Steve Gerl

How to change the oil on a 2005 Toyota Carolla.  Shot, edited, and uploaded by yours truly.  Enjoy!

Since I love all things innovative, American, inexpensive, and fast food, I decided to try the McGangBang. The McGangBang is a McDouble stuffed with a McChicken. There are several variations including the McGB Lite (removing the excess bun from the McChicken), the WhopGB (Using a Burger King double Whopper and Chicken sandwich) and the Red Headed GB (Using a Wendy’s Double Stack and a Spicy Chicken sandwich).

Being the fast food purist that I am, I elected to go with the classic McGB.  Overall, it was better than I expected in the taste category.  You mostly pick up the bread taste, but the pepper from the McChicken adds a unique flavor when combined with the beef and cheese.  And for $2, you can’t go wrong (right?).

Final Rankings:

Taste 6/10

Value 10/10

Overall 8/10

For more info on the McGB check Eat Me Daily.

As a guerrilla marketer, you need several ideas per client.  So here is another idea for my client(and current employer), Smokey Bones.  They are a national barbecue chain based out of Florida.  The unique selling proposition is that there is only one restaurant in the greater Louisville area, and the management is very open to local ideas to drive business.  Below is a write up of one of those ideas.

Smokey Bones Trivia Night

Who: Steve would read the quesitons and grade the trivia answer sheets

What: A one to two hour trivia competition

When: Tuesday Nights at 8pm

Where: The back section of the restaurant

How: There will be 5 rounds with 10 questions per round for a total of 50 questions. People would show up either by themselves or on a team and submit $1 per person. The winning person or team would get all the money in the pot and then have to divide it amongst themselves. Teams will have their own team names as decided by themselves and be responsible for bringing their own writing utensils. Steve would collect the money and put it in a bone bag as he passed out the blank answer sheets at the beginning of the event. Steve would begin the trivia after all the money had been collected. After each round of 10 questions Steve would repeat any necessary questions as indicated by the number of fingers participants are holding up (i.e. four fingers means repeat question number four). After each 10 question round, teams/individuals would submit their answer sheets. Steve would grade and return each sheet as the representative from the team waited. After each round the scores would be announced. After 5 rounds the winning team will be awarded the money. In the event of a tie, teams before they answer a question will be required to guess how many of the 50 questions they will get correct. The questions can either be independantly researched by Steve or taken from Smokey Bones trivia data base.

Advertising would be done through e-blasts, bathroom calendars, and any availible signage. But the real crux of the advertising must fall on word-of-mouth buzz generated by the event. Hopefully the atmosphere plus the drink specials plus Steve’s wonderful personality would be the correct combo for people to say, “Hey you should come check out trivia at Smokey Bones next week, it was a blast!”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Steve Gerl

SGPR

(859) 555-9981

steve@sgpr.com

Smokey Bones Caters to Dogs and Dog Lovers this Memorial Day

Memorial Day Catering Packages Availible!

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 30, 2010) —-Smokey Bones is teaming up with the Kentucky Humane Society to give a dog a bone, literally. “Operation: Doggy Bag” is taking place throughout the week leading up to Memorial Day. This operation gives new dog owners a free bag of dog treats and lets them know that Smokey Bones will cater their Memorial Day celebration.

Smokey Boneington, manager of the restaurant in Louisville said, “It is a great way for us to connect with our customers. We like to remind people every so often that even though we are a chain, we have a local staff that thinks on a local scale.”

The catering menu will feature highlights from the same great menu designed to feed a group of people that has made Smokey Bones a national favorite.

Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill is located at 2525 Hurstbourne Gem Lane. It is open seven days a week from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. For more information call (502) 491-7570 or visit http://www.smokeybones.com.

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This is the end project of Operation: Doggy Bag.  It is a great project because it is cheap, easy, personal, and if you were to execute it at a dog park with a team of “Boneheads” you would add a human connection element as well.

Hit me with any questions or suggestions!

Another one of my favorite blogs to read, The Art of Backpacking, is giving away a flip in tandem with TripFilms.com which seems like a pretty cool travel-tube type of site.

Definitely want to check this out if you like to travel or need a new camcorder!

Operation: Doggy Bag is a guerrilla marketing project where a barbecue restaurant (Smokey Bones) is using guerrilla marketing techniques along with a relevant giveaway to promote their image as a friendly, family restaurant.  Below is the creative brief.  More details/execution to come.

Creative Brief

Client: Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill

Project: “Operation: Doggy Bag”

Date: 25 May 2010

Job # 1

Prepared by: Steve Gerl

Objective

The objective of this operation is to promote awareness of the location of Smokey Bones store #7553 and to increase customer loyalty through thoughtful promotion. The project should enhance the existing image of an affordable, friendly restaurant. Also to promote summer catering for specific events (Labor Day, 4^th of July, Memorial Day). The catering information will be provided. A secondary objective is to shake the image of Smokey Bones as a chain restaurant.

Target

Adults 25-40- The people in this age bracket have already started or are planning on starting a family. This project should inform them know that Smokey Bones caters to families. Value is a priority for them, and there is a value menu at Smokey Bones. This could set them up for the Bones Club rewards program as well, due to the exclusive coupons. This op primarily deals with the emphasis of a friendly atmosphere.

Benefit

Smokey Bones improves its standing in preference with the customer. This may happen subconsciously. The benefit changes the perspective that Smokey Bones is a huge, impersonal chain. It shows that it is a local restaurant, with a local staff, that happens to be owned by a chain.

Support

The support for this op stems from the thoughtfulness of the project. Consumers love free things only when they are relevant. i.e. A camera buyer would much rather have a lens brush than a draw-string bag.

Executional guidelines

The message needs to be simple yet informational. The ad size should be no more than 3 inches by 3 inches and written with marker. The budget is minimal, less than $20, but the client has supplied the bags and information sheets. The dog treats will need to be purchased and bagged as well.

Tonality

The tonality of this op should be friendly and inviting.

As a huge Jimmy Buffett fan, I thought I would share one of my favorite songs to see live in Cincinnati, Oh.  This is the motion sickness version, so be careful.  Fins up!

Heading up to the land of deep-dish pizza and crappy baseball teams (I can say that, I am a Cubs fan) for my cousin’s wedding.

I had some big ideas yesterday, and there will be much entertaining and reveling coming from my end in the near future.  But until then, sit tight.

Keeping on my morbid kick, I thought this might be handy info for people down the road.  I like to share articles that improve lives, especially when they help people when there is no real instruction manual to deal with things.

Art of Manliness is one of my favorite blogs.  It has a husband and wife tag-team of Brett and Kate McKay.  It inspires men to take the great things about being a man from the past (facial hair, exercise, responsibility, managing family life) and cuts out all of the stuff that was not great (sexism, racism, alcoholism) and inspires Gen-Yers to be a little more manly.  I highly recommend it.

No more death posts after today.  I promise.