There’s a ‘billboard’ outside Hollywood Alley, a restaurant in Mesa that’s doing something really creative. It changes every week day, with a funny, punny line from a movie, adapted to say something about food.
Yesterday it was “I see fed people” (wouldn’t be such a bad pun if it was a restaurant in Washington DC); Some days back it was more clever: “Houston, we have a pickle!”
It’s an interesting experiment, reinventing the tried and tested media vehicle (literally), to display more than a name, or a logo. Even if the lines are too obscure or pun-dependent, there’s evidence of smart brand thinking. Too often people assume ‘branding’ is something you have to do with your logo, when it’s all about the experience.
If you’re in the area (NE corner of Baseline and the 101) look out for the featured movie of the day! Or heck! Call them up and suggest a line.
Hoipolloireport 
Hi Angelo,
You’re right, this was an experiment; but this one does seem to be paying off. If you’re interested, I can tell you how it came about.
Over the years at the Alley, we’d tried just about every marketing system that a small, family-owned business can afford. Along the way we were taken in by more than a few clever salesmen. The result was always the same, wasted dollars with little to show for it.
At our wit’s end, dad decided to pull one of the old delivery vans out front and put a big sign on it. But what would it say? It seemed crass to resort to something as blatant as “Cheap Lunch Specials”. It sounded too ordinary, too obvious, not to mention a little desperate. Nobody was going to read, or care about, such a sign.
So Dad started off with a hand painted sign that read “Killer Break-feasts”. That was weird enough to arouse some interest, and the breakfast trade soon picked up. But we knew, after a few views, that it wouldn’t take long before the regular commuters begin to ignore a well-known sign.
We had to hook the passersby with something that would connect to them as people.
But how do you do that on a sign that a driver has to read in 5 seconds? And how do we keep them reading it day after day? Okay . . . we keep it short, and we change it often. But still, what is it going to say? Why will they care?
Well, we could try advertising our food; but you can get food anywhere. Our sign wouldn’t be anything special. Besides, if you’re not hungry for a cabbage roll, a Coney Dog, or a Mexican Pizza right now, then our sign isn’t going to mean anything to you. No matter what we offered, most of the commuters weren’t going to be hungry for it at that moment.
We could advertise on price, but that was only going to get us the coupon-clipper types. Besides, you can always eat cheaper at Taco Bell. So that was a dead end, too.
We could try promoting our live music, but we already had a New Times ad for that. Besides, music is so balkanized now, that we’d be lucky to connect to one commuter in ten, or even one in a hundred!
Somehow, we had to get people interested in good food and live music, but we knew that saying so directly really wouldn’t do the job. We also wanted to give them a taste of our Hollywood Alley attitude. Too many people in the neighborhood thought we were a scary biker bar, or even a bowling alley!
Yes, we are weird people: movie buffs, with a kitschy style, and an off-kilter outlook on life—but other than that, we’re actually totally and completely normal! (he said way too earnestly) It is actually safe to come in. You see, that strangeness is why the place came together as it did.
We’re like the gritty underbelly of old Hollywood. We’re fascinated by the glamour and high life of Sunset Boulevard, but not really equipped for the snobbery or double-dealing. We love it, but we’re not cut out for it. Putting us in the real Hollywood would be like plucking Ernest Borgnine out of “Marty” and dropping him into the treacherous world of “The Bad and the Beautiful”!
Ah, but in all of this self-analysis, I’ve wandered off topic. I was only talking about a sign on a truck! But really, that’s kind of how it went. It’s how it always goes. Everything relates to movies.
So the question was, “How are we going to explain ourselves to strangers in 5 seconds?”
It’s like that scene in “50 First Dates”, where Adam Sandler is trying to make friends with a memory-challenged Drew Barrymore. “My fingers are extra-fishy today, if you’d care to take a whiff,” he says. “What was that?” Drew replies, stunned. Sandler innocently explains, “I was petting my walrus all morning and thinking about you the whole time.” Of course, things go downhill from there.
We decided that trying to explain the Alley to people was kind of like that. And then, we realized, that THAT was how we could explain the Hollywood Alley experience. With movie quotes.
After all, who doesn’t like movies? Everyone loves movies. It’s almost the only common language we all have left. We can all speak “movie quote”. So we would use the quotes to connect to the people passing by. Kind of like those old Burma Shave roadside signs, we would make a game out of “guess the movie quote”!
The only problem was, we wanted to sell food—and a movie quote wasn’t going to sell anything. So we began collecting famous movie quotes and monkeying around with them, swapping out a key word here or there for a food item. It was just enough to throw you off, so that you’d think, “How does that quote really go?” And once you’d remembered the real thing, it was easy to see what we had done “wrong”. We were suggesting food, but without screaming it at them. Better yet, we were connecting through a common interest!
It took a week or two for it to catch on, but then new customers began to show up every day. They loved the game! Sometimes they couldn’t guess the quote, and just stopped in to ask. Then they’d come back after work and have a burger and a beer. Others would play the game for weeks, talking about it with their spouses or coworkers. After they had played long enough, they decided it was safe to come in for a weekend breakfast. It wasn’t long before customers began to suggest lines of their own.
I can’t say for sure if this is a resounding success or not; but it has made a big difference for us! The rough economy seems to be pounding everybody pretty hard; but while others are closing around us, we’re still here. And the bartenders are counting new faces every day.
Okay, I had better quit fooling around and get to work on the next batch of banners. They are way overdue! You know, so far, these are the best advertising dollars that we’ve ever spent. For 12 dollars apiece (at Staples), and a little computer time, we are getting more return on these advertising dollars than we ever have before.
“Stranger Than Fiction”, isn’t it?
And you’re not kidding about the “branding”. It’s not about the logo at all. We really do have to sell our experience. Our logo is nothing more than a signature to that experience.
Thanks for pointing us out!
John
PS. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, drop in and we’ll buy you lunch (or breakfast, or dinner!) Dad is there in the mornings, just ask for Roger; and Ross is there at night. If you tell them, “I’m Angelo, from Hoi Polloi”, I know they’ll be happy to take care of you.
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