Drove integrated creative, media, and digital development in a successful 4-year campaign for Joe's Crab Shack, growing a multimillion-dollar loss into 4X revenue growth and netting 17 straight quarters of positive guest counts, average check, and YOY sales.

Weary & Water-logged

Joe’s Crab Shack was barely afloat; instead of building their own brand image, it attempted to mimic the category leader and failed. Even worse, they were being outspent by the leader 10:1 so their message just blended in with their competition – resulting in a multimillion-dollar loss in annual sales.

Digitally Informed Insight & Creative

When we did a deep dive into customer behavior and social media habits, we discovered something interesting. Joe’s Crab Shack has always been an independent and irreverent place, and we knew guests appreciated the carefree, come-as-you-are attitude. Customers truly loved the experience of eating at Joe’s in a way the category leader couldn’t touch. For them, it was much more than just a meal—it was about the moment.

The idea of unexpected “moments worth sharing” led to the first round of television spots embracing the playful irreverence we’d already seen from customers and further amplified the unique possibilities one might find at Joe’s.

Joe's New Campaign Spots 2007-2010

The Joe’s experience and attitude also translated into our media programming and network selections, from placements in Jimmy Kimmel to branded integrations produced with Comedy Central, Adult Swim, and others.

360º Support

Additionally, we supplemented the TV placements with targeted high-impact placements that integrated with the creative strategy, including:

Weather-triggered TV and digital videos to drive patio happy hour sales
Discovery Channel Shark Week sponsorship featuring signature menu shark-themed cocktails
Custom online video canvas that shook the video player frame and screen
Interactive TV ads that delivered coupons

Weather-triggered TV and digital videos to drive patio happy hour sales.

As we began to break out of the “sea of sameness” in seafood chain advertising in our first year, we expanded Joe’s view of their competitive opportunity and began to target all other restaurant chains. We positioned Joe’s as the only restaurant experience that breaks away from the doldrums of everyday restaurant dining.

Introducing The Claw

This campaign direction also allowed our message to answer Joe’s need to focus on the quality and freshness while still highlighting their unique attitude. Rather than rely on expected beauty shots and butter dunks, we took a non-traditional approach to break through the clutter with a giant icon that would bash, crash and wreak havoc at the very mention of bland, sub-par dining.

Joe's Evolved Campaign Spots 2010-2011

Optimizing Our Media Strategy

To keep up with the significantly larger budgets of Joe’s competition, we knew our plan had to be more strategic and deliver greater value. Despite being outspent, Joe’s still had a sizable media budget (around $20 million annually). This gave us negotiating power to participate in the “upfront” process for national network and cable, securing great pricing, premium positions, and custom added-value program integrations.

Joe's Evolved Campaign Spots 2010-2011

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