Tray Liner, Placemat and Pizza Box Advertising Made Simple!
At 20 Years of age, I transformed a regular “8 ½ x 11” piece of paper into a full time advertising business. My name is Phillip Tapia and my advertising agency developed a new advertising concept that would not only serve as an economical value by turning trash into cash, but it would also save restaurant owners thousands of dollars every year. For the past several years, we have sold ad space on tray liners, placemats and pizza box toppers in many of America’s favorite fast food restaurants like Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers and Little Caesars Pizza. The best part of Tray Display Advertising is its simplicity, when you realize that a regular piece of paper is the cause for helping so many people, it can really open your eyes to the opportunities that surround us every day! I built relationships with national marketing directors and brand name companies such as Crayola, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Bally Total Fitness, Pepsi Cola, Earl Schieb Auto Paint & Body Repair, Fast Fix Jewelry Repair, and Ace Cash Advance. Tray liner & Placemat advertising is honestly the reason my full service advertising agency – Tapia Advertising exists today! Before i begin on how i was able to do this, i think it\\\’s important to credit my father for striking on the first big idea of his time…
Where Did This Idea Come From?
A brief history of the Tapia Family Advertising Journey! We come from very humble beginnings but motivation was never a problem for any of us. Ideas were always a great dinner conversation in our home. In 1990, an enterprising young man named Michael Tapia (My Father) was living in Colorado, working as a radio account executive looking for ways to supplement his income. These were tough times for us and money was hard to come by… Mike was always considered a brilliant marketer and was always coming up with these “Out Of The Box” ideas… Little did he know when he hit on the idea of selling advertisements on liquor and video store bags that he had struck gold. It wasn’t long before his Billboard Bags were in use throughout the state of Colorado, in hundreds of outlets and even endorsed by the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association. His concept of selling advertising space on bags was a win-win for everyone involved. Instead of paying for bags, stores were getting their bags free, the advertisers (whose advertising paid for the bags) were getting in front of their target audience, and, the consumers were receiving valuable offers from businesses they patronized. The advertisers taking advantage of this innovative concept included high profile companies like Budweiser, Bacardi, Jack Daniels, Canadian Mist, Marlboro, The Colorado Lottery and other national brands. Video bags promoted The Simpsons on the Fox TV network. In 1998, Billboard Bags, Inc. printed several hundred thousand bags to celebrate the first ever Professional Baseball All-Star game held in Colorado! Billboard Bags distributed bags through over 500 Colorado liquor outlets. Each bag was embossed with a full-color All-Star logo commemorating the historical sporting event. My dads idea and concept took off, gaining national attention on the pages of Entrepreneur magazine as well as international attention in several foreign publications. In response, Tapia wrote his first “how-to” manual on creating a bag advertising business. Fast forward twenty-something years later where Tapia’s son Phillip (Me), is eager to make his own mark on the world. Like father like son…
Young and ambitious, I started contacting these large brand name companies by phone & email. I would literally spend hours on a Saturday evening researching the decision makers contact info. This may seem like not that big of a deal, but i was a young guy and most of my friends were out having a good time parting well i sat in my office looking for ways to get my idea in front of the most powerful marketing execs. I was determined to make this idea bigger than it was and i wasn\\\’t going to give up… I made my first big sale when i contacted Crayola for a partnership with the coloring contest that went on the backside of the Wendy\\\’s tray liner and Little Caesars Pizza Box Topper. I still remember exactly what the marketing director said to me, her first question when i called was “How did you get this number?” After giving my best pitch on how this can benefit her brand, she replied with “This is Crayola, we don\\\’t BUY advertising, companies PAY US to use our brand all the time! I honestly have no idea why i\\\’m still on the phone with you… however, I respect what you are trying to accomplish, plus your idea is unique and creative… We Like Creative Ideas at Crayola… I\\\’ll agree to sponsor the coloring contest for one year… We will only continue if it works!” Crayola paid me for a year sponsorship and agreed to provide prizes (Official Crayola Art Supplies Kits) for the coloring contest winners every month. Photo Below….
Still today, i am creating ideas for these brands that kept coming to me for ways to make their tray liner or pizza box ad more appealing. Bally Total Fitness wanted to target the health conscious demo with Subway and Wendy’s with their market fresh sandwiches, so i developed a tray liner that fit their virtual trainer application with customers that prefer to eat healthier. See Tray liner below.
I have worked with franchise owners from Wendy’s, Taco Bell, McDonald\\\’s, Little Caesars and even smaller restaurant establishments in markets around the world to make this idea more effective. It’s important that marketers understand this idea is limitless. A regular piece of paper that can now be utilized as a print billboard or mobile interactive strategy for a business like Netflix.
Late 2013, an advertising firm in New York City approached me on how to advertise one of their new clients on tray liners, placemats or pizza box toppers inside of fast food establishments throughout the five boroughs of New York. The client was a health insurance company that wanted to expand their message of affordable healthcare to middle class families in Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. The marketing strategy was urgent and needed to be done within a month because their client’s IPO was soon to be offered on the New York Stock Exchange. This wasn\\\’t the first time I needed to put a tray liner/placemat advertising plan together this quick, but finding participating QSR establishments in one of the most populated cities in the United States in this short of time was not going to be a walk in the park! They mainly wanted to target diverse communities for example the Hispanic market in Brooklyn. Hispanics and Latinos made up nearly one-fifth (19.6%) of Brooklyn\\\’s population. Over 500,000 Hispanics and Latinos reside in Brooklyn. Nearly 190,000 Puerto Ricans call the borough home, and they make up 7.4% of the population. The borough\\\’s 91,000 Mexican Americans make up 3.6% of its population. You can find more in-depth research on this target demo here. Hispanic Demo In New York
- Wendy\\\’s
- Little Caesars
- Fast Guys
- Subway
- Crown Fried Chicken
- Pequena
- Chavela\\\’s
- Habana Outpost Brooklyn
- San Loco
- Los Mariachis Mexican Restaurant
- Casa Pepe
- Carlos & Gabby\\\’s
Over the years, Tray Display Advertising has had great success at selling advertising on fast food tray liners, placemats and pizza box toppers in Wendy\\\’s restaurants and Little Caesars Pizza. More recently, I started sharing my secrets and advice with other entrepreneurs around the globe on how to make this method of advertising more effective to restaurant owners and consumers alike!
Media Life Magazine Recently Wrote an article about Tray liner advertising being attractive targets for advertisers – By Diego Vasquez: “Your client’s message in restaurants!
They can be targeted by venue, reaching different demos! Customers at restaurants make attractive targets for advertisers for two main reasons. They obviously have the disposable income to eat out, meaning they most probably are open to making other discretionary purchases. And restaurants are highly targetable. Brands looking to reach families can advertise in fast food or casual restaurants such as Applebee’s, while those looking to reach professionals can target popular lunch locations in downtown business districts. Similarly, advertisers can target by zip code or ethnicity, and they can also target by gender with ads in a restaurant’s restroom.” The fact is, fast food chains are always trying to make their brand more appealing to the customer. Sometimes that means re-designing their image. It\\\’s important that you are always looking to better your product & service… I have always admired this art form of marketing. What’s going to make your QSR look more attractive than your competition? Every detail is analyzed from the interior paint to the exterior design. According to Food Product Design – “Quick-service and snack and beverage restaurant sales are back on track for moderate growth, according to recent report from Packaged Facts. The report estimates limited-service restaurant sales will reach $188.1 billion in 2013, up 4.9% over 2012, while sales at snack and beverage establishments will rise 4.6% to $29.1 billion. A recent report by QSR Magazine, however, shows price may not always be the top priority, as Chick-Fil-A, who boasted the highest sales per unit at $3.16 million in 2012, received an average of $7.65 per customer compared to $6.25 per customer for runner-up McDonald\\\’s, who averaged $2.6 million per unit.” Fast food and quick service restaurants are an integral part of life all over the world. For increasingly busier families, they have become simply part of the weekly and even daily routine. In some cases, drive-thru represents up to 70% of restaurants visitors–you can customize your tray display program with features that target these customers as well! (Bag stuffers, box flyers, bag printing etc). Placemats and tray liners are a unique way to advertise! Not only is it cost -effective, but you are reaching a captive audience. Your ad is placed in front of a captive audience for 30 minutes or more at a time. The idea of advertising on tray liners and placemats is not new, however, my approach and system makes it easy to understand, implement and become profitable from the very first tray liner. Unique ideas and taking advantage of cross-promotional opportunities makes tray display advertising an exciting, dynamic business. Using eye catching layouts (not just copied business cards!), color, and engaging content, we carved a niche for success. For example, QR codes will revolutionize transparency in food supply chains if utilized properly! Why not use this method to direct fast food customers to your client’s websites or social media pages or even better – the upcoming technology of augmented reality. The ads can pop off the placemat!
Tray Liner, Placemat and Pizza Box Advertising – Fast food marketing with mobile devices and social media has grown exponentially.
- Six billion fast food ads appeared on Facebook – 19% of all fast food display advertising – including more than half of Dunkin\\\’ Donuts\\\’ and Wendy\\\’s ads.
- Smartphone apps offer interactive features such as order functions and special offers.
Use “AR” On Your Tray Liners, Placemats And Pizza Box Toppers: A really creative idea is utilizing the latest technology for your clients to advertise on tray liners, placemats and pizza box toppers. Augmented Reality on a tray liner is the most comprehensive advertising you can do for your clients. With this added feature to your advertisers, they can now have their ad pop off the tray liner/placemat. This will allow us to see the world in new ways and forever transform how we live and work. Augmented reality (AR) Description: AR is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory. (AR) allows for a digitally enhanced view of the real world. You now can add layers of digital information on top of items in the world around us.
Fast Food Advertising: The advertising industry spends billions of dollars every year in attempt to influence the average consumer to purchase their product or service. According to Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc., Approximately 3 Billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year, and According to Bolla Wines, 66.66% of Americans order pizza for a casual evening with friends… Equipped with passion and enthusiasm, I was determined to get my piece of this pie! My father and I distributed to 26 Wendy’s restaurants in Colorado along with dozens of Little Caesars Pizza locations in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Denver Colorado in 2007. Between Wendy’s and Little Caesars pizza, the Tapia family printed and produced more than 400,000 tray liners and pizza box toppers every month. Tray Display Advertising only uses soy-based inks and prints on 100% recycled paper to ensure our tray liners and box toppers were environmentally friendly.
Tray Liner, Placemat and Pizza Box Advertising – Coloring Contest: No space on my tray liner and pizza box Topper went to waste, including the reverse side, when customers turn it over there is more. Tray Display Advertising features a monthly coloring contest with custom designed artwork of client’s mascots and local radio station DJ’s created by Kevin Cordtz – Tray Display’s coloring contest artist. It’s a great feeling when presenting an award to a child and seeing their face light up after they just won the Tray Display Coloring Contest, I believe it is extremely important to support the youth of our community by encouraging children to use their creativity and imagination because that’s how Tray Display’s business model was created.
Tray Liner, Placemat and Pizza Box Advertising – Radio Promotions: The sponsoring radio station invites listeners to stop by their neighborhood Wendy’s or Little Caesars Pizza to pick up a tray liner or pizza box topper and color the contest to win great prizes. When partnering with a radio station, not only will your company benefit, but your advertisers and your restaurant outlet will receive free advertising as well! Every month, hundreds of coloring contests were turned in to Wendy’s and Little Caesars Pizza for judging. Age groups 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12 are awarded with prizes from Crayola, Pepsi Cola, Wendy’s and Little Caesars Pizza, plus each winner can get their photo taken with Caesar Man. I like the fact that not everyone throws their tray liner or pizza box topper away anymore. I would go to Wendy’s during lunch by myself and watch the customers, as they would look over the tray liners. The first time I saw a customer take their tray liner off the tray, fold it up and put it in their pocket was a great feeling. Honestly, it was a sense of accomplishment! The customers saw value in something that was once considered trash and would normally get thrown away with the rest of the trash on their tray.