Five Guys "Customize the Best"

CUSTOMIZE THE BEST

Nick Malizia Jacqui Smith Leah Freeark Lauryn Costik Wen-Hsin Huang

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

We are interested in developing a media plan that will spread awareness of Five Guys brand, create top of mind recognition, cultivate relationships with customers, and generate additional revenue. While Five Guys’ current minimalist approach towards advertising has been successful, we believe that success can be enhanced by engaging in further marketing efforts.

We plan to strengthen current bonds and forge new connections with customers by increasing Five Guys’ presence on social media, as this serves as a means of communicating with consumers in a direct and personal manner. Our social media efforts will additionally aid our attempts to expand the scope of recognition of the Five Guys brand.

Our endeavors to increase awareness of the brand will simultaneously be reinforced by a new campaign for Five Guys, for the first time having Five Guys ads appear on various platforms. This aspect of the campaign will be concentrated in our spot markets,, heightening the level of exposure to the Five Guys brand in these specific areas. We additionally plan to engage in a digital campaign that will reach the entire nation.

These strategies are compatible with Five Guys values and ideals as a company and a brand. The combination of these marketing tactics will result in Five Guys being recognized as a top-of-mind brand in relation to competitors. This marketing plan will ensure Five Guys success, guaranteeing that the company exist as the best burger restaurant in their industry.

3

COMPANY AND BRAND

4

COMPANY AND BRAND

The Five Guys Product Five Guys’ menu offers cheeseburgers, fries, grilled cheese, BLTs, hot dogs, and milkshakes. When Five Guys first opened, their menu was limited to strictly burgers and fries. It took much debate between the Murrell brothers to expand their menu to include current product offerings. They feared the larger the menu, the harder it would be to maintain quality. In the past, coffee and chicken sandwiches were also added to the menu but were not well received and were quickly removed.

All of Five Guys’ food is cooked in peanut oil, their fries are fresh cut, and burgers are fresh never frozen; Five Guys’ facilities are not equipped with freezers, nor are timers used in the kitchen.

According to Forbes, Five Guys has “systematized surprise and delight” by adding an extra scoop of fries to the bags of customers who ordered fries. Their soft buns are based on a recipe from a local Alexandria, VA bakery that has been used since the company’s foundation. Five Guys was also one of the first restaurants to receive Coca Cola freestyle machines, in 2011.

Locations also serve peanuts on each table for the guests to snack on while they wait, or eat with their meals. According to the company, there are more than 250,000 ways to order a Five Guys Burger.

Current Operations The Murrell family is still directly involved in the operation of the company. The current Five Guys management team includes Jerry Murrell and his five sons. They each play a different role in the business and have meetings regularly to make sure everything is running smoothly. Five Guys location managers also meet monthly, without the presence of corporate board members, to discuss any issues they have in their individual stores or any problems they would like the Murrell family to address. A representative then reports back to the Murrells and changes are considered.

Moving Forward,Five Guys hopes to continue to expand. They have been voted #1 burger in the Washington D.C. Metro area, and have been featured in major publications such as Time, and Forbes. The Company was voted Burger Brand of the Year in 2017 by Harris Polls.

Five Guys’ restaurant décor includes framed newspaper clippings of the many awards the brand has won, juxtaposed against their characteristic red and white checkered interiors, bright lights, and extremely clean environment. Five Guys also now offers an app for rapid pickup and mobile ordering.

"If you can give a good haircut or if you can serve a good drink at a bar or if you can serve a good hamburger, you can always make money in America." -Jerry Murrell

5

CATEGORY HISTORY

CATEGORY HISTORY The fast casual burger market consists of restaurants that focus on a higher quality burger than those offered by fast food competitors. These restaurants are focused on their “better burgers,” highlighting pure, fresh ingredients, and unique condiment and topping choices. Four of the biggest restaurants in this market are Five Guys, In-N-Out, Smashburger, and Whataburger. The fast casual burger market began to slowly gain prevalence through the 2000’s, and then took a huge rise in popularity in 2015 and 2016.

Fast casual burger chains allow for consumers to buy and receive their food quickly while still maintaining high quality taste and allowing for consumers to sit down and enjoy their meal. Different restaurants have different approaches to their menu.

While some restaurants will keep their menu simple (such as In-N-Out), other restaurants look to create a variety (such as Whataburger). However regardless of the approach to their menu, each restaurant in this category focuses on their burger being “better than the rest.” Thus, Five Guys strongest competitors in this category are 6 In-N-Out, Smashburger, and Whataburger.

COMPETITORS

7

CONSUMER ANALYSIS

PERCEPTION Five Guys is currently perceived as less healthy and lacking variety compared to its direct competitors.

DEMOGRAPHICS ●

Current brand users are mostly 25-34 year old MEN

●

1/2 are MARRIED or HOMEOWNERS

●

58% has 1 or more CHILDREN

●

85% enjoy spending time with their FAMILIES

●

37% access SOCIAL MEDIA sites from a variety of devices

●

44% of 25-34 year olds discuss topics they see on social media in face to face conversation

●

72% of these consumers agreed when asked if they like to TREAT THEMSELVES with UNHEALTHY FOODS from time to time

8

RAND RESEARCH

Study 1: In-depth Interviews Objectives In conducting these interviews, our team sought to gain a deeper understanding of the psychographics and personality traits of consumers belonging to several different categories of Five Guys product usage,including the current heavy-user category of men ages 25-34 as well as the lighter-use category of women belonging to the same age range.

Methods We used a purposive sampling method, selecting both 10 men and 10 women ages 25-34, all of whom demonstrated previous brand awareness and usage. Each group member conducted multiple interviews, while either taking notes or recording audio, for a total of twenty interviews. Each interview followed an interview guide of approximately 34 questions, consisting of three main categories: category usage, brand usage and perceptions, and lifestyle information, with a final short section on demographic information.

Results Through these interviews, we discovered that Five Guys is at top-of-mind awareness for nearly all consumers, with 87% of interviewees having eaten at Five Guys multiple times in the past year. Those that are non-users cited specific reasoning, like peanut allergies, (Five Guys cooks with peanut oil, and has free peanuts available for customers to snack on), or Five Guy’s lack of vegetarian options or healthier options.

Study 2: Ethnography Objectives To acutely observe Five Guys restaurant operations and environment, customer interactions, and the type of customers that frequent the State College Five Guys location, to uncover insights as we work towards building our campaign.

Methods Each team member visited Five Guys twice for approximately one hour at a time of our convenience, with attention paid to peak meal times. We ordered off the menu, and sat down for an hour to observe and record what was happening around us.

Results We found that, at the State College location, Five Guy’s consumer base is very male oriented, with very few women visiting the restaurant by themselves. During each of our observations, very few customers who entered the restaurant were women.

Furthermore, despite being on College Ave, many of the men we observed were older than college age, and likely (by observation) part of the current heavy user category of 25-34 men. Five Guys customers seem to know what they want, and take very little time to place their order.The customer service was equally efficient, and seemed to follow an assembly-line type process.

9

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths 1.

2.

3.

Top-of-mind brand awareness--87% of users knew about and had eaten at one of these restaurants at least once within the past year, and often associated fast food with this brand.

Delicious and customizable food--Their options for customization of burgers allowed customers to feel a personal connection to the brand.

Quick service--People respected their dedication to fast service, making sure that every customer left satisfied by a good burger and a positive experience.

Weaknesses 1.

2.

3.

Opportunities 1.

2.

3.

Expand to healthier options--If they were to consider offering healthier options or even kids menus, they could expand to likely more women, and more families as a whole.

Delivery options-- Similarly, it seemed as though everyone was quite busy in their lifestyles (that we interviewed). Offering delivery would be an option that would create distinction to their brand. Often, 25-34 year olds are leading very active and busy lives, and a delivery option would allow them to eat more frequently at Five Guys because it would be a simple and convenient option.

Family Outing--Currently, Five Guys can be seen as a place men go to get a “hearty burger.” Creating more of a Five Guys “family outing” experience could cause many people, especially new, young families in the 25-34 category, to make this chain a common dinner outing.

Struggle to attract the female audience-- While females we interviewed were in fact very brand aware, they consider going to eat fast food as something they do only on occasion, not as a regular pattern or choice.

Use of peanut oil--People who avoid their restaurant commented that it was due to their extensive use of peanut oil(in everything that they cook and also in the peanuts that they serve as an appetizer).

Lack of healthy options--When people go there, they must choose from a limited menu, and the restaurant has yet to successfully expand their horizons

Threats

1.

2.

3.

McDonalds and Burger King-- These two restaurants continue to proceed it in terms of automatic association.

Inaccessibility--Customers do not always feel a Five Guys easily accessible to them, whereas they can find a McDonalds or Burger King every few blocks.

Restrictive menu with threatening allergies--Five Guys has yet to make any changes about their use of peanut oil or their lack of variety on the menu, making their competitors outstretch them in reach.

10

STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATION

STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATION ●

●

●

Highlight Product Features and Benefits -- As a result of our in-depth interviews, we found out that a lot people would describe the food at Five Guys to be “greasy” and unhealthy. In order to shift the consumer perspective, Five Guys would benefit from advertising that would better familiarize the public with the freshness, quality, and attention to detail the company takes pride in.

Announcing locations -- A lot of people might not even know there is a Five Guys around them, we could include “your nearest Five Guys” into the campaign to let people be aware that there are Five Guys restaurants around.

Reposition as a less masculine restaurant-- Based on our interviews, people would associate Five Guys with “meatiness” and a classic cool American image. If we can shift the brand image, we can also attract more females and more other diverse groups of people to the restaurant.

11

IMC STRATEGY

IMC OBJECTIVES Marketing Objectives:

-Increase female consumer base by 5% -Increase customer involvement on social media by

5% on all platforms (followers, posts, etc).

-Increase customer visits to at least

IMC EXTRAS IMC Budget: Our budget for this marketing campaign would be

$15 million, which is less than 5% of Five Guys’ 2016 Profits.

one per month for both light and heavy users.

Communications Objectives:

-Further cultivate customer relationships through social media.

-Position Five Guys as the best choice for customization.

-Position Five Guys as ideal location for group setting (families, teams, coworkers, etc).

Brand Positioning Statement: To individuals

25-34 looking to indulge, Five

Guys is the better burger restaurant that offers a classic burger experience with a

unexpected touch.

personalized, 12

IMC STRATEGY

IMC TARGET Segment A Demographic: Women age 25-34 Unmarried No children Employed Personal income $25,000-75,000

Segment B Demographic: Women age 25-34 Married 1+ children Employed HouseHold income $45,000-60,000 13

IMC STRATEGY

IMC MIX Social Media Promotion: Objective: Our social media objective to create consistent top-of-mind awareness, and drive product knowledge about our fresh, personalized, and detail oriented approach to burgers and fries. We also seek to expand our social media presence and connect with our social-savvy consumers on a deeper, more authentic level.

Strategies: 1. #FiveGuysFrydays 2.

Sponsored Instagram and Facebook ads 3.

Snapchat filters that are location sensitive to Five Guys restaurants 4.

Promote reviews on Yelp about Five Guys products, promotions, restaurants, etc.

Rationale: 1.

For Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, many women and individuals 25-34 in general use all three of these social media sites. We will make sure these ads are colorful and attention-grabbing.

2.

Many people utilize Yelp so that they know they are choosing a strong dining option.

3.

By creating promotions, Five Guys would be able to incentive customers visiting their restaurants and also get hashtags trending so that an even wider audience will see the message.

14

IMC STRATEGY

IMC MIX Public Relations: Objectives: The objective of our public relations campaign will be to increase publicity and knowledge of Five Guys. We want to spread awareness so consumers in our target audience know of Five Guys’ “personalized, unexpected touch” that brings universal satisfaction to all customers, whether they are burger connoisseurs or light users.

Strategies: 1.

Celebrity endorsements who are well known and within our target audience (Nick Offerman, Leslie Jones, etc.)

2.

Real-life customer testimony on our website 3.

Cross-integrate our public relations mission of spreading awareness that Five Guys offers a classic burger experience with a personalized, unexpected touch.

Rationale: 1.

By gaining celebrity endorsement, we will gain the attention of those who recognize the celebrity and care about their opinion. Offerman and Jones will be able to appeal to both our male and female audience, and have significant followings on social media.

2.

By using real-life customer testimony, we will gain credibility with consumers as they find the testimony truthful and relatable.

3.

By cross-integrating our mission with social media promotions, we will establish a consistent brand that becomes recognizable with consumers and creates trust in the mission statement that we are spreading.

15

IMC STRATEGY

IMC MIX Event Promotions:

Objectives: The objective of our events would be to draw attention to the Five Guys brand in everyday places. We would want consumers to see Five Guys without even trying.

Strategies:

1.

2.

Rationale:

1.

2.

Corporate social responsibility. An example would be that for a certain week, with every burger you purchase, they will send one to a shelter.

Five Guys Fryday where, on Fridays, customers can come in and get free fries with their burger or order.

While it is always important for corporations and brands to give back as much as they can, it would put Five Guys in a positive light as a company that cares about the surrounding environment and other people.

Having a day that is tied to Five Guys as a brand (like 5/5) would create brand awareness. People would typically come in to get their free fries but also buy a burger or an actual meal, and once they get a chance to taste it, it is much more likely they will add it to their regular meals.

16

IMC STRATEGY

IMC MIX Interactive Marketing:

Objectives: The objective of utilizing interactive marketing is appearing in everyday life. This is something that the target market will not necessarily be able to ignore, and with the ease and availability of the product to them, we believe that they will be more likely to choose Five Guys over other brands.Similarly, being able to directly interact with customers will allow Five Guys to be able to create personal connections and see what consumers want and do not want to see in their food options.

Strategies: 1.

We would create order kiosks so customers can order lunch from their building, and it will be delivered to them without them needing to come visit the store.

2.

We would create “Pop-Up Sampling Stations” at various grocery stores in different areas so that people had the chance to try Five Guys’ products.

Rationale: 1.

Order kiosks in major workplaces would have high volumes of traffic and use, would make work lunches much easier, it would save time,, and it would allow them to see all of the options readily available to them with Five Guys.

2.

We would create these sampling stations outside of major grocery stores. While she is obviously buying food to cook, for the nights that she doesn’t want to cook, Five Guys is a delicious option right in front of her.

17

CREATIVE

Creative Strategy Objectives: ● To reach our target (millenials) ● To entice consumers to consider Five Guys as more than a greasy burger. ● To create brand awareness Key Benefits: ● Customizability (250,000 ways) ● Extra touches (always fresh meat, extra scoop of fries) ● Know where the product is coming from.

Support: ● The consumer sees the options readily available ● Signs will tell consumers where food is from Tone: ● Busy ● Active ● Fun ● Quick ● Higher Quality ● Warm & Inviting

18

CREATIVE

19

CREATIVE

20

MEDIA PLAN

TARGET AUDIENCE Objectives: To reach our target, millenials and Gen-Xers ages 25-34, through national ads and 5 spot markets, digital and traditional ads.

Strategy: To engage our target through a digital and social focused campaign, as well as traditional mediums like outdoor and radio. .

Rationale: Social Media plays a key role in our target’s lives, interactive marketing will engage them in public spaces, where advertising would usually not be present.

Event sponsorship will build brand awareness and association.

The concentration of the campaign during the summer months responds to the season’s cultural association with THE BURGER, while winter and the holiday season see a high saturation of advertising, and people are more likely to prepare meals at home.

REACH FREQUENCY MINIMUM: 3 MAXIMUM: 5

10

MONTHS

MINIMUM: 60 MAXIMUM: 80 CAMPAIGN PEAK:

JUNEAUGUST

21

MEDIA PLAN

Five Guys has achieved nationwide notoriety; however, the company’s dominant popularity exists in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions, home to metropolitan areas in which our target lives.

GEOGRAPHY + BUDGET

Spot Markets: -Boston -New York -Philadelphia -Baltimore -Washington D.C.

Budget: $15 million (less than 5% of 2016 profit) a conservative

22

MEDIA PLAN

SCHEDULE + TIMING

Objectives: Five Guys 2019 campaign schedule and timing aims to

reach with our target throughout the year in a manner that aligns with our strategic goals. We will engage heavily with our 25-34 year old target through digital and social media platforms, so that our consumer will feel consistently connected to the Five Guys brand and product, and therefore increase product trial and usage.

Strategy: Advertise through a combination media schedule, employing

MEDIA SELECTIONS TRADITIONAL

Spot TV: $5,266,000

Cost: $9,190,700

Strategy: In order to increase awareness and drive purchase in our Spot Markets, we will utilize Prime Time TV ads to capture the target’s attention when they are most attentive.

a pulsing strategy for traditional spot media such as radio and outdoor, while maintaining a consistent social and digital presence throughout the duration of the campaign. Our PR, Publicity, and Sales Promotion efforts will also run consistently throughout the campaign. The spot component of our campaign, which involves the traditional mediums of radio, outdoor, and TV will lead into the peak months of our campaign in May, run through June, July, and August, and lead out in September.

Rationale: Focusing on our Spot Markets will allow us to reach the

Rationale: With a target of millennials and Gen-Xers a digital focus

Local Radio: $1,790,700

including social media and programmatic ads that reflects this target’s tech habits will be used to continuously connect, and solidify Five Guys in the mind of the consumer. Our PR and Sales efforts will work to achieve these same goals of consistency and awareness in order to drive product trial. Traditional spot advertising will support the goals of trial and usage through a pulsing strategy that will peak during the height of our campaign, in the summer months, with mediums like radio and outdoor targeting our busy consumer during an active time of year that is culturally associated with the burger.

target in our desired geographic regions in order to promote Five Guys customizability and attention to detail. Individuals are most likely to be actively engaged with their television during Prime Time. For Spot Television we used a pulsing method concentrating our heaviest reach in June, July, and August, with the campaign running from February-December.

Strategy: To reach current and potential customers through a highly

localized medium in order to drive purchase and increase brand awareness.

Rationale: utilizing local radio allows us to target small, segmented parts of our target, while also informing them of promotions and providing information about local Five Guys restaurants. We will reach consumers throughout the day, including morning, daytime, and evening drive. A pulsing method will be used, targeting consumers in the summer months when they are likely to be active and on the road.

MEDIA PLAN

MEDIA SELECTIONS TRADITIONAL

Cost: $9,190,700

Outdoor $2,134,000

Strategy: to use mediums like billboards and transit

advertising to increase local and regional awareness of the Five Guys brand.

Rationale: By reaching consumers through outdoor and out-of-home

executions we will be able to focus on the brand at a local level and provide information about nearby Five Guys locations and promotions.

Outdoor advertising will run April through September, leading in and out of the peak months of the campaign.

NON-TRADITIONAL Cost: $1,919,000

Social Media

Strategy: Continuous Rationale: Our target is consistently engaged with Social Media and

their activity on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook also influences the choices they make in their non-digital ives. It is through this medium that we will seek to be consistently connected, encouraging sharing and creating a community for our customer base through hashtags and offering promotions for those who share our content.

Web Advertising Strategy: Continuous

Rationale: Utilizing ad networks and sidebar/banner ads will allow us to target specific segments of our target audience, reaching potential customers based on their current internet activity, tastes and preferences. Web ads will also allow us to reach customers when they are engaging with often visited or favorite websites, creating possible positive brand association.

Youtube

Strategy: Continuous Rationale: Promoting Five Guys through 15 and 30 second Youtube

pre-roll ads will allow us to reach consumers on one of the world’s most visited websites, allowing the Five Guys brand to potentially reach millions, while still emphasizing our 5 spot markets. Youtube analytics will also allow us to use precise targeting methods to maximize advertising efficiency.

Mobile App

Strategy: Continuous Rationale: Implementing a mobile app will allow us to reach consumers in

the most customized (just like our burgers!) brand centric way possible. The Five Guys app will include a build your own burger feature, allowing you to virtually construct a burger more than 200,000 ways, similar to interfaces that currently exist for customizing your own shoes, or clothing. The app will have practical features like coupons (we will use data tracking, the more you use the app, the more coupons you will receive) and mobile ordering.

EVALUATIONS

Message Evaluation

Awareness and Perception Evaluation

Brand Performance Evaluation

Objectives: To create an effective and compelling campaign, we must evaluate current consumer perceptions and the impact of our proposed creative executions.

Objective: Our goal for this campaign is to increase our target’s awareness understanding of the Five Guys brand and product through an IMC campaign with a focus on digital advertising and social media.

Objectives: To monitor changes in Five Guys sales data in our selected spot markets and nationwide with Nielsen data and other secondary data sources

Strategy + Rationale: in order to better understand current consumer perceptions and the impact of our advertising on these perceptions. We will conduct multiple focus groups of 10-12 individuals who belong to our target audience of 25-34 year old individuals to determine the effectiveness of our messages on increasing brand usage among females and light users. We will also conduct an Awareness, Attitude, and Usage test to determine the influence of our creative messages on consumers prior to running our campaign.

Strategy + Rationale: We plan to monitor consumer interactions with Five Guy’s social media channels, as well as click-thru-rates of our digital advertising at the beginning, midpoint, and conclusion of the campaign. To evaluate social media engagement, we will work with major social networking sites (such as Facebook sidebar ads, Instagram sponsored posts, Yelp reviews, Snapchat filters) to obtain analytic and numerical data.

We want to know which sites generate the most traffic from our users and which platforms will give us the most access to our target audience.

Strategy+ Rationale: Nielsen will allow us to obtain sales data from Five Guys locations within our spot markets. These reports will include price, promotion efficacy, sales volume, and other relevant figures. Final social media analytic data will also provide insight into the performance of our campaign. This is important to conclude the success of the campaign and project future campaign ideas and platforms.

Time: Prior to Campaign

Time: Throughout entire campaign

Timeline: post-campaign 25

SUMMARY

We want to use our creative strategy and IMC strategy to create brand awareness in our new target market! Five Guys has the potential to thrive and have long term success in the burger industry and we want to position them as the BETTER, better burger option for our consumers.

26

REFERENCES

Olmsted, L. (2013, October 10). Great American Bites: Why burger lovers flock to Five Guys.

Retrieved February 04, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/greatamericanbites/2013/10/10/f ive-guys-burger-hot-dog-fries/2952349/ Statista. (n.d.). Leading U.S. fast-casual restaurants 2015 | Statistic. Retrieved February 04, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/299350/leading-fast-casual-restaurant-segmentsby-their-largest-selling-chains-us/ York., E. B. (2009, November 16). Five Guys: an America's Hottest Brands Case Study.

Retrieved February 04, 2018, from http://adage.com/article/special-report-americas-hottest-brands-2009/guys-americas-hottest-brands-case-study/140470/

Databases Used: Simmons OneView, AdSpender

27