Jeffrey Graham, The New York Times

Jeffrey Graham leads a 30-person corporate research team for The New York Times and nytimes.com, which includes advertising, product, marketing and strategic research, web analytics, and database marketing. Previously he was SVP, Strategic Research & Accountability Director for Starcom MediaVest, where he led communication research for Procter & Gamble, as well as research for P&G’s television and digital investments. Jeffrey came to SMG from Dynamic Logic, where he led both client services and research development, and developed the company’s cross-media research practice, helping the company grow from a six person startup to a market leader purchased by Millward Brown in 2005. Jeffrey has held a number of executive positions at interactive agencies dating back to the mid- 1990’s, including Blue Marble and NOVO.

Jeffrey has a B.A. in Communication for the University of Massachusetts, a Masters in Media Ecology from New York University, and is currently a PhD candidate in Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center where is writing a dissertation on rumor control.

Joseph Jaffe, Crayon Inc.Back to Speakers Warren Sukernek of VML

WOMM-U: Day Two Case Study: Houlihan’s Restaurant

The final session of the conference featured a case study on Houlihan’s Restaurants, presented by Jen Gulvik, VP Marketing, Houlihan’s Restaurants, Inc.

In the past few years Houlihan’s has undergone a tremendous transformation. Spreading the word about this has been an interesting challenge. They’re not a national advertiser. While they are in some major markets, they don’t have the budget that many of their competitors do.

The task was to see if they could turn their customers into a marketing force. In the past many of their restaurants had established e-mail lists, it was one-way only. However they do receive a large amount of customer feedback, and this is increasing. She thinks this matches the trend of customers taking control of their brand experiences.

At a WOMMA event a year ago, Jen realized that they’re in an industry (food & beverage) that is heavily talked about. Why not take advantage of that?

First step was to determine who their brand lovers were. They created and sent out a survey. Some quick metrics: 114,949 sent, 18,695 received. From there they began to build out a program, an advisory group. This group would advise them on menu choices and other brand assets. They also developed a program for the HouliFAN’s.

The primary communication channel with the advisory group is the HQ, a password protected site that allows Houlihan’s to provide information to the fans. It also allows them to participate in coversations and get feedback.

One of the first things they did was ask the advisory group, what would you do? Early on they saw an issue related to the removal of fajitas from the menu, or as Jen said, a fajita-freakout.

Once the site was established with the advisory group, it expanded to the entire fan-base, the HouliFANs.

Soon afterwards they rolled out a new menu and used their fans and the site to spread the word. They found that 35% of the fans had spread WOM about the menu.

The program is still new and growing but they’ve been thrilled with the response and feedback they’ve received.

Jeffrey Graham, The New York Times

On the agenda

WOMM-U: Day Two Case Study: Houlihan’s Restaurant

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