Us+P Social Media Series Food #3

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If you think going social might be
a good idea one day, make that
day today.

SOCIAL MEDIA SERIES #4

Food Sector 2011

US+PARTNERS 1674 Broadway 4th Floor New York, NY 10019 T 1-212-712-9119 marcia.stepanek@usandpartners.com www.usandpartners.com

HOW WE CAN BENEFIT YOU. RIGHT NOW.

We -- at US+Partners -- are delighted to share this latest “state of social” briefing on the quick
service food sector. It’s part of our ongoing executive series on trends in new and social media. At
US, we help companies and organizations leverage and navigate the Second Digital Age -- in which
brands become social and consumers drive the terms and speed of engagement.

In today’s virtual world, social media conversations are having a direct impact on quick service res-
taurant sales and brand reputations. Every day, customers are questioning their food and dining
options and making product choices based on their online conversations, many of which consist of
un-edited and un-qualified user-generated content.

With the increased popularity of tools such as Twitter, Facebook -- and now Google+, among other
social networks and online communities -- families and teens are able to interact with each other
from across the globe. They’re doing this in unprecedented numbers at unprecedented speeds. For
many people, the first place they seek food selection and pricing/”deal” information is online.

Consumers also are sharing invaluable information online about their preferences and behavior.
Correctly understood and leveraged, these insights can potentially help all functions of product se-
lection and development - from menu diversity to special pricing - to produce and promote more
effective and healthier, more cause-conscious offerings.

Read on>


YOUR OPPORTUNITY WITH (1) HEALTH (2) ‘DEAL HUNTING.’

Health and ‘deal hunting’ are now as important to some consumers as having the shiniest, biggest
status symbols: increasingly, consumers will expect healthier, less expensive products and services
across the marketplace to prevent misery if not improve their quality of life.

Some signs of the times:

• 73% of US consumers consider being physically ﬁt important to being ‘well’, with 74% in-
cluding ‘feeling good about themselves’. (Source: The Hartman Group, August 2010)
• An estimated 500 million people worldwide are expected to be using mobile healthcare
applications by 2015. (Source: Reasearch2Guidance, November 2010)
• The heaviest use of healthy food apps is by young adults: about 15% of those aged 18 to 29
have such apps, verus 8% of users aged 30 to 49. (Source: Pew Internet Project, 2010)

In the next 12 months, count on even more “personalization” (self-monitoring) technologies be-
coming portable or even wearable, as well as getting cheaper (the smart phones held by many
consumers are now more advanced than most dedicated medical devices).

Also, both regular and dedicated food-spotting and dining social networks are giving audiences a new
platform to share, compare and discuss their personal food choices and issues with other consumers.
Consumers are engaging in online conversations about quick service food choices, coupon deals,
community activism and health/environmental concerns - whether companies participate or not.


THE NEW LANDSCAPE
Further, new appetites for 'personalization’ in products and services in the new ‘mobile market-
place’ means that more consumers will choose products with embedded deals just for them -- ei-
ther targeted to their buying histories and perceived needs or based on “just-in-time” supply
strategies geared to hourly/daily changes in supply and demand. Also on the rise: consumer appe-
tite for good causes and businesses that support customer efforts to advocate for social problem-
solving in local markets. Consumers want their quick service food shops to share their willingness
to experiment with healthy new products, environmentally-conscious packaging and sustainable
supply chain strategies. Increased local sourcing of dairy and some meat products, for example,
along with buying experiences that are actually well-designed, desirable, accessible, fun, tasty, inter-
esting or storied also are being seen as ever-more important as mobile technologies are just begin-
ning to enable new consumer experiences. Some examples:

• Temptd is a mobile app that lets people share their food choices with friends in real time,
enabling them to build an event around a fast-service food gathering or help members of
their social networks try new alternatives or healthier choices.

• Munch on Me and Jack’s Munchie Mobile trucks offer location as a service offering; watch-
dog sites offer nutrition guides and on-the-spot data on allergies and ingredients

• US+Partner’s Fan Nation on Facebook platform enables NFL fans to share food choices
around tailgaters

• Mobo - offering its busiest customers (or specialized groups of customers) even ‘faster
food” with a mobile app that lets customers order ahead for even faster “pickups.”

You’re stronger with “personalized” services. Consumers are creating their own so-
cial networks to help them to become active and discuss their individual food, health, dining and
lifestyle choices and “ﬁnds” and monitor their efforts to become more cause-minded. Non-
corporate and non-industry “helpsites” also are cropping up to supplement and challenge
“company-speak.”

EXAMPLE: Quiet Riots - a new consumer app and community that offers members new ways
to share and learn from social networks when it comes to their food- buying and dining experi-
ences. It is also using the power of the crowd to negotiate special deals between members and
quick service food brands.


“People share what works; what they trust to be
true. If your mental model is that you need estab-
lished companies to help you decide what to buy,
that’s not how the market works anymore. There’s
been a dispersion of activity; networks of individuals
versus institutions and established brands. Those
informal, social networks are the most trusted and comfortable ways to explore new consumer
options; they are the most inﬂuential in purchasing decisions. They carry the most clout as
sources of health and food-choice information and brands can ﬁnd success in promoting shared
values. That’s what the fast-food industry looks like in 2011.”

BE SURE TO ‘DO SOCIAL’ IN WAYS YOUR COMPETITORS CAN’T

WHAT IS. How are some companies and brands responding to the challenges so far? By turning
the prevailing wisdom that quick service food is too constrained by process on its ear. True, there
are important legal and privacy considerations and policies that exist in the quick service food in-
dustry. Yet we, at US+, applaud some of the creative efforts that companies and brands have taken
so far to “go social” despite these challenges. It’s not about deciding whether or not to “go social.”
Your consumers are already there. Rather, it’s more a matter of how to “go social” in new ways.
With less risk. Using “cause” as a clear way to convey shared values and community loyalty. US+ is
innovating how brands in this sector can embrace digital more effectively.

WHAT’S NEXT. At US+Partners, we think it’s all just the beginning. Much more is possible.


FOUR ANSWERS TO YOUR ‘HOW-CAN-WE-DO-BETTER’ QUESTIONS

1. Should you be on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a business network and a great place from which to source physicians. The problem is
that not a lot of conversation happens there. It’s good for introductions and for trying to take con-
versations elsewhere. There are LinkedIn groups, and some are very active but many are not. Twit-
ter is a great place to share thought leadership and ﬁnd out which conversations you’re missing.
And Facebook’s Event Pages and News Feeds are effective places to interact with your customers
as they experience your brand -- on THEIR feeds, not just yours.

2. It’s not totally about YOU.
One of the things people do when they start conversing on social media networks is forget to talk
from the “we” side of things. Instead, they tend to tell people what they should buy and why or
when. Customers, though, are looking for information from their side of the conversation. They’re
not just looking for information about your burger; they are looking for new ways to maintain and
improve their busy lifestyles. Their teamwork in the community. They want to know that you’re ex-
perimenting with healthier choices and want to know how you can help them to make their bus-
ier lives more convenient and affordable. They’re looking to have a conversation from their side of
the fence. They want conversations that make the customer the hero -- not those that push your
burger to the exclusion of the bigger picture.

3. Listening is the new black in quick service food outlets.
Use social media to listen and better understand what people are saying about you and the issues
challenging you as a company. What are some of these tools? There are professional tools like Radi-
an6 and Trackur that all have different levels of listening ability. And there are others -- Spiral6 and
Crimson, to name just a few. Sure, you can employ some tools to listen for free but that won’t get
you all the info you need and it won’t help you to log data that’s needed for reporting. Best yet?
Task your staff to do it. Twitter is not idle chatter.

4. It’s all about the connections.
Foster new connections with people. Build relationships before you need a business function to
come of it. Using social media, this could mean using social networks to draw attention to new
products or processes, or to favorable articles. Be on the social networks that your customers are.
If you think teens and families and sports fans are there, they probably are. Go there. If you’re not
in those conversations, you’re irrelevant.


THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU

We believe there’s a lot more to be done. Some areas we’re forging:

Peer-to-peer networks: As growing numbers of consumers are choosing to turn to social net-
works for the information that matters to them, we’re helping some of our clients make better use
of private social networks -- member-only communities of consumers that help each other explore
everything from new dishes to the best new deals and experiences around out-of-home dining and
quick service food experiences. Example: foodspotting.com and its private social network of
members-only deal-catchers. We’ve helped them to figure out a digital, private way to help new
communities experience food at new lifestyle change-points. These new private network strategies
will foster more ‘gated’ conversations that members can trust, enhancing their credibility and yours.

Augmented reality: Embedding the mobile images of a consumer’s world with meta-data about
caloric intake and healthy menu selections and new food opportunities in real-time. Which foods
contain transfats and which do not? Which fish are mercury-free and which are not? Which herbs
can help alleviate your symptoms - right now? US+Partners is working with “personalization and
healthy food apps” that provide a service to quick serve companies and offer new ways for cus-
tomers to engage with them in the name of shared customer values and branded experiences.

Personalization: We’ve already alerted you to Temptd. There are dozens of other social networks
cropping up that are giving dining/food choices the power of the crowd. Another of our favorite
crowdsourced self-monitoring apps? Mobo -- allowing brands to offer “faster food” to targeted
groups of customers, along with a new way to share food finds or tips on restaurants/quick service
outlets willing to offer something extra. Another? FLOW -- giving citizens the power to monitor
water safety for branded groups that need it. The new customer food networks are data-driven.
US+Partners is working to provide branded applications and partnership opportunities to inter-
ested clients looking to out-innovate their competitors in the quick service food field.

Let US help you innovate -- not simply play catch-up with your competitors.


GO AHEAD. GET SOCIAL WORKING FOR YOU.

* 25% of search results for the top brands link to user-generated content. Like it or not, your cus-
tomers have taken to social media to express their feelings about your brand. Now is the time to
engage these customers and assure that widespread, viral sentiment generates increased revenue
and customer loyalty, not headaches.

* The average person has 195 social media “friends.” Even ignoring the viral capability of social me-
dia dialogue, remember that your customers have a direct line to the ears of 200 people. In trying
to establish your brand, generate business and rebound from shortcomings, where else can you
find such clear influence?

* Word-of-mouth has been deemed nearly six times more effective than television advertisements
about shaping consumer opinion. How are you using this knowledge to optimize return on market-
ing spend and assure your television campaigns are not being nullified by ill-sentiment online?

#foodspotting

We believe that “going social” is more urgent now in the quick service food sector than ever.
Played strategically and selectively, social media can provide a great service to society while innovat-
ing existing brands, restoring trust and delivering new, healthy value to today’s consumers.

And one last thought. If brands don’t engage now, they become like a dead star -- still emitting light
but cold at the core.

So what are you waiting for?

Let US help. We’re US+Partners. You, me and everyone we know. US.


Us+P Social Media Series Food #3

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