A VIRTUAL SALUTE FOR VERY REAL VALOR

Leap (amp) teamed up with Heinz, the Wounded Warrior Project and Texas Roadhouse to honor Veterans Day.

Leap (amp) was proud to serve a leadership role in a very special campaign honoring Veterans Day and all the brave men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces.

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The veterans Day campaign had three key components

1.

Free lunch for veterans. Texas Roadhouse celebrated Veterans Day by serving lunch to all current and former American military personnel, on the house.
  • In addition, Leap (amp) promoted giving specially-designed Veterans Day gift cards for veterans unable to come into a restaurant on November 11. Texas Roadhouse donated 10 percent of all proceeds from the gift card sales to Homes for Our Troops, which provides specially adapted homes for our nation's most severely injured veterans.

2.

Promote Heinz' annual Our Turn to Serve initiative.
  • Texas Roadhouse customers could scan a QR code on the back of their Heinz Ketchup bottle.
  • The QR code opened a mobile website where users could create and send a thank you card to someone currently serving in the U.S. Military or a veteran.
  • For each card created, Heinz donated $1 to the Wounded Warrior Project.

3.

Twitter Party. Leap (amp) used its social influencer network to host a “Twitter Party” to honor veterans and build awareness of Heinz’ and Texas Roadhouse’s Veterans Day promotions.

We used the Twitter party as the largest awareness piece for the Veterans Day campaign. We created buzz leading up to the Twitter Party event by getting media outlets and our influencers to promote it on social media. Leap (amp) also used email campaigns, which were sent out to millions of consumers in the Texas Roadhouse, Heinz and Wounded Warrior databases.

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Campaign Components:

  • Idea Concept & Campaign Planning
  • Creative Execution
  • Media & Press Outreach
  • Blogger/Influencer Outreach & Engagement
  • Responsive Brand Website
  • Photography & Content Creation
  • Social Media Promotion
  • iMedia & Twitter Party
  • Email Campaign
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Twitter Party

The Twitter party was a cornerstone of the Veterans Day campaign, and key to promoting the Texas Roadhouse and Heinz initiative. The one-hour Twitter party was held on the eve of Veterans Day, and supported by brand partners and key influencers. Because showing respect and authenticity was important, Leap (amp) was very careful to partner with influencers that shared our appreciation for veterans and their service. In addition to a large audience with high engagement, each influencer also had a spouse, or another loved one, who was actively serving in the U.S. military or a proud military veteran.

A PLAN IN PLACE

The Twitter party followed a well-scripted plan by Leap (amp), designed to build excitement and encourage engagement, while keeping the tone respectful. And like any other social media initiative Leap performs, Leap (amp) was also well-prepared to improvise and keep the conversation positive.

Using the hashtag #TexasRHforVets, Leap (amp) was able to spread the word about the free lunch and donation promotions, while inspiring users to join the conversation and honor veterans everywhere.

TWEET TOPICS INCLUDED:
  • Engagement tweets that encouraged participation. From quick questions and retweets to prompts asking users to share stories about the vets in their lives, we experienced a lot of engagement on Twitter.
  • Promotional tweets to surprise users with Texas Roadhouse gift cards for sharing their stories.
  • Informational tweets to drive awareness of the free Veterans Day lunch and the Heinz “Our Turn to Serve” promotion.
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Tweet Victory

At the end of the day, the Twitter party proved to be a huge success — both online and offline. Texas Roadhouse saw a big increase in sales from the previous Veterans Day, and #TexasRHforVets peaked at No. 2 in Twitter’s national trending topics, surpassing Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” music video.

Results

57+


million impressions

1,100+


unique participants

10,665


collective tweets

91%


traffic increase year-over-year to the Veterans Day Lunch landing page

No. 2


#TexasRHforVets ranked in the top 5 Twitter trending topics, peaking at No. 2

11%


increase in overall restaurant sales over any normal Tuesday