Erik's DeliCafe Character Campaigns
Erik’s DeliCafe is a Santa Cruz, CA neighborhood staple, having served its community the hippest sandwiches, soups, and salads for over 45 years. Vigor had already been working with Erik’s for the last few years to help them get their brand groove back, and was approached at the end of 2018 to carry that upward momentum over to their marketing efforts.
Being a small, locally-focused fast-casual chain, Erik’s did not have the resources nor the budget to engage in a traditional ad-driven marketing plan. Instead, Vigor worked with the client to focus on the goals of increasing sales and foot traffic. Our plan was to leverage their owned media channels of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and email list in addition to augmenting their in-store opportunities. Additionally, we implemented Erik’s first foray into paid digital media, which included YouTube preroll, Spotify ads, paid social, and display ads.
The solution was to construct a year-long series of product-driven ad campaigns, designed to play up the character of each product and boost sales for that particular item. Each product was seen as a character in its own right, given an illustrated personality and voice for each campaign. When looked over as a whole, the cast of characters still very much felt like an extension of the Erik’s DeliCafe brand, without losing their individuality.
Because of this unique year-long approach to their marketing efforts, Erik’s DeliCafe experienced numerous upticks in key performance indicators, including a 5.7% increase in same-store net sales, a 50% increase in online ordering sales, a 47% increase in Instagram followers, and an 8.9% increase in Facebook engagement.
For this project, what I did varied from one campaign to the next. I wrote copy and illustrated when needed, and designed all the touchpoints you’ll see in this case study. I also aided in art direction and storyboarding for the animations showcased here.
Erik’s DeliCafe Character Campaigns were developed for Vigor. If you would like to see the rest of the case study, click here.
Animations produced by Michael J Straub.
Animations produced by Michael J Straub.
