POWER UP
GET YOUR GAME ON
START-UP SHEET
TARGET AUDIENCE
PROMOTION OVERVIEW When Generation Z (Gen Z) arrives this fall, you’ll kick off the season at full charge for your tech-savvy student body.
• Students • Faculty & Staff • University Visitors
Capitalize on our marketing materials, such as Sodexo’s social media handouts and digital screen content to showcase a deeper understanding of your students’ interests – then send them on a supercharged culinary adventure!
OBJECTIVE
POWER UP is a lively promotion designed to leverage the popularity of today’s gaming culture while focusing on delicious foods that will help any student power through his or her busy day. This is the perfect platform to highlight the excitement and variety found in your university dining program. You’ll feature an abundant selection of delicious “power foods,” an array of spirited gaming events and a number of great occasions to consume breakfast – Gen Z’s favorite cuisine! With engaging events and offerings like these, students will connect to your university’s dining program, share the fun with their peers and draw positive attention to your culinary capabilities on their personal social
• REINFORCE with students the value and appeal of being on a university meal plan. • GENERATE interest among students, faculty and staff not currently on a university meal plan. • INCREASE customer satisfaction while showcasing the many qualities of your dining program.
media accounts.
TIMING:
This promotion and National Prize Sweepstakes will be held throughout the entire POWER UP promotion period beginning
AUGUST 14, 2017 and ending SEPTEMBER 25, 2017.
STRATEGY Generate excitement and interest among the entire university population in your POWER UP promotion. Focus on driving meal plan sales through the engaging combination of signature culinary creations and exciting promotional activities.
PROMOTION ACTIVITIES There are myriad ways to pique your students’ interests in gaming while simultaneously offering the energizing foods they crave! Below are a number of activity suggestions to help boost your promotion’s success:
MIDNIGHT GAMER SHOWDOWN Invite gaming fanatics out of their residence halls for a late-night, tournament-style video game showdown. Because Gen Z students love breakfast – no matter the time of day – this is a great event to hold at midnight, featuring the same fare that you might otherwise serve on your early morning breakfast bars. Consider serving made-to-order options like veggie omelets stuffed with broccoli or spinach, or freshly squeezed juices packed with antioxidants. The winning gamer will receive a special prize, and you can also feature their picture in your dining hall to draw attention to your events!
GAME AND GO Create a Game and Go menu that features grab-and-go items inspired by classic video games and modern favorites alike. This is a great way to conveniently structure your meal options around students’ schedules while providing them with healthy options to refuel throughout the day. This is also the perfect event to feature portable options that students can easily consume between classes or study sessions. Consider serving some of your Game and Go menu items in bowls, which are a current dining trend.
ENERGIZING TRAIL MIX-UP Trail Mix is the quintessential energizing snack food, typically comprised of dried fruit, nuts and other additions like dark chocolate pieces and coconut. Invite students to the dining hall for a Trail Mix-Up, where a select number of students create their own creative trail mix concoctions using provided ingredients. Then, ask them to create a unique name for the blend that is based off of their favorite video game. Have a Sodexo employee judge the mix/name combination and award prizes for Most Creative, Best Overall Flavor, etc.
COSPLAY COMPETITION Your dining hall can be transformed into the perfect stage for showcasing student talent and special cuisine concurrently! For the Cosplay Competition, invite students to dress up as one of their favorite video game characters and show off their costumes for the crowd. Then, ask an energetic panel of student judges to vote on their favorites. The winning student(s) can receive a meal credit or a special prize that you select.
FULL BAR CHARGING STATION Revamp your dining hall this fall! For this activity, spotlight unique stations with a variety of options that will appeal to Gen Z’s varying palate. Be sure to highlight the power of protein, carbohydrates and caffeine in these areas by featuring a coffee or tea bar, or healthy pasta bar with both meat and meatless mix-ins. In addition to our Cram Jam promotion, this is a great event to feature during a high-stress time when your students seek a much-needed boost!
SUPERCHARGED SMOOTHIE BOWL BINGO Feature a fun, bingo-style game for students to enjoy alongside their friends. Distribute “B-I-N-G-O” cards to participating students and have one student leader be the caller. Play numerous rounds with varying patterns, such as cover-all, four corners, etc. An Instagram sensation and popular amongst the Gen Z crowd, “smoothie bowls” are the perfect prize for your winners. They are often rich in antioxidants, and can be topped with ingredients such as nuts and seeds.
SOURCES: • https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/eustaciahuen/2016/11/30/5-food-trends-youll-see-in 2017/&refURL=https://www.google.com/&referrer=https://www. google.com/ • http://deliciousliving.com/blog/whats-big-deal-smoothie-bowls
GAME-ON BRUNCH-A-THON A BRUNCH BEYOND FOOD ALONE! Based on the popular “BrunchCon” events held across the country, Power Up’s “Game-On Brunch-A-Thon” will be the signature event for the POWER UP promotion. Whether you host it as a one-day or weekend-long event, your brunch should include a variety of recharging breakfast and lunch options (fresh juices, protein-rich sandwiches), as well as vendors and activities that entertain students and align with the promotion’s theme. It would be ideal to host this event outside (weather-permitting) to incorporate crisp, fresh air into your distinct Brunch-A-Thon offerings. Here are some detailed event ideas that merge students’ interests in the virtual realm and their nutritional preferences:
Get creative!
Bring in a variety of vendors!
Use creative names for your cuisine that play off of
This is the ideal event to drive home a
popular games (i.e. “Mario’s Meatball Sub” and “Pac
positive health and wellness message.
Man Paninis”). Remember, the focus of POWER UP
If space allows, utilize a variety of
is to provide energizing food and fun to the student
activity booths where students will be entertained
body, so keep all fare nutrient-rich and delicious!
and informed; some ideas include offering free massages, nutrition counseling, a walk-for-weight
Distribute paper wristbands
loss clinic and power food seminars!
Purchase inexpensive wristbands that staff will use to determine who can take part in food samplings
Time the event wisely
and other activities.
Consider using this event as part of a larger university-wide celebration, such as Homecoming
Take advantage of themed T-shirts
or Parents Weekend. You can also make the most of
Create event-themed T-shirts for staff to wear
this POWER UP promotional event by including
during the Brunch-A-Thon, and make sure they
it in your Voluntary Meal Plan Sign-Up Campaign.
have extra on hand to gift or sell to participating
No matter how you choose to host it, the
students!
Game-On Brunch-A-Thon is sure to garner
Feature a photo booth!
far-reaching appeal!
Appeal to Gen Z’s image-heavy culture by including a photo booth with laminated breakfast and lunch emoticons (eggs in a frying pan, strawberries, forks and knives) as props!
It is not to be forgotten that Gen Z students are proponents of social good. For added impact, consider running this as a Swipe+ event with proceeds being donated to a local charity. Imagine the energy on campus as students brunch outdoors, immerse themselves in wellness, take photos during this high-energy experience and share the fun on social media all while benefiting a great cause in the process!
NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES
ENTER TO WIN
Our RETRO RENEGADE NATIONAL PRIZE SWEEPSTAKES gives students a chance to win one of 23 retro renegade prizes. Students enter to win their choice of one of the following prizes: 10 Grand Prizes (Microsoft® Xbox One S with 2 Flashback Classic Video Game Packs and $200 Best Buy® Gift Card), 8 First Prizes (Atari Flashback® 7 Classic Game Console and $200 Best Buy® Gift Card) and 5 Second Prizes ($200 Best Buy® Gift Card). Students enter the sweepstakes by visiting a specially created microsite at www.retrorenegadesweepstakes.com. Winners will be selected via random drawing and will be notified in person at the end of the sweepstakes, as well as be recognized on the microsite upon conclusion of the promotion.
To enter, visit:
www.retrorenegadesweepstakes.com
Please visit the MARKETING TEMPLATES section of the Promotions Link on Sodexo Net for additional advertising/marketing collateral.
STEP-BY-STEP • The primary responsibility you have for this National Sweepstakes is to promote and advertise it throughout the POWER UP promotion period. • Display posters and flyers and distribute all other promotions materials.
PROMOTION RESOURCES Please visit the MARKETING TEMPLATES section of the Promotions Link on Sodexo Net for a variety of marketing and advertising tools you can use to promote your POWER UP promotion.
PLEASE NOTE: To order additional print materials for this promotion, visit Sodexo Print Management at http://sodexo-prod.response-element. com/partnerCenter.
• Post messages on LCD screens and on your social networking sites. • Customers will enter and participate in this sweepstakes by visiting www.retrorenegadesweepstakes.com and submitting their contact information.
STAFF INVOLVEMENT
PROMOTION FEEDBACK
Don’t forget to involve your staff in the early planning stages of your event. Following are a few suggestions on creative ways to motivate your entire team and get them excited about the fun in store for everyone with the POWER UP promotion: • Make time for team brainstorming and allow your staff to present their concepts for unique offerings to showcase throughout the promotion, such as vendor ideas for your Brunch-A-Thon. • Host a Menu Sampling Break to give your team a firsthand taste of your promotion’s culinary creations, such as your trail mix contents or what you’ll feature on your Full Bar Charging Station.
• Hold a random prize drawing each week during your promotion to award special POWER UP themed prizes to lucky staff winners, such as chargers, retro-style gaming apparel, etc. • Create a suggestion box where staff can share their input for creative ways to engage students during the promotion.
VALUE OFFER
To capture valuable insight on how to best enhance further promotions, we have provided a number of outreach tools that you can use to obtain feedback from your customers regarding their POWER UP experience. Whether it be via formal focus groups or simply having students complete the Promotion Feedback Survey, use every means and opportunity you can to gauge student satisfaction with your event. Also, please be sure to share your feedback with us by sending an email to Patty Pugh at Ideaworks Marketing at
[email protected].
TIMING
Use the special VIP GUEST DISCOUNT COUPONS as an incentive to get your current meal plan customers to bring a friend to join them at a reduced rate during your POWER UP promotion. The coupons can be easily customized to fit the individual needs of your account. We have also provided a number of customizable marketing tools to help promote this offer.
ELECTRONIC TOOLS
NAPKIN INSERT
MINI POSTER
TIMING
We suggest advertising this Value Offer intermittently throughout the POWER UP promotion period.
Attention General Managers: This VIP Guest Coupon incentive is optional and is intended to be offered at your discretion. Ideally, it is best suited for those times when you are looking to drive your voluntary meal plan sales and retention efforts. If you decide to implement this offer, be sure to program your resident dining cash registers with the appropriate discount key in order to ensure proper cash control and a smooth sales transaction process.
DISCOUNT COUPON
MAXIMIZING YOUR PROMOTION Your POWER UP promotion period provides you with many opportunities to showcase our CRAVE or ELITE RESTAURANT concepts. Strategically incorporate these highly engaging culinary offerings into POWER UP events for an added dose of excitement in your promotional activities.
We suggest using the Feedback Napkin Insert at or near the end of the POWER UP promotion and for at least one week after the completion of the entire event.
ELECTRONIC TOOLS
FEEDBACK NAPKIN INSERT
PROMOTION SURVEY
