Now here’s a story that will warm your cockles. Iver’s Seafood Restaurant in Seattle was dismayed at its sinking sales, concerned that the long established local love affair with their fruit de mer was on the rocks. Their solution? A good ol’ fashioned fishy tale to get people talking. At dead of night, 1950s billboards were placed under the Puget Sound and left there a couple of months to befriend the barnacles. The restaurant owners then told the local media that whilst reviewing their archives, a discovery had been made - their founder had put the billboards there five decades ago, because he believed people would one day travel beneath the Sound in submarines. He apparently wanted to be ready to remind the first, pioneering submerged seafarers that they sold the best salmon in town. Of course, the billboards were raised from the depths with much fanfare. They even hooked in a local historian to verify the authenticity of the signs. In a further stroke of genius they then ran a local advertising campaign saying that in honour of the discovery, they were rolling back chowder pricing to the 1950s menu rates. The initiative drove mass media coverage and the footage went viral across the interweb. Most importantly; in the month the campaign broke, clam chowder sales jumped from 19,000 cups to 83,000 cups. There’s no question; this was a winner.. hook, line & sinker. Read more in the sublimely named Denver Egotist.
