Donuts for Grownups in L.A.
Challenge
Glazed Donut Bistro was a new company with a literally sweet idea: a gourmet donut shop with the vibe of a Parisian café, all the way down to the wine and beer. Advertising and promoting a new restaurant in a crowded dining scene like Los Angeles is always a special marketing challenge. And convincing patrons to try L.A. donuts at French pastry prices would require more than targeted ads on social media. Our market research indicated our most likely (and most loyal) customers were men and women ages 22-35 in certain income brackets. Los Angeles is a city of creativity, with traditional “professionals” in law, medicine, and business, as well as artists, filmmakers, and on-set crew. Because brand building is a specialty of our digital agency, we immediately knew our goal: a brand, mature with a sense of fun, that made it okay to experience the comfort food of donuts with the elegance and grace of high-end dining experience.
Solution
We identified three main challenges: developing the brand story, articulating it with specifics for a unique in-restaurant dining experience, and teasing the brand in social media and other digital marketing to make donut connoisseurs and other foodies curious — and craving donuts. The juxtaposition of opposites — donuts as artisanal pastries, sweet vs. savory, craft beers and premium wines and Dom Perignon — certainly got our attention. We thought our potential diners would think so, too. We came up with a short, memorable tagline that captured all of it in three words: "Donuts For Grownups". Visuals combined the innovation of these artisanal creations with the celebratory backdrop of champagne, select wines, and micro-brews. We designed the experience as a special event that did more than satisfy a momentary donut binge. We teased top media outlets with exclusive first looks and enforced a specific release schedule for their articles. We developed follow-up stories to seed more articles to build momentum online — donuts as over-the-top as the characters Hollywood creates. Audiences were sharing “donut selfies” even before their first visit. Once we expanded channels for our marketing message in more media, the demand was already there — all Glazed Donut Bistro had to do was supply it! For the in-store experience to translate online, we used professional hero shots of all the images framed with a subtle, earth-tone backdrop to make them pop for hip foodies. Leveraging an award-winning third-wave coffee partner, we activated the brand across multiple platforms for a lifestyle community that felt exclusive and mysterious.
Results
The launch of Glazed Donut Bistro was such a marketing sensation, we won the award for Best New Dessert Shop from Time Out Los Angeles! In 72 Hours: 38k Likes 176k Views
Upper Diamond
We are a minority-owned, SBE certified agency located in Los Angeles that has been in business since 2006. Upper Diamond is an award-winning 14-year-old digital agency with a strong legacy of innovation in the marketing, technology, and content creation space. We have worked with global corporations like Salesforce,...
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