Advanced Social Media Intelligence for Positioning Denny’s Millennial Strategy Kristen Smirnov Assistant Professor of Marketing, Whittier College Case is a traditional American diner chain with more than 1,600 locations nationwide, and Denny’s additional overseas operations in more than a for their dozen countries. They’re well known bottomless cups of coffee, Grand Slam breakfasts, and other staples of the greasy spoon. However, in recent years, Denny's identified a positioning problem facing the company: lack of appeal among millennial consumers. Though Denny's has strong national brand awareness, it was associated with visits of convenience or habit: the driver on a road trip, the long-time customer powered by inertia, or someone whose 3 a.m. hunger had them on the lookout for any open restaurant. The boomer customer base they did have was aging, leading to a decline in sales, and they were not attracting new consumers to their booths to compensate (Usitalo, 2015). Fortunately for Denny's, this was about to change. In late 2014, John Dillon became the new Chief Marketing Officer of the company, taking over from a predecessor who had already begun to correct the company's course. Under Dillon's leadership, a new social media strategy was launched to attract younger consumers. Two major platforms served as a launchpad for a millennial-friendly social media rebranding: Twitter (twitter.com/dennysdiner) and Tumblr (dennys.tumblr.com). Twitter was an obvious choice for this effort. It is one of the largest social media platforms, but attracts a younger and less formal audience for its short, of-the-moment posts than can be found on Facebook. Tumblr was a less expected decision. Though Tumblr has a young and wealthy user base, its quirky, flexible posting structure has proven challenging for most marketers to master (Sloane, 2014). Its users also tend to be hostile to traditional promotional efforts, even compared to other millennials.
Advanced Social Media Intelligence for Positioning Denny’s Millennial Strategy Kristen Smirnov Assistant Professor of Marketing, Whittier College Case Denny’s is a traditional American diner chain with more than 1,600 locations nationwide, and additional overseas operations in more than a dozen countries. They’re well known for their bottomless cups of coffee, Grand Slam breakfasts, and other staples of the greasy spoon. However, in recent years, Denny's identified a positioning problem facing the company: lack of appeal among millennial consumers. Though Denny's has strong national brand awareness, it was associated with visits of convenience or habit: the driver on a road trip, the long-time customer powered by inertia, or someone whose 3 a.m. hunger had them on the lookout for any open restaurant. The boomer customer base they did have was aging, leading to a decline in sales, and they were not attracting new consumers to their booths to compensate (Usitalo, 2015). Fortunately for Denny's, this was about to change. In late 2014, John Dillon became the new Chief Marketing Officer of the company, taking over from a predecessor who had already begun to correct the company's course. Under Dillon's leadership, a new social media strategy was launched to attract younger consumers. Two major platforms served as a launchpad for a millennial-friendly social media rebranding: Twitter (twitter.com/dennysdiner) and Tumblr (dennys.tumblr.com). Twitter was an obvious choice for this effort. It is one of the largest social media platforms, but attracts a younger and less formal audience for its short, of-the-moment posts than can be found on Facebook. Tumblr was a less expected decision. Though Tumblr has a young and wealthy user base, its quirky, flexible posting structure has proven challenging for most marketers to master (Sloane, 2014). Its users also tend to be hostile to traditional promotional efforts, even compared to other millennials.
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