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White Castle relies on mobile with information-heavy Pandora ad

White Castle is loading a number of different features into a Pandora mobile ad to publicize its new grilled chicken sliders.

The hamburger chain rolled out the new sliders earlier this month and offers them in three flavors: Savory, Western BBQ and Bacon & Cheddar. The Pandora ad features a static image of the three sliders with a button that says ?Learn More? and directs consumers to the many features associated with the mobile ad.

?For fast food restaurants, the two most important targeting parameters are location and timing,? said Shuli Lowy, marketing director at Ping Mobile, Beverly Hills, CA. ?Consumers are not interested in traveling long distances to catch a quick burger or slice of pizza. Additionally, consumers are not interested in an ad for dinner during breakfast time or after they have eaten dinner. They are only interested in it in the few hours leading up to dinner.

?Accordingly, ads for fast food restaurants need to be placed in certain areas and at strategic times of the day,? she said.

"White Castle may be running a site buyout with Pandora, targeting specific demographics or stations. However, it?s also possible that they are running a general mobile ad campaign via an aggregated network and Pandora is just one of the many sites they are placing ads on. Their campaign is likely more focused on the location and time of the ad placements.?

Ms. Lowy is not affiliated with White Castle. She commented based on her expertise on the subject.

White Castle could not meet press deadline.

Mobile chicken
When consumers click on the ?Learn More? button in the ad, they are directed to a mobile-optimized landing page that offers the following features: See uploaded photos and videos, find a White Castle, promotions, menu, nutrition and email signup.

If a consumer clicks on ?See uploaded photos & videos,? he or she will be directed to ?Craver Photos & Videos,? which displays images and videos of White Castle consumers, products and locations.

If consumers click on ?Find a White Castle,? they will have the option to use their current location and have the site find a location via GPS or they can input an address manually.

The "Promotions" feature includes products that are 500 calories or less, ?New chicks?, "Crave Time Cookoff" and a link that leads to the company?s apps.

Mobile promotions
White Castle is not a stranger to mobile initiatives.

The hamburger chain rolled out a multichannel campaign in May to promote its ?Sliderbration? initiative in honor of National Hamburger Month (see story).

White Castle also began a service called Text2Crave that sends out customized alerts to consumers via SMS when they are near participating locations (see story).

Last year, the company also created a new loyalty program that featured a mobile app that let consumers earn rewards (see story).

?Mobile is particularly important for companies like White Castle because it allows for specific relevant targeting parameters that are hard to find elsewhere,? Ms. Lowy said.

?These targeting parameters include placing ads within a close proximity to restaurants and ensuring ads reach consumers at critical decision making points of the day.?

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York