Nathan's Famous Ticket to Fun

Nathan's Famous is a huge national brand, having 300 restaurant franchises and stocking hot dog packages in 50,000 retail stores.

Nathan's Famous' goal was to build awareness and affinity for the brand during its 100th anniversary, inspire a national buzz, drive retail sales during peak summer months, and encourage long-term loyalty. The program was designed to identify loyal advocates and reward them for consistently buying packages of Nathan's Famous hot dogs and engaging with the brand all summer.

The business objectives were to build loyalty and increase sales, but also drive brand engagement and create a rich experience that gives loyal customers something of value throughout the summer.

Nathan’s Famous grilled up excitement for the summer – and for its barbecue-ready products – by introducing a mobile-optimized campaign site that gives users a plethora of ways to earn loyalty points.

"Ticket to Fun" is a multi-activation rewards campaign to commemorate the hot dog brand's 100th anniversary. At the centerpiece of the campaign is a virtual Coney Island of yesteryear, an interactive, 3-D site—compatible across all devices—that allows visitors to drop into the park, see the sights, ride the rides and play various games while earning digital tickets through videos, trivia, photo booth, games and more. Guests are able to earn tickets with every activity they participate in, then use tickets to redeem amazing prizes from the digital gift shop.

The team created a realistic Coney Island virtual world designed to entertain visitors and encourage repeat visits, while spotlighting the Nathan's brand. Virtual tourists can ride the swinging cars of the 150-foot Wonder Wheel and pop into a photo booth to upload a picture and customize it with hot dog stickers and fonts. They can even pay a visit to Zoltar, the bearded soothsayer who dispenses from a memory bank of 100 fortunes.

In keeping with the Coney Island tradition, visitors can also try their luck at various games. For example, they can compete in a digital version of Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, an event that's been drawing live crowds since 1972, and face off against digital versions of real-life scarfing champs Joey Chestnut and Matt Stonie. Hard-core Nathan's devotees can play a game called Lunch Rush, which puts them in the role of Nathan's grill cook, stuffing buns and filling cups for customers who show up at the restaurant window.

Each activity rewards participants with tickets/points that accumulate over multiple visits and can be redeemed for Nathan's swag like 100th anniversary t-shirts and hats. Or, visitors can use their points to spend on sweepstakes entries where they could win a beach prize pack, a trip to NYC, backyard movie kit, and much more.

In-package codes at retail allow grocery shoppers across the country to get in the game with a link to Nathan's Ticket to Fun online, earning them even more points toward Nathan's rewards for their purchases.

The brand is leveraging their social spaces, has allocated website real estate linking to the microsite, and executed a robust advertising and media plan to support awareness of the launch, including mobile hot dog units that surprise consumers across the country with fun Nathan's experiences. Heavy media pushes are slated for Memorial Day, 4th of July hot dog eating contest, and Labor Day.

The program was originally slated to go through end of summer, but was extended through the end of the year. Below are the results we have been seeing:

Time spent with brand: 8:12 minutes per visitor
Logins/visits per registered participant: 11.5
Total Number of Tickets Earned: 23,301,634
Average Number of Games Played per Registrant (Instant Win + Advergames): 19.4