Denny’s is promoting its “Taste of the Holidays” limited-time menu with a tie-in to the holiday movie “Arthur Christmas” from Sony Pictures. The promotional menu, launched 11/7, offers items such as Red Velvet Pancake Puppies and a Holiday Turkey Melt, as well as movie-themed kids’ items like Arthur’s Christmas Cookie Pancakes and Arthur’s Milk & Cookies Shake.
John Dillon, Denny’s VP/Marketing, told Nation’s Restaurant News they had an opportunity with Sony Pictures to work the creative with the family-focused holiday movie “Arthur Christmas”: “We could create some fun new products around that partnership that appeal to kids and kids at heart.”
During the company’s Q3 earnings call, CEO John Miller said the limited-time menu and movie tie-in would reinforce one another, particularly as the Milk & Cookies Shake and Christmas Cookie Pancakes directly target the same kids likely enticed by the movie.
The film, which opens 11/23, includes other brand tie-ins, including Toys-R-Us and UPS. They’re teaming in a cross-promotion to benefit the Toys for Tots literacy program.
See the :15 Television commercial here:
The movie also will figure prominently in social media and in-store tie-ins to Denny’s seasonal menu. Denny’s will host a 24-hour toy drive to benefit Toys for Tots; will deploy an in-store game called Letters to Arthur, where kids can win a free kids’ meal; and will run several activities on Facebook, allowing guests to create custom holiday e-cards or stoke a virtual yule log.
