My Whitecastle story.:)

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This is a great true example of how the marketing mix actually worked on me.:)

I hadn't heard about Whitecastle or Whitecastle burgers until one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, "Harold and Kumar Go to Whitecastle" came out a few years ago. (Incidentally, sequel out next year and this is the only movie that I thought Kal Penn was actually good.)

Anyway, Whitecastle outlets aren't ubiquitous like their competitors and since (for me anyway) a burger is a burger, I didn't go out of my way to find one.

The company managed to stay in my head all this time because, their promotions on radio are kinda kooky and fun, and play pretty often on the channel I listen to. For reasons I'm not exactly thrilled about, I was driving around late yesterday and was considering if I should wait to get back home and have dinner or....

Suddlenly I see a Whitecastle joint. Now their signage was pretty good and the lighting (very white and blue!) caught my attention right away. Suddenly I'm thinking "Hmm...maybe I should try this". I ended up deciding that I shouldn't (futile thoughts about eating healthy, being late etc. etc.) Now the minute I drive past the Whitecastle joint, the Whitecastle ad starts to play on the radio! I smiled at the co-incidence and considered turning but then decided, "What if its like In N Out, and they have no chicken options (I don't eat beef.) That'll be annoying and I'm ticked off already." So I kept driving. The radio ad ends with "Try our new buffalo chicken snacks!"

At that point, I decided it was fate! (at the very least decent marketing that I wanted to reward:)) so I turned at the next signal and picked up some stuff.

The verdict: I like their whole "mini-burger in soft bread" angle on the burger. Reminded me a lot of this, except with chicken.:) If I see one again and I'm hungry, I'll probably stop by.

I still think that movie was the best promotion ever for the chain and I remember reading they didn't even pay for it. Hmm...

Comments

Unknown said…
good story :-)
1:46 PM
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