Canlis’ Treasure Hunt

Posted by Otis Kimzey on Nov 12, 2010 in Marketing, Seattle | Comments Off

Over the past two plus week’s one of Seattle’s premier restaurants, Canlis, has been running a social media treasure hunt.  They are celebrating their 50th anniversary, and in order to create some excitement around the event they are hiding one of their menu’s around Seattle six days a week.  They then post a clue as to where the menu is via Twitter and Facebook and the first person to find the menu gets to dine ordering off the 1960 menu (including 1960 pricing, which when you’re dealing with meals in the $200-$600 range is a huge savings).

It’s been a huge success and people have been flocking to Facebook and Twitter to find out what the next clue is, when it will be announced, and who ended up solving the clue and finding the menu.  I’ve seen similar promotions run at other companies, but never with as much excitement as Canlis has drawn up with this current #CanlisMenus campaign (search for that hashtag in twitter and you’ll see what I’m talking about).  On top of the fans trying to figure out the clue, local newspapers have written about the campaign, radio hosts have been discussing it, there has even been a fan website created where people talk about their hunt for the Canlis menus.

What has made the promotion a success, and what I would recommend to someone else creating a similar campaigns is in the details:

• 1 clue a day (6 days a week)
• Tough to decipher clues (I have been thoroughly stumped by many of them.  Even after using Google I’ve still been wrong.
• One of the owners of Canlis has been by the menu each time to congratulate the winner and update Twitter and Facebook that the menu has in fact been found
• Changing the styles of the clues (some are word plays, some are Seattle specific, some are historical, etc.)
• They have also brought to light much of Seattle’s rich history where people are learning more about their city through the clues.
• The high value of the menus.  A dinner for two at 1960 prices. (I’d estimate the value at $200 as it does not include drinks)
• The fact that the dinner still costs something also adds to the nostaligia of the contest.  It’s not a free dinner, but a $40 dinner for two at this kind of an establishment is an amazing value.

Some people have argued that this promotion won’t help put paying “butts in seats” and that this doesn’t address Canlis’ ideal customers and that it is therefore not a good promotion for such a high value establishment.  Although I can see that point, I believe it is missing the overall point, and that it is being too short sighted.

Canlis has people talking about this.  They’ve created a group of raving fans who are always following Canlis, they’ve received enough publicity to easily cover the costs of this promotion, and they’re also giving back to the local community while connecting people with the roots of the city and the old establishment that they are.  It’s a win, win, win.