Clicks 2 Bricks

People have been predicting the “Death of the Main Street” since the 80s but for many franchises, brick and mortar stores are key in engaging with the community that they serve. Tariq Farid, Founder, and CEO of Edible Arrangements know the power of connecting with your local area. As he explains later in this episode, he’s “built his brand on local engagement.” We open our conversation with Tariq by diving into his professional background. He shares how he learned about franchises and the importance of process from working at McDonald’s and Burger King as a teenager. Tariq then discusses how he started Edible Arrangements and how they’ve always been guided by their mission statement to “Wow you.” We chat about seizing the opportunity before Tariq unpacks what he’s been doing to innovate with his company. Reflecting on his experience at the helm, we ask Tariq about how he handled the 2008 recession compared with the current COVID crisis. His answer highlights how pivoting your business and developing the right marketing approach can help you thrive during difficult times. We touch on the valuable role that young team members play in reaching customers, differences between local and digital advertising, and why, after researching its health benefits, Tariq is stepping into the CBD industry. Near the end of the episode, Tariq provides listeners with his take on leadership and the common mistakes that entrepreneurs make when they franchise their business. Tune in to hear more from the wildly successful head of the Edible Brand. 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Tariq shares details on his background and how he grew his company.
• Having the confidence to push your company forward, despite the naysayers.
• How Tariq’s products connect with people and American gift-giving culture.
• Guiding your company with a strong mission statement.
• Seeking advice; there are always people who are willing to help.
• Learning early on that every production requires a process.
• Tariq’s experience turning his business into a franchise. 
• Building customer retention by always doing more than is expected.
• What Tariq is doing to reinvent his company while retaining its core product line.
• Comparing Tariq’s response to the 2008 recession and our current COVID crisis.
• Why Tariq relies on his younger staff to understand many of his customers. 
• The importance of local marketing to Edible Arrangements’ success.
• How the digital landscape has shifted customer behavior.
• Hear about Edible Arrangements’ franchise system and data tools.
• Exploring Tariq’s move into the CBD industry with Incredible Edibles.
• The so-called “Death of the Main Street,” and Tariq’s take on the state of franchising.
• Why Tariq is focused on the two Ds — digital and delivery.
• Common mistakes that entrepreneurs make when they franchise their business.
• Tariq’s leadership philosophy and the benefit of working with talented people.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Tariq Farid 

Tariq Farid on LinkedIn

Tariq Farid on Twitter

Edible Arrangements

The Founder

McDonald’s
Burger King

Michael H. Seid

Rob Reed on LinkedIn

Rob Reed on Twitter

Clicks 2 Bricks

If marketers have learned anything during the past few months, it is that all brands need local marketing strategies to support the diverse conditions that consumers endure. Today’s guest is Joel Yashinsky, who is a pure multi-location marketer. Having spent 18 years with McDonalds, once serving as CMO of the Canadian business, he joined Applebee’s as CMO in 2018 with a mandate to revitalize the casual dining brand. And then of course, the pandemic happened. Given the rapidly changing climate, there was a need for multi-location businesses to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly, and this is exactly what we discuss in this episode. Joel shares a bit about Applebee’s marketing strategies, including leveraging local messaging, rapidly improving their digital experience, and trusting and supporting their franchisees with an all-hands-on-deck approach. We also discuss brand and performance marketing, cloud kitchens and virtual brands, as well as the McDonald’s Monopoly Scandal, so make sure to tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Today’s headline: Local Search Like it’s 2020 (Not Like it’s 2010).
• Eating good in the neighborhood – Joel introduces Applebee’s target audiences.
• Joel explains what it was like for the brand pre-COVID versus post-COVID.
• As casual dining took a big hit, Applebee’s focused on creating a safe and easy to-go experience, followed by patio dining.
• Across the whole organization, it was all hands on deck to share information and build sales.
• Applebee’s focused on leveraging the local message rather than doing national marketing.
• By making inroads to improve the digital experience since 2018, Applebee’s had enough in place to build from going forward.
• Local versus national marketing – Joel says grassroots efforts by franchisees were terrific.
• Franchisees are using all the local tools available to them, from Facebook ads to billboards.
• The different approaches from QSR to casual dining, the main difference being alcohol.
• Comparing Applebee’s with IHOP – attracting casual dining versus family dining guests.
• A back-to-basics, meat-and-potatoes type marketing approach has served Applebee’s well.
• Joel’s opinion of brand and performance marketing, and how Applebee’s is identifying opportunities for integration points.
• The opportunities Joel sees with cloud kitchens and virtual brands, like Neighborhood Wings.
• Joel’s marketing career advice – read How to Win Friends and Influence People.
• Another key piece of advice from Joel – stay in the current role until the next one comes

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Joel Yashinsky on Twitter

Joel Yashinsky on LinkedIn

Applebee’s

Applebee’s on Facebook

Neighborhood Wings

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Local Search Like it’s 2020 (Not Like it’s 2010)

CMOs Need To Think And Act Locally In The Age Of COVID-19 And Beyond

Rob Reed on LinkedIn

Rob Reed on Twitter

Clicks 2 Bricks

Digital transformation has been on the agenda of organizations for years but, thanks to COVID-19, this year has become a crucial time for companies to plan for and implement it across industries. Today’s guest is Walgreens’ CMO and Senior Vice President, Patrick McLean, who joined the company in November of 2019. Pat is responsible for the vision, strategic direction, and performance of all Walgreens’ marketing activities, and the majority of his tenure has been defined by the global pandemic. In this episode, we talk about the hundred-year-old retailer’s response to COVID, and how marketing will help push Walgreens forward into a digital future. We discuss safety measures, marketing strategies, e-commerce, and brand versus performance marketing, and Pat explains the ways in which the Walgreens of the future will be a digital, omnichannel value proposition. Tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• A few keys headlines that will impact multi-location brands, namely Apple’s search engine.
• Pat’s fun fact: He actually wanted to be a Broadway musical star.
• How Walgreens’ COVID marketing plan has changed, like suspending the printed circular.
• As an essential service, Walgreens quickly went into action to protect staff and customers.
• Some of the protective measures that Walgreens put in place across their 9,000 stores.
• The moment Pat realized everything was going to change came with shelter in place orders.
• Pat saw this experience as a compressed version of customer insight and brand strategy.
• Walgreens started to provide content that was broader than pharmacy-related information, which was a learning point.
• Pat saw a huge increase in customer engagement thanks to their new marketing strategies.
• There was also an increase in e-commerce, but they should have been better equipped.
• In future, there will be significant investment in e-commerce and omnichannel experiences.
• Pat found there were a lot of parallels between this job and his previous role in retail banking.
• Brand versus performance marketing – Pat fundamentally disagrees that there’s a difference.
• While Walgreens can do a better job of localizing marketing, they are known as a local brand.
• Walgreens strives to understand the needs of the communities in which they operate.
• Feedback loops between individual stores and marketing – there is direct communication.
• How Walgreens has evolved their North Star metric of optimizing for profit per customer visit.
• Advice from Pat – he thinks you have to be able to speak the whole language of marketing.
• Pat believes Facebook is struggling with identity – they need to revisit their value proposition.
• Pat listens to a lot of marketing podcasts and uses them as means of staying current.
• Pat thinks it would be interesting to hear from some of the leaders at Target about their readiness for e-commerce.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Patrick McLean on Twitter

Patrick McLean on LinkedIn

Walgreens

Search Engine Land

Taking Brand Action

Good to Great

Clicks 2 Bricks

While many companies have struggled through the pandemic, others are proving that locally-aimed campaigns and having an innovation mindset are key to thriving within the modern marketing landscape. Today we speak with Art D’Elia, CMO and Executive Vice President of Domino’s — a franchise that has seen a huge windfall during the pandemic. We open our discussion by talking about what Art’s role entails and why managing franchise relationships has been key to Domino’s success. He provides insight into how Domino’s system works, their use of advisory boards, and how he stepped into a company that has always focused on innovation. Giving us a peek behind the Domino’s curtain, Art shares their marketing strategy of developing brand actions that make the experience of getting and eating pizza more magical. We then explore two examples of successful campaigns that were aimed at the local level. After discussing why Domino’s brand identity is tied with its technology, logistics, and operations, Art opens up about why he sees services like DoorDash as their direct competitors. Tune in for Art’s insider-perspective into Domino’s marketing department — a company that’s been leading their industry for the last 60 years. 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Introducing Art D’Elia and his recent promotion to executive vice president.
• Why maintaining strong franchisee relationships has been a driver for Domino’s success.
• How Domino’s franchise system works locally and internationally.
• Governing large franchises through representative bodies. 
• Focusing on marketing innovation and the power of brand actions.
• Pothole and hot spots; hear about two successful Domino’s campaigns.
• Leveraging local franchise knowledge when designing new features. 
• How logistics and operations factor into Domino’s brand identity. 
• Domino’s versus the aggregators; why DoorDash is their direct competitor. 
• What Domino’s did to pivot in the pandemic and why they’re doing better than ever.
• Involving local franchises in marketing and more on Domino’s marketing model. 
• Overcoming consumer cynicism with authentic messaging and user-generated content.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Few CMOs Appreciate The Impact Of Google Search On Foot Traffic

Art D’Elia LinkedIn

Domino’s Pizza

Russell Weiner

DoorDash

Grubhub

Uber Eats

Google My Business

Danone

PepsiCo

Walmart

Kroger

Fernando Machado

Dove 

Burger King

Unilever
The Coca-Cola Company

McDonald’s

Morgan Flatley

Rob Reed on LinkedIn

Rob Reed on Twitter

Clicks 2 Bricks

Kat Cole is the COO and President of Focus Brands, a role in which she oversees the leadership teams of seven major franchises: Cinnabon, Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Jamba, McAlister's Deli, Schlotzsky's and Moe's Southwest Grill. Today we chat with Kat about her career, the early steps she took as a teenager, and the massive leaps she made during her time at Hooters, taking up leadership positions at the age of 20! Our conversation with Kat is especially relevant as we spend some time focusing on her work at Cinnabon in 2010, at the end of the recession, and the steps she took to get the brand back on track and prepared for an economic upturn. These lessons are really useful in the current climate, and Kat expands on her approach to the COVID crisis and how this has played out through the array of brands under her watch. Kat goes so far as to call crisis her 'jam'! We talk about the power of dedicated leadership teams within a large corporate and brand structure and how this setup serves the Focus Brands family so well. We also get into how Kat goes about empowering the leaders of these teams to work to their strengths while adhering to an overall culture. The conversation covers technology, local constraints on franchises, and the bottom line. Make sure not to miss this fantastic conversation!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Kat's amazing career path leading up to her current position at Focus Brands. 
• The branding education that Kat received early on in her young career.
• Kat's transition from her position at Hooters to a new title for Cinnabon and Focus Brands. 
• Learning while serving and networking for everyone's benefit.  
• Becoming the president of Cinnabon and dealing with the effects of the recession.
• How Kat approached rebuilding the Cinnabon brand and tackling the challenges it faced 
• The three questions with which Kat began her process with the franchise. 
• Empowering the franchisees and systematizing and reinforcing the business. 
• Keeping the focus on people and building a culture of excitement and progress.
• Mapping Kat's achievement at Cinnabon in terms of revenue. 
• The portfolio of brands under Kat's watch at Focus Brands currently.
• The response from Focus Brands to the COVID crisis and how this played out across different brands. 
• Investments in new technology; how these advancements are implemented across brands. 
• The management of brands and their own leadership teams; the view from the top. 
• Acting local in the current economic landscape and adapting to new, localized regulations

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Kat Cole on LinkedIn

Kat Cole on Twitter

Focus Brands

Hooters

Cinnabon 

Auntie Anne’s

Carvel

Moe's Southwest Grill

Jamba

McAlister's Deli

Schlotzsky's

Undercover Boss

'CMOs Need To Think And Act Locally In The Age Of COVID-19 And Beyond'

USA Today

CNN

We were always headed for a restaurant landscape defined by contactless payments, home delivery, and digital spaces. COVID has just accelerated it. While many were caught unawares, Wade Allen, Head of Innovation for Brinker International, has been transitioning his company for years. As a result, Brinker is not just surviving. It’s thriving during the pandemic. We start the conversation by talking about Wade’s career and how he became Brinker’s Head of Innovation. He speaks about helping brands pivot in a changing marketplace before we dive into a discussion on the newly-launched It’s Just Wings, a purely digital brand that uses Brinker’s existing kitchens to offer food through DoorDash. 

This episode marks the first in a new era of the Clicks-2-Bricks podcast where we’ll be focusing on how brick-and-mortar brands are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our first guest is Ben Gaddis, CEO of Austin-based T3 and the author of Embracing Irrationality. T3 is a brand consultancy whose main focus is to help brands in retail, restaurant and financial services spaces embrace the challenges of going digital. In our conversation with Ben today, we learn his perspectives on how brands should be responding to the COVID-19 crisis and the role agencies such as his can play in helping them navigate these uncharted waters. Ben weighs in strongly on the idea of localized marketing in the present climate. Now more than ever businesses should be hypersensitive to their customers’ needs, and willing to restructure their services in a matter of days, not weeks.

There is so much noise in today’s SEO landscape that it’s often hard to filter out what is valuable from what is not. This is why we have brought in today’s guest, Steve Wiideman, to get into the SEO weeds with us. Steve is an undisputed SEO guru. Not only has he been in the game for as long as SEO has been around, but he has seen the evolution of SEO driving online traffic to websites, to driving off-line traffic to brick-and-mortar businesses of all types. His clients have included everyone from attorneys and auto repair shops to brands like IHOP and Applebee's. In today’s episode, we learn how Steve gained his SEO expertise and how necessity led him to ultimately be a front-runner in the space. We talk more about how the future of SEO will be about untethering the responsibility for users to be on their phones.

If you live in America, chances are very high that you have been to IHOP at least once in your life, no matter how old you are. While it has become a staple in the food industry after 62 years in the business, the love that many people had for it was latent and nostalgic, which meant that they were not actively going to the restaurant. Brad Haley, the CMO, has worked to have the brand make a cultural impact once again. Before taking up his role at IHOP, Brad worked at Jack In The Box and Carl’s Jr, where he had a knack for creating campaigns that the mainstream media covered as news.

When you think about your local sports bar, a premium viewing experience doesn't necessarily spring to mind. While there might be great food and cheap drinks, the sport-watching element can often be sub-par. The same with going to a stadium. Although the atmosphere may be electric, without top-quality seats, you often just watch the game from the screen anyway. Tom's Watch Bar seeks to bridge the gap between the conventional sports bar and being at the stadium to create an interactive experience that goes beyond passive watching. Leading this innovative startup’s marketing is Dan Holm, who started his career as the marketing coordinator for Outback Steakhouse.