Rao’s Bakery Case Study
Restaurant marketing has changed a bunch since Rao’s opened in Beaumont in 1941. From that original location, Rao’s has grown and spread throughout Southeast Texas and into Houston over the years. Rao’s is a solid business and has been a believer in marketing from the beginning. Then why in 2021 did they reach out, well, it’s actually a long story.
Back in 2004, we first approached Rao’s with our different style of agency-client partnership. After much thought, Jake Tortorice, Rao’s owner, sent us 2 rejection letters. He later apologized stating he had the first ready to go, but then changed his mind, only to change it back. 17 years later, he wanted more in a relationship than just clean creative and media buying. He wanted the entire pie. (continued below)
Rao’s Bakery Videos
Always a fun day when we get to capture the great food and great smiles at Rao’s
Social media had been neglected by Rao’s. They hadn’t delved into digital media either. Additionally, they wanted to know how to best use their existing stores to promote sales, how to improve the customer experience, and how to actually use incentives to push sales.
In the time we’ve worked with Rao’s their social presence has exploded, they’ve started using digital advertising, more point of purchase, and embarked on a customer service training program. In addition, we’ve come up with creative, non–cost ways of getting them additional media exposure from their existing partners. We are only about 18 months into this relationship, but so far the results are, (pardon the pun) sweet!
Recently we completed a complete reworking of their cake menu and reshot dozens of items for print and video advertising. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of restaurant marketing (other than eating the props) is shooting new TV for Rao’s with their smiling customers.