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Smashburger taps Partners + Napier to fuel 'major brand restoration'

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February 4, 2020

Smashburger, which has 300 locations, has selected integrated creative company Partners + Napier as creative and media agency of record following a competitive review. The announcement comes in advance of the burger chain's integrated brand campaign slated to launch in March. 

The restaurant chain has been undergoing a major brand restoration and wanted a strategic partner to lend outside perspective on strategy, creative and media as we implement the growth plan, according to Scott Johnson, vice president and head of marketing at the chain.  

"The Partners + Napier team is developing audience insights to inform breakthrough creative while mapping out how, when and where to reach those audiences," he said in an email to FastCasual." This allows us to create really impactful brand work that deepens our relationships with current and future customers."

Johnson, who led the review after joining Smashburger in August 2019, said the chain chose Partners + Napier because it had a lot of food experience as well as an integrated approach to uniting creative and media. Clients span restaurant, cooking/lifestyle, food service, beverage alcohol and more, including fast-growing established brands like CoreLife Eatery, Marlow's Tavern, Instant Pot, Robert Mondavi Winery, Pyrex and Saputo Dairy Foods.

"The Partners team showed great passion for our brand throughout the process,"Johnson said. "They clearly understand our category and our customers, and their creative ideas are already driving new growth for our business."

In its first 30 days, Partners + Napier launched the "Comfort for All" campaign for Smashburger's new Crispy Chicken Smash, a 70% bigger fried, cracker-crusted chicken breast. It positioned the Crispy Chicken Smash as the ultimate comfort food — a perfect remedy for life's uncomfortable moments, like running into a family member on Tinder or attempting to parallel park in front of a crowd, Rob Kottkamp, chief creative officer at Partners + Napier, said in the release.

"With this campaign, we're not just owning crispy — we're owning comfort, Rob Kottkamp, chief creative officer at Partners + Napier, said in the release."We're leaning into all the humorous and uncomfortable moments that our target audience experiences on a given day, offering some relief amid the chaos."

The campaign was activated through online video, display, social media, radio and out-of-home, aiming to reach consumers during moments when they could use a boost of comfort. It also included a buy-one-get-one promotion.

Overall, the effort drove one of the biggest sales weeks in the chain's history, with double-digit growth on the day of the promotion.

"In today's oversaturated fast casual market, building human connections is more critical than ever," Partners + Napier CEO Courtney Cotrupe said in the release.