The Tilted Kilt: Having a calendar year
For the past five years, The Tilted Kilt, based in Tempe, Ariz., has gone from peak-demand season ending with the championship game of March Madness straight into its Kilt Girl Voting Contest to pick the 12 servers to star in the chain’s calendar. This year, the promotion is running on Facebook, and The Tilted Kilt is getting about 1,000 Facebook “likes” and votes per day.
“With the calendar voting, we’re still promoting the restaurant and still able to push heavily on something, otherwise the marketing would be pretty slow,” said Torie Stevenson, marketing manager for the brand. “It’s nice to stay top of mind, even without football on TV.”
Voting runs through April 30, and once the winners are selected they’ll do several months of in-store appearances leading up to the calendar shoot in June. The calendars go on sale in October during the middle of the NFL season, giving the chain plenty of time promote them as a holiday gift for its predominately male clientele.
Between now and next season, The Tilted Kilt also is sponsoring off-road truck racer Corry Weller, a former Kilt Girl.
“We’re excited to involve our Facebook fans in all of this,” Stevenson said. “It’s paying off for our brand because we’re so visual, for obvious reasons, and it helps a lot on Facebook and Twitter. We get amazing amounts of engagement every year for this, and we’re trying to maximize it.”