the curiosity and freshness of this special approach to the web-tailored burger last? The more fresh and fashionable things are usually more outdated, it is undoubtedly important to keep the freshness of the customers. How to keep adding new elements of the game, while attracting new customers while retaining the old customers is a major challenge. Second, no matter how unconventional, after all, after all, is a restaurant, customers to spend or Hamburg. If the food is not tasty, I am afraid it is no longer interesting. Continuous marketing innovation, continuous improvement of product quality, to provide customer satisfaction with the service is the fundamental survival of the road. Moreover, in such a social network of 4food, good word-of-mouth spread easily, negative news will also quickly flow, can not be any mistake.

Reprint original Please note: This article link: [http://www.marketing-life.cn/?p=3273];

From Jiansho Qing Blog "About marketing that little news | Marketing Popular Science Blog" [http://www.marketing-life.cn]