Yesterday Denny’s had a huge special where they gave everyone in America a free Grand Slam breakfast. I thought I might stop in and have one. The offer began at 6am.  I arrived about 6:40. I expected a line, especially considering how hard it was to find a parking spot. It was a tow truck driver’s dream come true! What I found was a line of people that at times during the day was a 3 hour wait.

Yesterday evening I took my girlfriend out to IHOP. As I chatted with the staff I found that IHOP had been incredibly busy until the afternoon. It seems that a lot of people weren’t willing to wait hours for their free food at Denny’s but came and paid for food at IHOP instead. They were waiting in line at IHOP for almost an hour according to the staff.

How is this a failure? Denny’s traded millions of dollars for short term buzz. Next month will Denny’s be any more on your mind than Waffle House or IHOP? Doubtful. Most people already have exposure to Denny’s because they are a fairly well known national chain. Who benefited from their ad? IHOP certainly experienced a boost in business and they weren’t giving anything away for free and perhaps other businesses profited as well. Denny’s will return to their previous status as just another unremarkable chain restuarant before long minus a few million dollars.

According to Denny’s they wanted to help those feeling the pinch of the harsh economy. Most of the folks who were in line weren’t spending $6 on breakfast any day of the week because they were jobless or didn’t have the income to spend on it. The free promotion drew the people who could afford the time to invest waiting on a free breakfast, but not the people who could convert into long term paying customers.

If Denny’s sells 12 million Grand Slam breakfasts a year and they gave out, as planned, 2 million yesterday why not just discount those 12 million meals with the $12 million from the 2 million free meals instead? Denny’s could have spent less money and created better connections with their customers by giving coupons for the free breakfasts out in stages. Then people would be more likely to connect a positive experience with Denny’s in their minds. Releasing the coupons in stages would maintain the buzz and result in the same level of exposure if not more. People would have been exposed to a better experience with the service at Denny’s since they would probably not have to wait in line so long, and they may have brought more friends or family who wanted something besides a Grand Slam and would be more likely to spend money. Personally, I think that Denny’s could have saved money and offered a promotion lasting a whole year with a promotion such as:  buy any one meal and get a Grand Slam free.

Tons of free press coverage that only lasts a couple of days at the cost of an over $3 million  Super Bowl ad and $12 million in free breakfasts. Was the short-term buzz worth it?

Picture via @pwbeninate.

Update: @thinkhammer is taking me out for a free Grand Slam Breakfast to applaud my blogging. Also Geoff Waserman has a great post echoing some of the things I’ve said and adding the idea of using a charity to boost the companies image.

This is a post from the Nullvariable Web Consulting Blog.

The Denny’s Debacle