White Castle is relying on a variety of channels, including mobile, digital and social to promote its ongoing ?Slider-bration? initiative and further connect with consumers throughout the promotion.

The company is getting the word out about the promotion through several channels, one of which is mobile advertising. White Castle is running full-page, expandable and audio ads within Pandora?s iPhone application.

?In celebration of National Hamburger Month, a month of paying homage to one of America?s favorite foods that White Castle created over 20 years ago, we developed ?Slider-brations,? said Lynn Blashford, director of marketing at White Castle, Columbus, OH.

?These Slider-brations are two-hour durations of time where customers can purchase the Original Slider for only 25 cents,? she said. ?A Slider-bration will always be occurring throughout the entire month of May as the event moves from Castle to Castle.?

Mobile aspect
The mobile ads invite consumers to join the Slider-bration party at http://www.sliderbration.com.

When consumers tap on the mobile ad, they are redirected to the Slider-bration mobile site where they can learn about the ongoing promotion and get exclusive alerts, as well as share the event with friends and family.

White Castle is also heavily promoting its Slider-bration initiative through digital and social means to further reach consumers no matter where they are.

Furthermore, the campaign also includes weekly online ordering specials for which White Castle has a mobile ordering app for consumers that want to place their order before arriving in the restaurant.

?Since the Slider-brations are literally occurring 24/7 during May and moving throughout our over 400 Castles, what better mechanism to notify our Cravers of where the event will take place next than through mobile,? Ms. Blashford said. ?Cravers can sign up at sliderbration.com to be notified of when a Slider-bration will be taking place in their area and they can select to be notified when one is occurring at any White Castle location within a 50 mile radius. 

?Don?t forget we have a lot of customers that are willing to travel distances to satisfy their crave,? she said. ?By signing up for the text or email alerts they will then receive a notification that will be sent just one day prior to the Slider-bration event. 

?For this time-sensitive campaign, mobile plays a key role in both advertising for building awareness as well as being very functional in order to receive the alerts to attend the flash sale type events. Consumers are on the go and their mobile device is one of the best methods to reach them so they don?t miss the opportunity when the Slider-bration happens in their area.?
 
Past efforts
White Castle is no stranger to mobile.

Last year, the fast food chain launched a loyalty program that featured a mobile Web application and let consumers earn rewards including free sliders (see story).

Most recently, White Castle built up its mobile database with a Text2Crave service that sends out customized alerts and unique coupons to consumers when they are near a participating location (see story).

?Mobile is a significant instrument of personal communication with our Cravers so it as a component of consideration for everything we develop,? Ms. Blashford said. ?The variable then becomes what community do we want to reach out to, engage with and when, and what is the conversation purpose or the marketing content. 

?Since 1921 White Castle has looked for ways to add value or to fit into the lives of our customers and mobile is just a continuation of fostering that relationship,? she said. 

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York