December 2000 / Storyboard : Home Away from Home -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 8/16/2002
Last Visited: 8/16/2002
"Denny's perceived weakness was actually its strength," says Scott Sheinberg, creative director at WestWayne Inc., the Tampa, Fla.-based agency that won the Denny's account earlier this year."They don't try too hard.You are not rushed in and rushed out; you're comfortable.Why should they try to be anyone else?"
These perceptions, garnered from in-person and online focus groups, led Spartanburg, S.C.-based Advantica Restaurant Group Inc., Denny's parent company, to approve a new brand-building campaign.New commercials focus more on the customer and less on the Grand Slam breakfast or limited-time offers that have been the bread and butter of the $2.1 billion chain for years.
...
"Everybody else is shouting with product offers, so much so that customers are not even listening anymore," adds Sheinberg."This is so different than what everybody else is doing, it stands out."
Mixed Reviews
Despite the homey goodness of the new campaign, and Denny's 6 percent increase in systemwide sales over the past year, the giant chain has drawn some criticism for the spots.With Denny's name still synonymous to many with racial discrimination, the fact that the first family shown in the spots is African-American seems obvious in its efforts to prove otherwise.