Gen-Z Opps: Krystal shifts strategy following merger (Score 62)
Sales Lead: Complete with a new voice, restaurant chain Krystal is working on a comeback..png)
- On Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, guests developed the brand's new tagline, "Now You Know."
- Krystal will continue utilizing conversational, interactive, real-time social media efforts to bolster online engagement.
- The brand's leadership wants it to become more mainstream, which will likely entail expansion efforts outside of the SE, where most of its currently operating restaurants operate.
- Krystal is working with partners such as Sparkfly.
- The brand has also bolstered influencer efforts; for example, online influencer Libbie Higgins starred in the campaign that Krystal launched at the beginning of 2023.
- Reportedly, Krystal will also "push the envelope" with new and different menu item options along with new celebrity influencer partnerships.
- These shifts are all part of a larger strategy to reach younger, college-aged (so, Gen-Z) customers in urban hip-hop and rural communities.
- Krystal will not rely on shock and awe but to make customers continually ask, "Where are they going to go now?" without growing stale.
- This will involve increasing social media connection and zeitgeist immersion.
- These strategy adjustments follow Krystal's 2023 merger with SPB Hospitality.
- The brand will likely:
- Bolster social media efforts, expansion plans, and influencer partnerships
- Return to higher spend
- Seek additional new agency partners following recent media AOR and CMO hires (more below)
- Target demographic:
- Gen-Z (tends to have a male skew)
Additional spending insights:
- Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
- YTD spend: Since the beginning of 2023, Krystal has spent roughly $26.1k on digital ads, a far cry from the roughly $2.3m spent by this point last year.
- YTD data: The fast food chain has earned around 1.7m digital impressions YTD via YouTube ads.
- Last year: Krystal spent approximately $3.9m on this channel in 2022, up 22% from the approximately $3.2m spent in 2021.
- Additional channel insights
- The Krystal brand utilizes Google Ads along with OOH ads.
- The brand holds planning conversations in Q3 and buying conversations in Q4.
- As far as podcasts are concerned, Krystal sponsors shows such as Krystal Kyle & Friends and Daily Grace.
Additional agency insights:
- Opportunity: SPB and, therefore, Krystal still may make additional roster shifts following the June 2023 appointment of media AOR USIM and that of CMO Terrell in May 2023.
- Current agency roster:
Insight Sources: Digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; podcast insights by Podchaser.
