Ep 17: Clicks 2 Bricks with Smashburger’s Vice President and Head of Marketing, Scott Johnson
Last year, one of Denver’s most popular burger joints seemed to be in its death throes, and a pandemic with inherent lockdown should have been the final nail. Instead, Smashburger has become one of the city’s major fast-casual outlets, and today’s guest Scott Johnson believes the pandemic only helped it thrive. As the Vice President and Head of Marketing, Scott was brought in to resurrect Smashburger, and turn it into the thriving business it is today. In this episode, you’ll hear about how he first implemented change by celebrating the outlet’s best traits. With a focus on brand strategy and short-term tactics, Scott began to put his resources into digital media. We talk about the virtues of paid media and shifting toward Google ranking using SEO and social media. Our conversation is seasoned with anecdotes about Scott’s previous stints at big-name companies like AT&T, Arby’s, and Boomin’ Brands as we hear about some of the lessons he learned. As a marketing mogul, he takes a high-level look at marketing and how it has changed over the last ten years. Scott comments on how the landscape has been shaped in such a way that smaller brands can compete with the big guys out there, and how economies of scale have drastically evolved. This was just a bite-sized chunk of our tasty conversation. For the whole thing, be sure to tune in!
Key Points From This Episode:
We introduce Scott Johnson, the Vice President and Head of Marketing for Smashburger.
Some interesting notes about Scott’s direct relation to Johnny Appleseed.
Smashburger’s place in the fast-casual market.
How Smashburger separates itself from other burger-centric food chains.
What fast-casual food is and how Smashburger positioned itself in the market early on.
Scott’s task of separating Smashburger as fast-casual and not fast-food.
We talk about Scott’s focus area in turnaround marketing.
Hear about Smashburger’s plan to stem the loss in sales.
Digital-heavy marketing and shifting focus onto outbound marketing and engagement was the recipe for success.
How the Smashed It campaign was a marketing campaign game-changer for Smashburger
Scott tells us how Smashburger has managed to perform so well despite COVID-19.
Hear about Scott’s marketing background, with anecdotes about Blockbuster and Netflix.
The most distinctive changes in marketing over the last ten years.
Some niche markets in the restaurant industry like breakfast gatherings have struggled to survive.
Scott’s opinion on franchise versus corporate ownership of restaurants.
Advice for those in junior roles looking to make moves in multilocation brands.
Tweetables:
“When Tom Ryan who came from McDonald's and then Chef Andrew Selvaggio worked on this brand originally back in 2007, they definitely wanted to create a more chef-driven burger joint that was still accessible.” — Scott Johnson [0:04:16]
“When I came in, the strategy was about refocussing on food cues that were there from the beginning, but didn’t necessarily get credit… For example, our packaging looked like fast-food and was hiding the kitchen. We have a kitchen to be proud of. So we want to bring that out front in booths. Part of our strategy is really squarely be in the fast-casual space.” — Scott Johnson [0:05:22]
“To turn things around, we really focused on kind of two things, the outbound marketing, and engagement. Shifting our paid to Google, Facebook, Instagram display, and then starting the process of rebuilding the e-commerce experience in terms of the website and the app.” — Scott Johnson [0:09:19]
“Off-premises total was about 35%, so 65% was dine-in. Just skip ahead, post-pandemic, dine-in is 2% and off-premise is 98%. So it's basically a whole business shift .” — Scott Johnson [0:20:58]
“Digital and location-based marketing have leveled the playing field for brands, especially in the restaurant business. We were talking about smaller brands, upstart brands that have been very successful regionally.” — Scott Johnson [0:30:00]