Dining out with dynamic local awareness ads

The international restaurant chain ran dynamic local awareness ads within a 3-mile radius of its 734 US restaurant locations, driving a 2.6% increase in net sales week over week.

Ruby Tuesday’s Story

After opening its doors for the first time in 1972, Ruby Tuesday grew into a multi-national corporation with more than 772 locations in 15 countries. The restaurant, which was named after a Rolling Stones song, went public in 1996.

Their Goal:  Attracting diners to the closest location

Ruby Tuesday wanted to get more people to visit its many restaurant locations across the US, with the goal of increasing guest count and boosting in-restaurant sales.
“We do a lot of geo-targeting that wouldn’t be possible without Facebook’s local awareness ads. Facebook enables us to tell people “You are only one mile away from happy hour at Ruby Tuesday or from a Colossal Burger.” That’s valuable for getting people into the restaurant.”
-Dave Skena, CMO, Ruby Tuesday-

Their Solution:  Facebook Local Awareness Ads

Looking to boost guest count and revenue at its 734 locations in the US, Ruby Tuesday launched a week-Ruby Tuesday Case Study long campaign testing Facebook’s dynamic local awareness ads. First, the company split a sample of 160 locations into a control group and a test group, matching them by average guest counts, population and location type.
Next, the control group of restaurants were served photo and video ads that followed the Facebook’s best practices guidelines, as well as insights developed from past campaign results. The test group saw dynamic local awareness ads, which also followed best practice guidelines.
Ads for both the control group and test group were targeted to broad audiences—men and women aged 18 years or older—but test group ads were also targeted people living within 1–3 miles of a Ruby Tuesday location.
Ad creative for both campaigns featured mouth-watering images of the restaurant’s entrées, highlighting Ruby Tuesday’s variety dishes—from juicy cheeseburgers to the fresh Garden bar. The call to action for the test group ads urged people to come into Ruby Tuesday because the restaurant was just 1–3 miles away.

Their Success:  Facebook Local-Level Ads Win Big

Ruby Tuesday successfully used location targeting through dynamic local awareness ads between November–December 2015 to boost brand awareness and increase guest count at its restaurants. There was consistent lift over the entire campaign period with both audience groups, including an increased lift in guest count compared to the control group. Results include:
  • 3.1% increase in guest count with dynamic local awareness ads (test group versus control group)
  • 2.6% increase in sales (test group versus previous week)
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